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Title 25 — IndiansRelease 119-73not60

§264 Trading Without License; White Persons as Clerks

Title 25 › Chapter 6— GOVERNMENT OF INDIAN COUNTRY AND RESERVATIONS › Subchapter III— TRADERS WITH INDIANS › § 264

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

People who are not full-blood Indians must have a license before living or trading in Indian country or on a reservation. If they try to trade or bring goods there without a license, their merchandise can be taken away and they must pay a $500 fine. This does not apply to people living among or trading with the Choctaws, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Creeks, or Seminoles (the Five Civilized Tribes) who belong to the Union Agency there. No white person may be hired as a clerk by an Indian trader, except for those who trade with the Five Civilized Tribes, unless that clerk is first licensed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs under rules set by the Secretary of the Interior.

Full Legal Text

Title 25, §264

Indians — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Any person other than an Indian of the full blood who shall attempt to reside in the Indian country, or on any Indian reservation, as a trader, or to introduce goods, or to trade therein, without such license, shall forfeit all merchandise offered for sale to the Indians or found in his possession, and shall moreover be liable to a penalty of $500: Provided, That this section shall not apply to any person residing among or trading with the Choctaws, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Creeks, or Seminoles, commonly called the Five Civilized Tribes, residing in said Indian country, and belonging to the Union Agency therein: And provided further, That no white person shall be employed as a clerk by any Indian trader, except such as trade with said Five Civilized Tribes, unless first licensed so to do by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, under and in conformity to regulations to be established by the Secretary of the Interior.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification R.S. § 2133 derived from act
June 30, 1834, ch. 161, § 4, 4 Stat. 729. Act
July 31, 1882, inserted “of the full blood” and “or on any Indian reservation” and added the two provisos.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

For

Transfer of Functions

of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of the Interior, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of the Interior, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1950, §§ 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1262, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

25 U.S.C. § 264

Title 25 — Indians

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60