Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation v. Wold Engineering, P. C.

This litigation presents issues of state-court civil jurisdiction over a claim asserted by an Indian tribe. The case, as it comes to us, is somewhat unusual in a central respect: the Tribe seeks, rather than contests, state-court jurisdiction, and the non-Indian party is in opposition. Cf. Williams v. Lee, 358 U. S. 217 (1959).

Chapter 27-19 of the North Dakota Century Code (1974) is entitled “Indian Civil Jurisdiction.” Section 27-19-01 of that

*141Code provides that the jurisdiction of North Dakota courts shall extend “over all civil causes of action which arise on an Indian reservation upon…