Title 25, IndiansRelease 119-102
§371 Descent of Land
Title 25 › CHAPTER 10 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION; HEIRS OF ALLOTTEE › § 371
Summary
For land inheritance, if an Indian man and woman live together as husband and wife by Indian custom, their children count as legitimate heirs. An Indian child born when the parents were not married counts as the father's legitimate child. Not for the "Cherokee Outlet."
Full Legal Text
Title 25, §371
Indians, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
For the purpose of determining the descent of land to the heirs of any deceased Indian under the provisions of section 348 of this title, whenever any male and female Indian shall have cohabited together as husband and wife according to the custom and manner of Indian life the issue of such cohabitation shall be, for the purpose aforesaid, taken and deemed to be the legitimate issue of the Indians so living together, and every Indian child, otherwise illegitimate, shall for such purpose be taken and deemed to be the legitimate issue of the father of such child: Provided, That the provisions of this Act shall not be held or construed as to apply to the lands commonly called and known as the “Cherokee Outlet.”
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
This Act, referred to in text, is act Feb. 28, 1891, ch. 383, 26 Stat. 794, which enacted section 336, 371, and 397 of this title and amended section 331 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables. Codification A further provision of section 5 of act Feb. 28, 1891, “that no allotment of lands shall be made or annuities of money paid to any of the Sac and Fox of the Missouri Indians who were not enrolled as members of said tribe on January first, eighteen hundred and ninety; but this shall not be held to impair or otherwise affect the rights or equities of any person whose claim to membership in said tribe is now pending and being investigated,” was repealed by a provision of the Indian Appropriation Act of Mar. 2, 1895, ch. 188, § 1, 28 Stat. 902.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
25 U.S.C. § 371
Title 25, Indians
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102