Coombs
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Petition to the Superior Court, dated March 11, 1878, by the selectmen of the town of Mashpee, under the St. of 1870, c. 293, § 6, for an order to sell certain hay and meadow lands of that town, or of the people theretofore known as the Marshpee tribe of Indians.
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Petition to the Superior Court, dated March 11, 1878, by the selectmen of the town of Mashpee, under the St. of 1870, c. 293, § 6, for an order to sell certain hay and meadow lands of that town, or of the people theretofore known as the Marshpee tribe of Indians. Hearing before Wilkinson, J., who ruled that the petition could not be maintained; and reported the case for the determination of this court, in substance as follows : On October 11, 1870, a petition was presented to the Superior Court, by the selectmen of the town of Mashpee, representing “ that there are in said town certain lands,…
1Opinion of the CourtEndicott, J.
By the St. of 1869, e. 463, all Indians within the Commonwealth were declared to be citizens, entitled to the rights and subject to the duties of other citizens of the Commonwealth. Previously to that statute, they were the wards of the Commonwealth, and the title to the lands occupied by the several tribes was in the Commonwealth, and its use and improvement were regulated from time to time by the Legislature. Danzell v. Webquish, 108 Mass. 133, 134. See also St. 1862, e. 184.
In thus enfranchising the Indians and conferring on them the -rights of citizens, it was not the intention of the…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Danzell v. WebquishMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1871
3Cited by12 opinions
- Jones v. MeehanSupreme Court of the United States · 1899
- Eells v. RossCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 1894
- Farrell v. United StatesCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · 1901
- Frazee v. Spokane CountyWashington Supreme Court · 1902
- Mashpee Tribe v. Town of MashpeeDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts · 1978
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