Year: 1978
Type: article
Abstract: Background information on court decisions over Pueblo Indian water rights is examined. The U.S. District Court for New Mexico determined in 1966 that the Pueblo water rights are not subject to the 1924 and 1933 state law of prior appropriation, but are not technically reserved rights. The history of this litigation requires documentation back to Mexican and Spanish jurisdiction over the area when land titles were given by treaty for both Indian and non-Indian rights. Several court decisions have defined the limits of these rights and have denied the state's efforts to manipulate the law. The court did not make a clear decision on whether the rights are reserved, however, because the case was not consistent with precedents. This leads to the conclusion that a land reservation is not required to have a reserved right as long as the land is held in trust by the Federal government with the intent to reserve waters that were not previously appropriated.
Author: A.P. Maynez
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W193984454