Seneca Nation of Indians v. United States

The Seneca Nation, in the third of three cases under the Indian Claims Commission Act, 25 U.S.C. § 70a, involving the transfer of Indian land to others than the United States,1 sues for indemnification for a tract in New York taken by that state by eminent domain in the middle of the last century. The claim was denied by the Indian Claims Commission. 12 Ind. Cl. Comm. 552.

The earlier history of the Seneca region of New York is *914sketched in the two companion opinions (see fn. 1, supra) .2 That territory was never part of the federal domain, but was largely disposed of pursuant to the Hartford…