Dixon v. State

This is a claim to recover damages for an appropriation of lands on the Onondaga Indian Reservation by the State for the reconstruction of a State highway.

The Onondaga Indian Tribe differs from any other tribes of the country inasmuch as it still retains tribal customs and laws. The lands on the reservation are owned by the whole tribe as communal property. The tribe originally assigned specific lands to individual members thereof. The right acquired therein by the individual Indian is that of life possession or usufruct, subject'to conditions and limitations. This seisin or determinable…