§233 Jurisdiction of New York State Courts in Civil Actions

Summary

New York state courts can hear civil lawsuits that involve Indian tribes or tribal members just like they hear other civil cases. Tribal governments in New York could pick tribal laws and customs to keep if they did so before September 13, 1952. If a tribe sent those laws to the Secretary of the Interior and they were published in the Federal Register, those tribal rules apply in civil cases about reservation Indians when they matter. Courts can also accept and use other tribal laws or customs if they are proved in court. Tribes and members do not have to buy New York hunting or fishing licenses when they have treaty or customary rights. Reservation lands are not subject to state or local taxes. Reservation land and federal or state payments for Indians cannot be taken to pay state court judgments, except to enforce a judgment in a dispute between tribal members about using or owning land. The law does not let reservation land be sold away from a tribe. It also does not give state courts power over civil claims about Indian lands or related events that happened before September 13, 1952.