Navajo Courts and Navajo Common Law

by Austin, Raymond D.

• ISBN13: 9780816665365
• ISBN10: 0816665362
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-12-16
• Publisher: Univ of Minnesota Pr

Summary

The Navajo Nation court system is the largest and most established tribal legal system in the world. Since the landmark 1959 U.S. Supreme Court decision inWilliams v. Leethat affirmed tribal court authority over reservation-based claims, the Navajo Nation has been at the vanguard of a far-reaching, transformative jurisprudential movement among Indian tribes in North America and indigenous peoples around the world to retrieve and use traditional values to address contemporary legal issues.A justice on the Navajo Nation Supreme Court for sixteen years, Justice Raymond D. Austin has been deeply involved in the movement to develop tribal courts and tribal law as effective means of modern self-government. He has written foundational opinions that have established Navajo common law and, throughout his legal career, has recognized the benefit of tribal customs and traditions as tools of restorative justice.InNavajo Courts and Navajo Common Law, Justice Austin considers the history and implications of how the Navajo Nation courts apply foundational Navajo doctrines to modern legal issues. He explains key Navajo foundational concepts like Hozho (harmony), K'e (peacefulness and solidarity), and K'ei (kinship) both within the Navajo cultural context and, using the case method of legal analysis, as they are adapted and applied by Navajo judges in virtually every important area of legal life in the tribe.In addition to detailed case studies, Justice Austin provides a broad view of tribal law, documenting the development of tribal courts as important institutions of indigenous self-governance and outlining how other indigenous peoples, both in North America and elsewhere around the world, can draw on traditional precepts to achieve self-determination and self-government, solve community problems, and control their own futures.

Author Biography

Justice Raymond D. Austin is the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program’s Distinguished Jurist in Residence at the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. A member of the Arizona and Utah state bars and the Navajo Nation Bar Association, he served on the Navajo Nation Supreme Court from 1985 to 2001. Justice Austin is DinT from the Navajo Nation.

Table of Contents

Foreword The Tribal Law Revolution in Indian Country Today	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. xv
Introduction
Modern Issues, Ancient Traditions: Going Back to Fundamental Values	p. xvii
The Navajo Nation Court System
Brief Navajo History
History of the Navajo Nation Courts Modern Navajo Nation Courts	p. 1
Foundational Dine Law Principles
Returning to Traditional Navajo Laws and Methods	p. 37
Hózh&Qacute; (Peace, Harmony, and Balance)
Hózh&Qacute; in Navajo Culture
Hózh&Qacute; in the Navajo Nation Courts	p. 53
K’s é(Kinship Unity through Positive Values)
K’é in Navajo Culture
K’é in the Navajo Nation Courts
K’é Informs Individual and Community Rights
K’é as the Basis for Equitable Rights	p. 83
K’éi (Descent, Clanship, and Kinship)
K’éi in Navajo Culture
K’éi informs Traditional Domestic Matters
K’éi in the Navajo Nation Courts Descent and Distribution	p. 137
Conclution
Law Is the Product of Human Experience	p. 199
Glossary of Navajo Words and Kinship Terms	p. 203
Notes	p. 207
Index	p. 251
Index to Navajo Nation Court Cases, Council Resolutions, and Statutes	p. 259
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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