ASL-KF50.U58v.48-p388
388
74TH
CONGRESS. SESS.
I. CH.
275. JUNE 19, 1935.
[CHAPTER 275.]
June 19,1935.
[H. R. 2756.]
[Public,
No. 152].]
Authorizing
the Tlingit
and Haida
Indians of Alaska to bring suit in the United
States
Court of Claims, and conferring jurisdiction upon said court to hear,
examine,
adjudicate, and enter judgment upon any and all claims which said
Indians
may have, or claim to have, against the United States, and for other
purposes.
Tlingit
and Haida
Indians
of Alaska.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United
States
of America
in Congress assembled^
That for the pur-
poses
of this Act the Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska shall be
defined
to be all those Indians of the whole or mixed blood of the
Tlingit
and Haida Tribes who are residing in Russian America, now
called
the Territory of Alaska,
in the region known and described as
southeastern
Alaska,
lying east of the one hundred and forty-first
meridian.
Claims of, may be
submitted to
Court
of ,
Claims.
Settlement
and de-
carnation of amounts
due.
Jurisdiction
con-
ferred.
SEC. 2. All claims of whatever nature, legal or equitable, which
the said
Tlingit
and Haida Indians
of Alaska may have,
or claim to
have, against the United States, for lands or other
tribal or com-
munity property rights, taken from them by the United
States
without compensation therefor, or for the failure or refusal of the
United States to compensate them for said lands or
other tribal
or community property rights, claimed to be owned by
said Indians,
and which the United States appropriated to its own
uses and pur-
poses without the consent of said Indians, or for the failure or
refusal of the United States to protect their interests
in lands or
other tribal or community property in Alaska, and for
loss of use
of the same, at the time of the purchase of the said
Russian America,
now Alaska, from Russia, or at any time since that date and prior
to the passage and approval of this Act, shall be
submitted to the
said Court of Claims by said Tlingit and Haida Indians
of Alaska
for the settlement and determination of the equitable
and just value
amount equitably and justly due to said Indians
from
the United States therefor; and the loss to said Indians of
their
right, title,
or interest,
arising from occupancy and use, in
lands
or other tribal or community property, without just compen-
sation
therefor, shall be held sufficient ground for relief hereunder;
and
jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon said Court to hear such
claims
and to render judgment and decree thereon for such sum as
said
court shall find to be equitable and just for the reasonable
value
of their said property,
if any was so taken by the United
States
without the consent of the said Indians and without compen-
sation
therefor; that from the decision of the Court of Claims in
any
suit or suits prosecuted under the authority of this Act an
appeal
may be taken by either party, as in other cases, to the
Supreme
Court of the United States.
Presentation of
claims.
Time
for filing suit.
Final
judgment; ef-
fect.
Authority
of court.
sec. 3. That the claim or claims of said Tlingit and Haida Indians
of
Alaska may be presented and prosecuted separately or jointly in
one
or more suits,
by petition or petitions setting out the facts upon
which
they base their demands for relief and judgment or decree;
the
petition or petitions may be amended when necessary more fully
or
specifically to set forth their said claim or claims, and said suit
or
suits shall be filed in said Court of Claims within seven years
after
the date of the passage of this Act;
such suit or suits shall make
the
said Indians parties plaintiff and the United States party
defendant, and the final judgment or decree shall conclude and
for-
ever
settle the claim or claims so presented; the Court of Claims
shall
have full authority by proper orders and process to bring in
and
make parties to such suit or suits any and all parties deemed
by
it necessary or proper to the final determination of the matters in
controversy;
such petition or petitions may be verified by any
74TH
CONGRESS. SESS.
I. CH.
275. JUNE 19, 1935.
389
Employment
of at-
torneys
for Indians.
attorney
or attorneys employed by said Indians, under contract
approved
by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Secretary
of
the Interior, and said contract shall be executed in behalf of said
Indians
by a committee chosen by them under the direction and
approval
of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Secretary of
the
Interior; verification may be upon information and belief as to
the
facts alleged;
a true copy of the written contract or contracts by
which
such attorney or attorneys are employed by said Indians to
represent
them in such suit or suits shall be filed in said Court of
Claims,
as their authority by the said attorney or attorneys to so
appear
in said suit or suits for said Indians and to prosecute their
said
claim or claims in said Court of Claims.
Hearings
and settle-
ment
of claims.
Vol.
43, p. 253; U.S.
C.,
p.173.
Prior
payments.
sec. 4. That if any claim or claims shall
be submitted to said
court
it shall hear and settle the equitable and just rights therein,
notwithstanding
lapse of time,
or statutes of limitations, or the fact
that
the said claim or claims have not been presented to any other
tribunal,
or the fact that said Tlingit and Haida
Indians of Alaska
may
have been made citizens of the United States by the Act of
Congress
of June 2,1924 (43 Stat. L.
253), or by any other law of the
United
States, or the fact that the said Indians, or any of them
collectively, prior to the passage and approval of this Act, may have
severed
their tribal relations with the said Tlingit and Haida Tribes.
