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''Mohegan Indians v. Connecticut'' (1705–1773) was the first indigenous land rights litigation in history in a common law jurisdiction.〔Merete Falck Borch, ''Conciliation, Compulsion, Conversion,'' 216 (2004). "The first British case of a judicial character to deal specifically with the rights of the Indians in North America was that of the ''Mohegan Indians v. Connecticut'' ()〕 James Youngblood Henderson, professor of law, calls the case "the first major legal test of indigenous tenure."〔James Youngblood Henderson, "Aboriginal Rights in Western Legal Tradition," in ''The Quest for Justice: Aboriginal Peoples and Aboriginal Rights,'' 193 (1985).〕 Robert Clinton calls it the "first formal litigation of North American Indian rights."〔Robert N. Clinton, Symposium: "Rules of the Game: Sovereignty and the Native American Nation", 27 ''University of Connecticut Law Review'' (CTLR), p. 1055 (1995).〕 Mark Walters has noted that the case established that "in certain circumstances native nations on reserved lands in British colonies were subject, not to colonial jurisdictions established for settlers, but to their own traditional customs."〔Mark D. Walters. "'(Mohegan Indians v. Connecticuit' (1705-1773) and the Legal Status of Aboriginal Customary Laws and Government in British North America )". 34(4) ''Osgoode Hall L.J.'' 785-829.〕 The Mohegan claim was not a claim to aboriginal title, but a claim that certain lands were held in trust by the descendants of John Mason on behalf of the Mohegan. In 1979, the Mohegan Indian Tribe filed a suit against the state for possession of lands in Montville, Connecticut. In this re-litigation, the judge held in 1980 that the 1790 Non-Intercourse Act applied to the case, a ruling upheld on appeal. The United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case. In 1994 the tribe gained federal recognition by the Department of Interior; in addition, that year Congress passed the ''Mohegan Nation (Connecticut) Land Claim Settlement Act'', which authorized the US to take 800 acres of land into trust for the tribe for use as its reservation, and allowed it to have gambling operations on the property. ==The dispute== English settlers arrived on the coast of Connecticut in the 1630s, coming into contact with the Mohegan people, who had been part of the Pequot.〔 Following the Pequot War of 1637, in which the Mohegan had been allied with the English in the near destruction of the Pequot, the ''sachem'' Uncas ceded all Mohegan lands to the colonists in 1640, with the exception of a reserve of farms and hunting grounds.〔 In 1659, the Mohegan conveyed the reserved lands to Major John Mason, the future deputy governor.〔 The conveyance was to Mason and his heirs "as their Protector and Guardian In Trust for the whole Moheagan Tribe."〔 Mason transferred the land to the colonial government in 1660, on the condition that sufficient land be left for the Mohegan to farm.〔 Both the Mohegan and Mason's heirs argued—during the century-long dispute—that this last transfer was invalid, and that his heirs continued to hold the land in trust for the Mohegan.〔 Connecticut was incorporated by royal charter in 1662, with its boundaries including the disputed lands.〔 A 1681 treaty between the Mohegan and the colony acknowledged a Mohegan interest in the land; it provided that the colony would administer "Equal Justice" to the Mohegan "as our own people" if they "before hand declared their Subjection to our Laws."〔 In 1687, the colony began granting the disputed land to settlers by legislation and orders in council.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mohegan Indians v. Connecticut」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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