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Zuni and the Courts

A Struggle for Sovereign Land Rights

Edited by E. Richard Hart

416 pages, 30 photographs, 6 x 9
Development of Western Resources
Cloth ISBN 978-0-7006-0705-1, $40.00
CD-ROM ISBN 978-0-7006-0752-5, $300.00

Book Cover ImageThree decades ago--years after most tribes had filed land claims--the Zuni initiated legal battles related to aboriginal claims, rights, and use that few experts thought they could win. Yet by 1991 they had achieved three major victories.

In the first case, the Zuni sued the United States, seeking payment for aboriginal territorial lands taken without adequate compensation. In the second, also against the United States, the tribe sought compensation for environmental damages to Zuni trust lands caused by the U.S. government and by private industry where the federal government should have provided protection. And in the third, the U.S. government sued a private rancher on the Zuni's behalf to establish an easement protecting an ancient religious trail.

Providing a new overview of these cases and Zuni history, Richard Hart has gathered together essays written by many of those who testified for the Zuni--historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, and scientists--as well as commentary from the tribe's lawyers. The authors simplify the complex nature of the testimony, making it accessible to a wide audience. They cover such diverse but significant issues as Spanish law and land grants, tribal aboriginal title, the Navajo wars, U.S. territorial policy, deforestation, erosion, geomorphology, dendrochronology, environmental history, anthropology, archaeology, education, folklore, oral history, and religion.

Tying together current events with cultural and legal history, Zuni and the Courts not only provides expert observations on how and why the Zuni succeeded but offers insight into how similar cases can be fought and won.

AVAILABLE ON CD-ROM
Published by the Institute of the NorthAmerican West in conjunction with The Zuni Heritage and Historic Preservation Office. Distributed by the University Press of Kansas.
For readers who would like more information on the legal cases discussed in Zuni and the Courts, this CD-ROM contains approximately 50 expert reports and more than 30 Zuni depositions. It includes more than 6,000 pages and 200 historical photographs. $300.00

"This book contains a wealth of information on the Zuni and provides a wonderful example of how an interdisciplinary team of academics can put their knowledge to use on real world problems confronting real people. This is a primer of how to do Indian rights litigation the 'right way,' with the careful preparation of testimony and evidence, choosing the right expert witnesses, and putting the information to effective use at trial."--Robert A. Williams, Jr., author of The American Indian in Western Legal Thought

"A significant contribution to the fields of Indian history, jurisprudence, and anthropology. It may well become the prime example of how to proceed in court actions involving Native Americans, aboriginal use, and ownership."--Robert W. Delaney, author of Ute Mountain Utes and Southern Ute People

E. RICHARD HART is executive director of the Institute of the NorthAmerican West in Seattle. He testified for the Zuni in the land claim cases and has also served as an expert witness on behalf of several other tribes. He is author of editor of six books including A Zuni Atlas (with T.J. Ferguson).