Indian & Tribal Law

Previous editions

• Felix S. Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law (1982 reprint of classic 1942 edition). Reference Area KF8205.C6 1942a
• 1942 edition available on HeinOnline (UW Restricted)
• 1940 temporary edition (typescript) on HeinOnline (UW Restricted)
• 1945 edition available on Google Books and on University of Oklahoma site.

The American Law Institute has developed  The Restatement of the Law, The Law of American Indians.

This Restatement will cement the foundational principles of American Indian law. Topics include federal/tribal relations, state/tribal relations, tribal jurisdiction and authority, and Indian Country business law.

The Restatement covers the following in its six chapters: Chapter 1 Federal–Tribal Relations; Chapter 2 Tribal Authority; Chapter 3 State–Tribal Relations; Chapter 4 Tribal Economic Development; Chapter 5 Indian Country Criminal Jurisdiction; and Chapter 6 Natural Resources.

The official text is available:

• in print in the Reference Area (KF8205 .R47 2022)
• on HeinOnline
• on  Westlaw

HeinOnline's American Indian Law Collection (UW restricted) includes hundreds of law journal articles, curated by the editors to be about Indian law.

For more law journal articles, seach full-text databases in Lexis Advance, Westlaw, Bloomberg Law, or HeinOnline. Note that HeinOnline has much greater historical coverage. Bloomberg Law's coverage is briefer than Westlaw's or Lexis's.

For articles from history, sociology, economics, anthropology, or any other discipline that touches on Indian law, use UW Libraries Articles & Research Databases. To find relevant databases, start with UW Libraries Research Guides.

Any law review can have an article about Indian or tribal law. The following journals specialize in the area.

HeinOnline's Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture & Law (UW restricted) (formerly American Indian Law Collection) includes books and reports as diverse as these:

• James Adair, History of the American Indians; Particularly Those Nations Adjoining to the Missisippi [sic], East and West Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina, and Virginia (1775)
• Henry Spackman Pancoast, The Indian before the Law (Indian Rights Association, 1884)
• J. P. Kinney,Continent Lost - A Civilization Won: Indian Land Tenure in America (1937)
• United States Commission on Civil Rights,Indian Tribes: A Continuing Quest for Survival: A Report (1981)
• Indian Law Reporter (1974-2013) (added in Feb. 2020)

The University of Washington School of Law hosts the annual Western Regional Indian Law Symposium. The printed CLE materials are found at KF8224.C6W47 at Classified Stacks & Reference Area Microfiche. Indexes to the materials cover statutes, cases, tribes, and subjects discussed.

University of Washington Law School professor Ralph Johnson was a noted Indian law scholar and advocate. He founded the UW's Native American Law Center. A bibliography of his publications is here. A profile by David W. Getches is at 72 Wash. L. Rev. 995 (1997), available on HeinOnline (UW Restricted).