State v. Moses

Evanescent as the morning mists on the shimmering waters of Puget Sound is the law of Indian treaties. One moment it is there, soon to vanish in a swirl of conflicting, diverging and incomprehensible precedents. Deci*105sions intended to declare the meaning and to describe the effect and operation of Indian treaties tend in time to generate a system of judicial vapor trails which obscure more often than elucidate the treaties under consideration. This is another Indian fishing case that leaves unanswered more questions than it resolves.

In a written memorandum opinion, the learned trial judge…