State v. Rufus

237 N.W. 67, 205 Wis. 317, 1931 Wisc. LEXIS 46
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedJune 12, 1931
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 237 N.W. 67 (State v. Rufus) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Rufus, 237 N.W. 67, 205 Wis. 317, 1931 Wisc. LEXIS 46 (Wis. 1931).

Opinion

Nelson, J.

The question reported inquires as to the jurisdiction of a state court to entertain a prosecution of an Indian having tribal relations and residing on a reservation, for the crime of statutory rape committed within the limits of a reservation, upon an Indian having tribal relations and residing upon a reservation. This question is an important one, not only to the state of Wisconsin but also to all tribal Indians still residing upon Indian reservations located within this state.

As early as 1879 this court, in State v. Doxtater, 47 Wis. 278, 2 N. W. 439, which was a case of first impression in this court and involving substantially this same question, held that, when not restricted by existing treaties with Indian tribes, or by an act admitting a state into the Union, and not restricted by the authority of Congress under the federal constitution to “regulate commerce with the Indian tribes,” the jurisdiction of a state extended to all members of such tribes within the territorial limits of the state; that the criminal laws of this state applied to the Indians on their reservations, and that the circuit court had jurisdiction of all violations of the criminal laws, whether by Indians or others, committed upon Indian reservations. In this case an Indian was prosecuted in the circuit court for Brown county for the crime of adultery with a white woman, committed upon the Oneida Indian reservation. Doxtater, the Indian, was convicted, as was also the woman. State v. Harris, 47 Wis. 298, 2 N. W. 543.

It is manifest that if the opinion of the court in State v. Doxtater is sound, then the answer to the question reported should be ruled by that case and would require little effort to answer.

[321]*321The opinion in the Doxtater Case is based upon several propositions of law which, in the light of later controlling decisions of the United States supreme court, must be considered unsound. The court held that “after the passage of the act of Congress of 1834, upon the formation of any - state out of the country designated in that act as the Indian country, and its admission into the Union on equal terms with the original states, the jurisdiction of the United States to punish for crimes committed upon the Indian reservations within such state would be lost, unless reserved by the act admitting such state into the Union,” and that “the power to punish crimes after that, upon the reservations within the state, must be either vested in the state or remain with the tribes themselvesthat “the jurisdiction of the state, when not restricted by existing treaties made with the tribes, or by the act admitting the state into the Union, is supreme over the subject, and extends to all persons and places within the state,” and that “the criminal laws of this state were intended to apply to the Indians living upon the reservations therein.”

The following quotations taken from the opinion of Mr. Justice Taylor in State v. Doxtater are illustrative of the views of the court entertained at that time, in the light of the then existing laws and decisions (p. 291) :

“Unless the jurisdiction of the state over the territory occupied by the Indians within its boundaries is prohibited by the act admitting the state into the Union, or by some existing treaty with the Indians occupying such territory at the time of its admission, there does not seem to be any authority in Congress to pass laws for the government or control of such Indians, or to prohibit the states from passing such laws, except the provision of the constitution which authorizes Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes. Under this provision of the constitution, Congress has passed laws regulating trade with the Indians, requiring the taking out of licenses for that purpose, prohibiting the [322]*322selling of intoxicating liquors to them, and other things which come within the power to regulate commerce; but it never has been contended that under this provision Congress had the power to pass laws generally for the punishment of crimes committed on these reservations, either by the Indians or by other persons.”

This court, after a consideration of the then existing authorities, entertained no doubt that the criminal laws of this state applied to the Indians on their reservations within this state.

A reading of the opinion by Mr. Justice Tayeok reveals that the conclusions arrived at were the result of an extended study and consideration of the then existing decisions of both the federal and state courts. That great confusion existed among the decisions relating to Indians prior to the enactment by Congress of the law of 1885, hereinafter specifically set forth, is perfectly apparent when the numerous and varied decisions dealing with the Indians are considered. The confusing history of state and federal legislation and judicial decisions upon matters affecting the relations of our governments to the Indians was pointed out in People ex rel. Cusick v. Daly, 212 N. Y. 183, 105 N. E. 1048. In that case, at page 196, it was said:

“The Indians, although native sons of our soil, are not citizens either of the nation or state. They are heralded as the wards of the nation, and in their collective or tribal capacity they have been relegated to the status of- foreign nations with whom the federal government has entered into treaty relations. This anomaly has been accentuated by the state legislation aqd treaties which, from time to time and in various ways, have indicated the purpose of the state to subject the Indians within our borders to the control of our laws and the jurisdiction of our courts.”

In view of the fact that State v. Doxtater was decided before Congress enacted the law of March 3, 1885, now sec. 328 of the Criminal Code of the United States, and be[323]*323fore the many decisions hereinafter cited were handed down by the United States supreme court and by the numerous state courts, it is not at all to be wondered at that the views expressed by this court in 1879 are not sound, when considered in connection with the overwhelming current of authority establishing the law during the past fifty years.

It is apparent from what has already been said, that any doubt as to how the reported question should be answered arises out of the question as to whether the state or the United States has jurisdiction of crimes committed by Indians upon Indian reservations. It is quite obvious that the question before us is a federal question and that, no matter what our former holdings may have been, we are constrained to follow the rules laid down by the supreme court of the United States, if rules applicable to a determination of this controversy have been clearly established. As was said in Yohyowan v. Luce, 291 Fed. 425, 429, “but in any event, both this court and the supreme court of the state of Washington are bound by the decision of the' supreme court of the United States; the question involved being one arising under the laws of the United States and capable of being determined by that court finally, whether . . . the question originates in a state or in a federal court.”

Has this question been determined by the supreme court of the United States in a manner adverse to- the holding of this court in the Doxtater Case?

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
237 N.W. 67, 205 Wis. 317, 1931 Wisc. LEXIS 46, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-rufus-wis-1931.