Native American Law
Legal Databases and Websites
- American Indian Heritage FoundationCalled the "Native American Adventure" and provides extensive links to resources and a Tribal Directory (http://indians.org/tribal-directory.html).
- Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)U.S. Department of the Interior established the BIA in 1824. It provides services directly or through contracts, grants, or compacts to approximately 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in 567 federally recognized tribes.
- DOJ Tribal Justice & SafetyU.S. Department of Justice office for Indian Tribes. Links to Tribal Justice and Safety initiative to support public safety, victim services, and crime prevention in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
- Federally Recognized Indian Tribes and Resources for Native AmericansFind U.S. government information about and resources for Native Americans: Federally Recognized Indian Tribes, Cultural Resources for Native Americans, Housing Help for Native Americans, and Legal Resources for Native Americans
- Fourth World Documentation ProjectA project of the Center for World Indigenous Studies (CWIS). Over 117 full text U.S. documents relating to Native Americans. Includes treaties, governmental statements, Indian proclamations, tribal statements and tribal documents.
- Hein OnlineHeinOnline's American Indian Law Collection includes over 1,000 titles in an expansive archive of treaties, federal statutes and regulations, federal case law, tribal codes, constitutions, and jurisprudence. This library also features rare compilations edited by Felix S. Cohen that have never before been accessible online.
- Indian Affairs: Laws and TreatiesCompiled and Edited by Charles J. Kappler. Features historic treaties between the United States government and American Indian tribes.
- Indians of North AmericaLibrary of Congress web guide for laws, treaties, agencies, texts, commentrary and more information related to Native Americans.
- LLMC DigitalProvides full text access to a collection of historical documents on Indian affairs emanating from federal executive, legislative, and judicial sources.
- Native American Constitution and Law Digitization ProjectThis Project is a cooperative effort among the University of Oklahoma Law Center and the National Indian Law Library (NILL), and Native American tribes providing access to the Constitutions, Tribal Codes, and other legal documents.
- The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)NAGPRA was enacted on November 16, 1990, to address the rights of lineal descendants, Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations to Native American cultural items, including human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. The website contains maps, databases, laws, regulations, reports and more.
- Native American Rights FundIncludes past issues of NARF Legal Review, case updates, press releases, and a collection of laws and treaties.
- Senate Committee on Indian AffairsHandles legislation about American Indians, Native Hawaiians, or Alaska Natives proposed by U.S. Senators.
- U.S Department of the Interior Native American ResourcesCompiles Native American-related legal information on tribal governments, federal agencies and records, and other legal sources.
Lexis & Westlaw
Neither online service has a separate database that combines all of their Native American information. Of course, they both have a full range of federal and state judicial, administrative, and statutory databases. They also have some specific databases that may be of interest to researchers in Native American law.
America: History and Life: Provides indexing & abstracting of U.S. and Canadian history, area studies, and current affairs literature. Coverage from 1964 - present includes many topics such as Indian-White relations, folklore, ethnic studies, & cultural history. WESTLAW (AHL).
American Indian Law Review: Full text coverage from 1983 - present. WESTLAW(AMINDLR).
Ethnic Newswatch: Indexes newspapers and other publications from the ethnic and minority press in America. Coverage includes many Native American publications. LEXIS(NEWS;ENW). File not available to laws school subscribers.
Interior Board of Indian Appeals Decisions: Can be accessed from both services: LEXIS (ENVIRN;IBIA) and WESTLAW (IBIA). Contains adjudicative decisions by the IBIA in appeals of decisions made by officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (including the Commissioner of Indian Affairs) and appeals from Administrative Law Judge probate decisions in Native American matters.
Native American Law - Law Reviews, Texts and Bar Journals: WESTLAW (NAM-TP)
Native American Law Practice - Area databases on WESTLAW: Federal Native Americans Law (FNAM) includes selected cases, statutes, and regulations pertaining to Native American issues.
NonLegal Databases
Penn State University Libraries A-Z Databases list includes access to over 800 e-resources. Most of the databases are nonlegal, however, they may contain pertinent legal and nonlegal information valuable to your research. The list of databases does increase as new resources are acquired by the University Libraries. Some databases that might be of interest are:
- ABI/INFORM: full text business articles.
- AccessUN: index of United Nations documents. (Also on the Dickinson Law Library web page)
- AGRICOLA: index of agriculture & related sciences.
- BIOETHICSLINE (Ethics in health care & biomedical research)
- CINAHL: index to nursing and allied health literature.
- Environmental Sciences: abstracts & references to environmental literature.
- ERIC: education materials.
- Hoovers Online (Company information)
- Newspaper Archive
- PAIS: index of public affairs information.
- Periodical Index Online: general interest journals.
- PproQuest Congressional: (Also on the Dickinson Law Library web page)
- ProQuest Mlultiple Databases: Newspapers, magazines, business. (Also on the Dickinson Law Library web page)
- World News Connection (Also on the Dickinson Law Library web page)