This paper makes three related points: first, that many of the present-day legal codes of U.S. Indian tribes are unexpectedly innovative and representative of contemporary indigenous viewpoints, especially in the ways in which individual rights are conceived; second, that the variability in the way the codes treat issues of special concern to women demonstrates the extent of the imprint of local tribal people on their own codes; and third, that analysis of the implications of tribal codes for Indian women is a valuable and hither to undeveloped avenue in clarifying women’s circumstances. I address these points by comparing the categories of code that eight western Washington tribes have created and by looking at a set of legal issues that particularly influence women’s lives. This essay is intended as a preliminary effort to make use of legal materials in the analysis of contemporary Coast Salish life. The codes of these eight tribes vary in their overall emphases, in their legal treatment of family networks, in the rights of parents, and in attention given to women’s issues generally. In 1985, William Rodman commented that legal innovation in small-scale societies “is a topic so few anthropologists have studied that a summary of relevant sources takes only a few paragraphs”; he noted further that “[llegal scholars use ’innovation’ exclusively to denote changes that the state introduces,

This article examines newspaper coverage of Indians in the Skagit Valley of northwest Washington State. Many Indian people there have expressed unease towards the local newspapers and have suggested that the papers have damaged relations between Indian and non-Indian people over a long period, but especially during a treaty-related battle over salmon fishing which led to the so called Boldt decision (U. S. D. Washington,384 F. Supp. 312,1974). Such unease is understandable: This study of local newspapers shows that the nature of contemporary reporting and the historical context of reporting are important to understanding the region's intergroup relations. A content analysis of all articles concerning local Indians in the two most significant community newspapers, the Concrete Herald and the Skagit Vulley Herald, going back to the early part of the century shows that reporting changed during and following the controversial court hearings. Specifically, the nature and volume of reporting about Indians and Indian issues changed significantly during periods of intense interethnic group competition over salmon resources. Relatedly, the volume of reporting about tribes that are not federally recognized as political units (and therefore are ineffective competitors for resources) was less than that of acknowledged tribes.

Over the last few decades more than 100 US Indian tribes have established their own tribal courts and, consequently, have produced (and continue to revise) their own law codes. This paper examines the place of the individual, and individual rights, within several of these communities and, ultimately, within their codes and constitutions. In creating their own legal systems, small scale Indian societies face a different set of problems than those faced by the vastly larger, and differently organized mainstream society. Foremost among these problems is the threat of domination of tribal life by large, powerful, extended families which can potentially erode the circumstances of individuals, other families, and ultimately, the tribe. Extended families, however, remain core cultural and social institutions. As a consequence the problems encountered in creating tribal code are not simply those of balancing two domains (the individual and the collective), but, rather, three: the individual, the kin group, and the tribe. The debate about rights can best focus on the legal relations between both individuals and the larger tribal community and extended families and the tribal community. In considering this topic the relevant issue is not whether western notions of individualism and Indian communalism are compatible when considering tribal code, but rather, how Indian conceptions of individualism and collectivism are related. The argument here is that they are compatible, and, ultimately, inseparable. Scholars have pointed to the significance of the individual within contemporary Indian societies in various ways, but I wish to relate the concept to current issues of community legal development by exploring epistemological issue. This paper points to the importance of accounting for the differences between Indian communities in cosmology, epistemology, and traditions of justice in understanding the individual and the collective.

An important issue facing leaders of elective Indian Reorganization Act tribal governments is how to establish efficacy and create legitimacy in the minds of community members by building the values and ethos of earlier periods into the operation of tribal government and courts. More specifically, DeLoria and Lytle have argued that the “[e]xtensive development of tribal customs as the basis for a tribal court’s decision will enable these institutions to draw even closer to the people.” This paper considers how governments have integrated folk law into the contemporary tribal codes developed over the last two decades by eight Coast Salish tribes of western Washington State. This study does not concern the manner in which colonial, national, or regional governments interpret folk law for use in mainstream courts or for tribal courts operated by the mainstream society. Rather, the focus is on how Indian people themselves approach the incorporation of folk law. The analysis presented here concerns code developed under the authority of tribal governments for use in tribal courts that hold significant, although not complete, jurisdiction. The term folk law is used instead of customary law in order to refer to uncodified, lived law in use or previously in use at the local level. Customary law, on the other hand, is sometimes used to refer to elements of indigenous law codified by a colonial administration for its own benefit and purpose.