Indian Land Claims Settlements are settlements of Native American land claims by the United States Congress, codified in 25 U.S.C. ch. 19.

In several instances, these settlements ended live claims of aboriginal title in the United States. The first two—the Rhode Island Claims Settlement Act and the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act—extinguished all aboriginal title in Rhode Island and Maine, respectively, following initial court rulings in the tribes' favor.

The Mohegan Nation (Connecticut) Land Claims Settlement of 1994 also followed a judicial ruling in favor of a tribe, but did not extinguish all aboriginal title in the state. Other tribes had pending land claims.

The Passamaquoddy (1975), Narragansett I and II (1976), and Mohegan (1980, 1982) cases occurred in the U.S. Supreme Court's Oneida I (1974) decision, which held that there was federal subject-matter jurisdiction for such claims.

The Florida Indian (Miccosukee) Land Claims Settlement and Florida Indian (Seminole) Land Claims Settlement relate to water rights in the Everglades.

In Canada, these settlements involve First Nations.

List of settlements Act Passed Tribe Preceding litigation Subject matter Monetary compensationRhode Island Claims Settlement ActPub. L. No. 95-395, 92 Stat. 813 (codified at 25 U.S.C. §§ 1701--16).NarragansettNarragansett Tribe of Indians v. S. R.I. Land Dev. Co., 418 F. Supp. 798 (D.R.I. 1976); Narragansett Tribe of Indians v. Murphy, 426 F. Supp. 132 (D.R.I. 1976)Aboriginal titleMaine Indian Claims Settlement Act[modified by Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians Supplementary Claims Settlement Act and Aroostock Band of Micmacs Settlement Act]Pub. L. No. 96-420, 94 Stat. 1785 (codified at 25 U.S.C. §§ 1721--35).Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, and MaliseetJoint Tribal Council of the Passamaquoddy Tribe v. Morton, 388 F. Supp. 649 (D. Me. 1975), aff'd, 528 F.2d 370 (1st Cir. 1975)Aboriginal titleFlorida Indian (Miccosukee) Land Claims SettlementPub. L. No. 97-399, 96 Stat. 2012 (codified at 25 U.S.C. §§ 1741--50).MiccosukeeMiccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida v. Florida, No. 79-cv-253 (S.D. Fl.)Water rightsConnecticut Indian Land Claims SettlementPub. L. No. 98-134, 97 Stat. 851 (codified at 25 U.S.C. §§ 1751--60).Mashantucket Pequot TribeW. Pequot Tribe of Indians v. Holdridge Enters., Inc., No. H76-cv-193 (D. Conn.)Aboriginal titleHoulton Band of Maliseet Indians Supplementary Claims Settlement Act[modifying the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act]Pub. L. No. 99-566, 100 Stat 3184 (codified at 25 U.S.C. § 1724).MaliseetN/AAboriginal titleMassachusetts Indian Land Claims SettlementPub. L. No. 100-95, 101 Stat. 704 (codified at ).WampanoagWampanoag Tribal Council of Gay Head v. Town of Gay Head, No. 74-cv-5826 (D. Mass.)Aboriginal titleFlorida Indian (Seminole) Land Claims SettlementPub. L. No. 100-228, 101 Stat. 1556 (codified at ).SeminoleSeminole Tribe of Indians of Florida v. Florida, No. 78-cv-6116 (S.D. Fla.)Water rightsPuyallup Tribe of Indians Settlement Act of 1989Pub. L. No. 101-41, 103 Stat. 83 (codified at ).PuyallupExcludes land from settlement in: Puyallup Tribe of Indians v. Port of Tacoma, 717 F.2d 1251 (9th Cir. 1983)Aboriginal titleSeneca Nation (New York) Land Claims SettlementPub. L. No. 101-503, 104 Stat. 1292 (codified at ).Seneca 18 Stat. 330; 26 Stat. 558; Seneca Nation of Indians v. United States, 39 Ind. Cl. Comm. 355 (1977)Retroactive federal approval of leases and previous inadequate settlementAroostock Band of Micmacs Settlement Act[modifying Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement]Pub. L. No. 102-171, 105 Stat. 1143 (codified at ).MicmacsN/AAboriginal titleMohegan Nation (Connecticut) Land Claims SettlementPub. L. No. 103-377, 108 Stat. 3501 (codified at ).Mohegan peopleMohegan Tribe v. Connecticut, 483 F. Supp. 597 (D. Conn. 1980), aff'd, 638 F.2d 612 (2d Cir. 1980), cert. denied, 452 U.S. 968 (1981), on remand, 528 F. Supp. 1359 (D. Conn. 1982)Aboriginal titleCrow Boundary SettlementPub. L. No. 103-444, 108 Stat. 4632 (codified at ).CrowIndian reservation boundary surveying errorSanto Domingo Pueblo Claims SettlementPub. L. No. 106-425, 114 Stat. 1890 (codified at ).PuebloUnited States v. Thompson, 941 F.2d 1074 (10th Cir. 1991); Pueblo of Santo Domingo v. Rael, Civil No. 83-1888 (D. N.M.)Aboriginal titleTorres-Martinez Desert Cahiilla Indian Claims SettlementPub. L. No. 106-568, 114 Stat. 2906 (codified at ).Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla IndiansUnited States ex rel. Torres-Martinez Band of Mission Indians v. Imperial Irrigation Dist., No. 82-cv-1790 (S.D. Cal.), Nos. 93-cv-55389, 93-cv-55398, and 93-cv-55402, No. 92-cv-55129 (9th Cir.); Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians v. Imperial Irrigation Dist., No. 91-cv-1670 (S.D. Cal.)Indian reservation floodingCherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nation Claims SettlementPub. L. No. 107-331, 116 Stat. 2845 (codified at ).Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw(Ct. Cl.); United States v. Cherokee Nation, 480 U.S. 700 (1987), Nos. 218-cv-89L and 630-cv-89L (Ct. Cl. 1989); (E.D. Ok. 1997); excluding Choctaw Nation v. Oklahoma, 397 U.S. 620 (1970)Mismanagement of tribal resourcesPueblo De San Ildefonso Claims SettlementPub. L. No. 109-286, 120 Stat. 1218 (codified at ).PuebloPueblo of San Ildefonso v. United States, No. 660-87L (Ct. Cl.); prior history: United States v. Pueblo of San Ildefonso, 513 F.2d 1383 (Ct. Cl. 1975); Pueblo of San Ildefonso v. United States, 35 Fed. Cl. 777 (1996)Aboriginal title, inter alia

