United States v. Joseph 1876 Error Mr Justice Miller 2118

• Decision Date: 30 June 1834
• Citation: 94 U.S. 614,24 L.Ed. 295
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. JOSEPH. Octo er Term, 1876 ERROR to the Supreme Court of the Territory of New Mexico. Mr. Solicitor Phillips for the United States. Mr. S. B. Elkins, contra . MR. JUSTICE MILLER delivered the opinion of the court. Sect. 2118 of the Revised Statutes, which was originally enacted
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

94 U.S. 614

24 L.Ed. 295

UNITED STATESv.JOSEPH.

Octo er Term, 1876

ERROR to the Supreme Court of the Territory of New Mexico.

Mr. Solicitor Phillips for the United States.

Mr. S. B. Elkins, contra.

MR. JUSTICE MILLER delivered the opinion of the court.Sect. 2118 of the Revised Statutes, which was originally enacted June 30, 1834, declares that every person who makes a settlement on any lands belonging, secured, or granted by treaty with the United States to any Indian tribe, or surveys or attempts to survey said lands, or to designate any of the boundaries by marking trees or otherwise, is liable to a penalty of $1,000.By sect. 7 of the act of July 27, 1851, it was enacted 'that all laws now in force regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, or such provisions of the same as may be applicable, shall be, and the same are hereby, extended over the Indian tribes in the Territories of New Mexico and Utah.'

The case before us was an action brought by the United States in the proper court in the Territory of New Mexico, to recover the penalty denounced in the section above recited.The petition alleges that defendant'did make a settlement in, and now occupies and is settled on, lands of the pueblo tribe of Indians of the pueblo of Taos, in the county of Taos, to wit, ten acres of land (describing its boundaries), by then and there building houses and making fields thereon. . . .Said lands then and there, and at the time of bringing this suit, belonging to said pueblo tribe of Indians of the pueblo of Taos aforesaid, and secured to said pueblo tribe of Indians of the pueblo of Taos aforesaid, by patent from the United States.'

A demurrer to this petition was sustained in the Supreme Court of the Territory, and we are called on to decide whether it was rightfully sustained.

Were the pueblo Indians, and the lands held by them, on which this settlement was made, within the meaning of the act of Congress of 1834, and its extension to the Territory of New Mexico, by the act of 1851?This question resolves itself into two other:——

1.Are the people who constitute the pueblo or village of Taos an Indian tribe within the meaning of the statute?

2.Do they hold the lands on which the settlement mentioned in the petition was made by a tenure which brings them within its terms?

The first question is not concluded even on demurrer, because the petition calls them 'the pueblo tribe of Indians of the pueblo of Taos;' for if these people, with others of the same character, are a well-known class, whose history, domestic habits, and relations to the government are matters of public notoriety, the court, being informed who they are by the description of them in the petition, as 'pueblo Indians of the pueblo of Taos,' is not bound by the use of the additional word 'tribe' to disregard that knowledge, and assume that they are tribal Indians within the meaning of the statute regulating the intercourse of the white man with this latter class of Indians.

The character and history of these people are not obscure, but occupy a well-known page in the story of Mexico, from the conquest of the country by Cortez to the cession of this part of it to the United States by the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo.The subject is tempting and full of interest, but we have only space for a few well-considered sentences of the opinion of the chief justice of the court whose judgment we are reviewing.

'For centuries,'he says, 'the pueblo Indians have lived in villages, in fixed communities, each having its own municipal or local government.As far as their history can be traced, they have been a pastoral and agricultural people, raising flocks and cultivating the soil.Since the introduction of the Spanish Catholic missionary into the country, they have adopted mainly not only the Spanish language, but the religion of a Christian church.In every pueblo is erected a church, dedicated to the worship of God, according to the form of the Roman Catholic religion, and in nearly all is to be found a priest of thi church, who is recognized as their spiritual guide and adviser.They manufacture nearly all of their blankets, clothing, agricultural and culinary implements, &c.Integrity and virtue among them is fostered and encouraged.They are as intelligent as most nations or people deprived of means or facilities for education.Their names, their customs, their habits, are similar to those of the people in whose midst they reside, or in the midst of whom their pueblos are situated.The criminal records of the courts of the Territory scarcely contain...