Any
payment which may have been made by the United States or prior payments.
moneys
heretofore or hereafter expended to date of award for the
benefit .of
the said Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska, made under
specific
appropriations for the support, education, health, and
civilization
of said Indians, including purchase of lands, shall not
be
pleaded as an estoppel but may be pleaded by way of set-off.
Public
records as evidence.
sec.
5.
Official letters, papers,
documents, and public records, or
certified
copies thereof,
from the files and records of the United
States,
or the Territory of Alaska,
and Russian documents and
similar
records,
and historical data and books prepared by American.
or
other standard historians or authors, relating to the subject
matter
in controversy in said suit or suits, may be used in evidence
by
either party, and the departments of the United States Gov-
ernment
shall give the attorneys for both parties access to such
papers,
correspondence, and documents as are in the files.
Commissioner
to
take
testimony, etc.,
authorized.
Vol.
43, p. 964; U.S.
C.,
p.1263.
Witnesses.
Expenses,
Vol.
43, p.965.
sec. 6. The Court of Claims shall appoint at the proper time a
commissioner
or commissioners under the provisions of the
Act
of
February 24, 1925 (43 Stat. L. 964), and Acts supplemental
thereto,
who shall have the aid of a stenographer to take the tes-
timony
to be used in the investigation of such claims. In addition
to
the present powers of such commissioner to take such testimony,
he
is hereby authorized to take the testimony of said Alaska Indians
and
their witnesses at such place or places in Alaska as are most
convenient
for said Indians and their witnesses; that the said
Alaska
Indians shall produce their witnesses in Alaska at such
times
and places as said commissioner shall direct, at their own
expense, but the expenses of said commissioner and stenographer
shall
be paid by the United States out of the funds provided for
such
purposes in the said Act of February 24, 1925, and said
supplemental
Acts.
Indians
entitled to
share
in judgment.
ante,
p.388.
Tribal
roll to be prepared.
sec. 7. That Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska who are
entitled
to share in any judgment or appropriation made to pay
said
claim or claims shall consist of all persons of Tlingit or Haida
blood,
living in or belonging to any local community of these tribes
in
the territory described in section 1 of this Act. Each tribal
commnunity
shall prepare a roll of its tribal membership, which
roll
shall be submitted to a Tlingit and Haida central council for
390
74TH
CONGRESS. SESS.
I. CHS.
275, 276. JUNE 19, 1935.
Approval
of roll;
effect.
its
approval. The said central council shall prepare a combined
roll
of all communities and submit it to the Secretary of the Interior
Approval
of the roll by the said Secretary of the
Interior
shall operate as final proof of the right of such Indian
communities
to share in the benefits of this Act as set forth in
section
8.
Deposits
and expend-
itures.
Provisos.
Use
of interest.
Per capita payments.
SEC. 8. The amount of any judgment in favor of said
Tlingit
and Haida
Indians of Alaska, after payment of attorneys fees,
shall
be apportioned to the different Tlingit and Haida commu-
nities
listed in the roll provided for in section 7 in direct proportion
to
the number of names on each roll,
and shall become an asset
thereof,
and shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States
to
the credit of each community,
and such funds shall bear interest
at
the rate of 4 per centum per annum,
and shall be expended from
time
to time upon requisition by the said communities by and with
advice
and consent of the Secretary of the Interior, and under
regulations
as he may prescribe, for the future economic security
and
stability of said Indian groups, through the acquisition or
creation
of productive economic instruments and resources of public
benefit
to such Indian communities:
Provided however, That the
interest
on such funds may be used for beneficial purposes such
as
the relief of distress, emergency relief and health: Provided
further,
That none of the funds above indicated or the interest
thereon
shall ever be used for per capita payments.
Attorneys' services.
Limitation.
Sec.
9. That upon the final determination of any suit or suits
instituted
under this Act, if there is judgment for the plaintiff
Indians,
the Court of Claims shall inquire into the agreement or
contract
which said Indians have made with their attorneys for
compensation
for their services in said suit or suits, and if said
Court
of Claims shall find that such services have been faithfully
performed
by said attorneys, it shall make a finding to that effect
and
adjudge that said attorneys5
compensation shall be paid as agreed
upon
in said contract out of the appropriation made for the pay-
ment
of the sum found due to said Indians, but in no case to exceed
10
per centum of the amount of the total recovery, and said sum
so
found to be due to said attorneys shall be paid in full out of the
sums
so found due to said Indians and the remainder of said total
sum
due to said Indians shall be expended as provided in section 8
of
this Act.
Notice to Attorney
General, etc.
sec.
10. A copy
of the petition and other pleadings and briefs
in said suit or suits brought under this Act shall be
served upon the
Attorney General of the United States, and he, or some attorney
from the Department of Justice to be designated by him,
is hereby
directed to appear and defend the interests of the
United States in
such case or cases.
Approved,
June 19, 1935.
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