Other compensated extinguishments in the US Decisions of the Indian Claims Commission Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) South Carolina v. Catawba Indian Tribe, 476 U.S. 498 (1986): settled for $50,000,000 by the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina Land Claims Settlement Act of 1993, Pub. L. No. 103-116, 107 Stat 1118 (codified at 25 U.S.C. § 941)

See also Australia National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT) Canada Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement Yukon Land Claims New Zealand Treaty of Waitangi claims and settlements

Notes

References (2001). John C. Christie, Jr., The Catawba Indian Land Claim: A Giant Among Indian Land Claims, 24 173 (2000). (2002). Nicole Friederichs, A Reason to Revisit Maine's Indian Claims Settlement Acts: The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 35 497 (2011). (2004). Granville Ganter, Sovereign Municipalities? Twenty Years After the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980, in (Bruce Elliott Johansen ed., 2004). Gavin Kentch, A Corporate Culture? The Environmental Justice Challenges of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, 81 813 (2012). Dean J. Kotlowski, Out of the Woods: The Making of the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, 30 63 (2006). Alfred R. Light, The Myth of Everglades Settlement, 11 55 (1998). Barbara S. Monahan, Florida's Seminole Indian Land Claims Agreement: Vehicle for an Innovative Water Rights Compact, 15 341 (1991).

External links Full text of 25 U.S.C. tit. 19