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Williams v. Lee - A Question Of Jurisdiction, The Treaty Of 1868

decision court petitioners press

Petitioners

Paul Williams, Lorena Williams

Respondent

Hugh Lee

Petitioners' Claim

That the Supreme Court of Arizona had erred in claiming jurisdiction in a civil suit occurring on Navajo Indian reservation land.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioners

William W. Stevenson

Chief Lawyer for Respondent

Norman M. Littell

Justices for the Court

Hugo Lafayette Black (writing for the Court), William J. Brennan, Jr., Tom C. Clark, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, John Marshall Harlan II, Potter Stewart, Earl Warren, Charles Evans Whittaker

Justices Dissenting

None

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

12 January 1958

Decision

In favor of the appellants, reversing the Supreme Court of Arizona decision.

Significance

The decision affirmed the jurisdiction of Indian tribal courts.

Related Cases

  • Worcester v. Georgia, 6 Pet. 515 (1832).
  • A-1 Contractors v. Strate, 76 F.3d 930 (1996).

Further Readings

  • Prucha, Francis P. The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984.
  • Starkey, Marion L. The Cherokee Nation. North Dighton: JG Press, 1995.

Additional Topics

Williams v. Lee - A Question Of Jurisdiction

If Hugh Lee's collection suit against Paul and Lorena Williams had taken place nearly anywhere else in the United States, the dispute might have gone no further than a local claims court. Instead the Williams v. Lee case ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court, where its outcome hinged on precedents set over a century earlier. Lee was the proprietor of the Ganado Trading Post, a general store located o…

Williams v. Lee - The Treaty Of 1868

The Supreme Court found general proof of the Navajo right to self-government in the Worcester decision. More specific proof was found in a treaty signed on 1 June 1868 by the Navajo tribe and General William Tecumseh Sherman, who was acting on behalf of a U.S. government peace commission. According to the Treaty of 1868, state courts were to have jurisdiction in suits by reservation Indians agains…

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7 months ago

hj

this case was decided in january 1959, not 1958.