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[underline]Legal Assistance -
Attorney Contract Fund[/underline] RESOLUTION NO. 21

WHEREAS, the United States as trustee for tribal and individual Indian property is required to provide legal or other assistance, as needed, in the protection of such property and any rights attached thereto, the United States Code (Title 25, Section 175) requiring that the United States District Attorneys shall represent the Indians in all suits; and

WHEREAS, Indian Tribes in requesting legal assistance in matters affecting their trust property or the rights deriving from such property are frequently informed that the matters are not of a nature to warrant assistance by United States Attorneys; or the Attorneys are otherwise engaged and cannot provide assistance; or even in the event that a United States Attorney is available to assist an Indian Tribe, the party against whom the Tribe desires to institute action may be in the United States Government itself; and thus for various reasons the legal protection which the Indian people should obtain from the Trustee is effectively nullified, and the people may not be financially able to employ and pay for the services of legal counsel;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the National Congress of American Indians in convention assembled, Salt Lake City, Utah, September 24 to 28, 1956, that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Secretary of the interior be requested to seek from Congress an appropriation of special funds, to be known as "Attorney Contract Fund," which will be available to Indian tribes to pay for the services of attorneys of their own choice, under contracts for services approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

[underline]Reservation Boundaries - 
Unlawful Entry - 
Hunting/Fishing Rights[/underline] RESOLUTION NO. 22

WHEREAS, the exterior boundaries of many, perhaps most, Indian Reservations have not been clearly marked by fencing or suitable warning signs, a condition which leads to unlawful entry and misappropriation of Indian property; and 

WHEREAS, most State laws regarding hunting and fishing and unlawful trespass require that private property be posted, if the owner desires to exclude hunters and fishermen, and must be fenced, if the owner is to claim the protection of trespass laws; and

WHEREAS, at the present neither the Federal nor State courts have jurisdiction on Indian Reservations with respect to illegal fishing and the Tribal Courts have jurisdiction only with respect to their own tribal members or the members of other Indian Tribes, but cannot take any action other than eviction from the Reservation against a non-Indian who fishes in violation of a Tribal Ordinance;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by the National Congress of American Indians in convention assembled, Salt Lake City, Utah, September 24 to 28, 1956, that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs be requested to take early action to correct these conditions by (1) Surveying Reservation boundaries, if they are not now surveyed, as authorized by the United States Code (25 U.S.C., Section 176), and erecting fences or other suitable markers to comply with Federal or State laws respecting hunting and fishing and trespass, in order that illegal entry upon Indian Reservations may be prosecuted in appropriate courts, and (2) by seeking legislation which will correct the now imperfect legal authority to act in the case of unlawful entry, particularly in the case of unlawful fishing by non-Indians, and establish adequate penalties.

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-11-24 15:37:30 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-11-26 11:55:36