Indian Reserved Water Rights: The Winters Doctrine in Its Social and Legal Context
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
In its 1908 decision for "Winters v United States," the Supreme Court affirmed a lower-court ruling guaranteeing the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Indian tribes reserved water rights in the Milk River. Based on the same 1888 treaty that had created the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana, the Winters decision has with some controversy influenced American Indian water rights and western water development as a whole ever since.
"Indian Reserved Water Rights" by John Shurts is the first book-length historical study of the Winters case and its early effects. In contrast to previous explanations of the decision, Shurts demonstrates how the litigation and its outcome fit well within the existing legal context and ongoing water development in the Milk River Valley. He also analyzes the Winters doctrine during its earliest years, primarily through an examination of water-rights litigation on the Uintah Reservation in Utah, showing that it had a lively existence in those years contrary to what has been understood.
About the Author
John Shurts is the General Counsel of the Northwest Power Planning Council and Adjunct Professor of Law at the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon.
Indian Reserved Water Rights: The Winters Doctrine in Its Social and Legal Context,John Shurts,University of Oklahoma Press,0806135417,General,History,History - General History,History: World,Native American
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