The Indian Claims Commission Act

Abstract

Awareness of the specific need for solving problems of jurisdiction and finance in Indian litigation, a growing feeling that Indian claims should re ceive more speedy and just attention, and administrative expedience combined to cause Congress to adopt the Indian Claims Commission Act in 1942 and to extend it ten years later to 1962. The author describes the types of claims that arise and discusses some of the issues involved with special reference to the role of expert testimony by anthropologists, whose views have been sought in order to clarify such matters as the identification of tribes and the original boundaries of their lands.—Ed.