The Dominant Society's Judicial Reluctance to Allow Tribal Civil Law to Apply to Non-Indians: Reservation Diminishment, Modern Demography and the Indian Civil Rights Act

Begin at the beginning: there was a time, not so long ago as such things are reckoned-say, about half as long as there has been a country called Hungary-during which only American Indians lived in and around what is now the Commonwealth of Virginia. A time when Europeans, Africans and Asians were entirely occupied with managing the affairs of Europe, Africa and Asia, to mixed effect. A time when the subject of this article was entirely theoretical; when the question of applying tribal law to non-Indians was answered neither "yes" or "no" but simply did not arise, putting aside the welcome, or not, given the odd Scandinavian.