Cruz and Europa v. Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources

[170] Buttz v. Northern Pac. R. Co., Dak., at 30 L. Ed. 330, 335; Beecher v. Wetherby, Wis., 95 U.S. 517, 24 L. Ed. 440, 441 [1877]; see also 42 C.J.S., Indians, Sec. 28 [1944 ed.]. [171] Annotation, Proof and Extinguishment of Aboriginal title to Indian Lands, 41 ALR Fed 425, Sec. 2 [b] [1979]-- hereinafter cited as Aboriginal Title to Indian Lands. [172] Ibid.; see also Tee Hit Ton Indians v. U.S., 348 U.S. 272, 99 L. Ed. 314, 320, 75 S. Ct. 313 [1955], reh den 348 U.S. 965, 99 L. Ed. 753, 75 S. Ct. 521. [173] Ibid.; Tee Hit Ton Indians v. U.S., at 99 L. Ed. 320. [174] Oneida Indian Nation v. County of Oneida, 414 U.S. 661, 39 L. Ed. 2d 73, 94 S Ct. 772 [1974]; U.S. v. Alcea Bank of Tillamooks, 329 U.S. 40, 91 L. Ed. 29. 67 S. Ct. 167 [1946]. [175] For compensation under the Indian Claims Commission Act, the proof of aboriginal title rests on actual, exclusive and continuous use and occupancy for a long time prior to the loss of the property. (The Indian Claims Commission Act awards compensation to Indians whose aboriginal titles were extinguished by the government through military conquest, creation of a reservation, forced confinement of Indians and removal of Indians from certain portions of the land an the designation of Indian land into forest preserve, grazing district, etc.) -- Aboriginal Title to Indian Lands, supra, at Secs. 2[a], 3[a], pp. 431, 433, 437. [176] Aboriginal Title to Indian Lands, supra, at Sec. 2[b], p. 435. [177] 41 Am Jr 2d, Indians, Sec. 59 [1995 ed.]. [178] An allotment of Indian land contains restrictions on alienation of the land. These restrictions extend to a devise of the land by will-- Missouri, K. & T.R. Co. v. U.S., 235 U.S. 37, 59 L. Ed. 116,. 35 S. Ct. 6 [1914]; A railroad land grant that falls within Indian land is null and void-- Northern P. R. Co. v. U.S., 227 U.S. 355, 57 L.Ed. 544,33 S. Ct. 368 [1913]; Portions of Indian land necessary for a railroad right of way were, by the terms of the treaty, declared "public land," implying that land beyond the right of way was private-- Kindred v. Union P.R. Co., 225 U.S. 582, 56 L. Ed. 1216, 32 S. Ct. 780 [1912]; see also 41 Am Jur 2d, Indians, Sec. 58 [1995 ed]. [179] Aboriginal Title to Indian Lands, supra, at Sec. 2[a], p. 433. [180] 42 C.J.S. Indians, Sec. 29 [1944 ed.] [181] Ibid. [182] North American Indians have made much progress in establishing a relationship with the national government and developing their own laws. Some have their own government-recognized constitutions. Usually the recognition of Indian tribes depends on whether the tribe has a reservation. North American tribes have reached such an advanced stage that the main issues today evolve around complex jurisdictional and litigation matters. Tribes have acquired the status of sovereign nations within another nation, possessing the right to change and grow-- Jose Paulo Kastrup, The Internationalization of Indigenous Rights from the Environmental and Human Rights Perspective, Texas International Law Journal, vol. 32: 97, 104 [1997]. [183] Lynch, Native Title, supra, at 293. [184] Dante Gatmaytan, Ancestral Domain Recognition in the Philippines: Trends in Jurisprudence and Legislation, 5 Phil. Nat. Res. L.J. No. 1, pp. 43, 40 [Aug. 1992]; see also Tee Hit Ton Indians v. U.S., supra, at 320.