1/23/22

INDIGENOUS LAW

1. International human law and its relationship to indigenous law

2. Individual human rights and people’s rights
a. Indiv:
i. Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every
person in the world, from birth until death
ii. Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race,
sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or other status
b. People’s
i. To promote and maintain:
1. Religion
2. Culture
3. Language
4. Etc
3. Questions to think about
a. What is the relationship between citizenship and self-determination?
b. Where do the rights of peoples end asn the rights of individuals begin (and vice
versa)?

Section notes 1/24/23

1. Blackfoot campaign to establish national park

In the newspaper story below, the author recounts a campaign to establish a tribal national park.
Imagine that the Blackfeet are successful. Given what you know about indigenous law, how
might the creation and management of a national park present new opportunities, but also new
challenges for a tribal legal system? For example, consider how management of a national park
would ensure a close connection to the land, but also engage tribal members in new practices,
such as business, that are not addressed by their tradition. Do you think this plan will
extend or shorten the Blackfeet legal tradition?

New opportunities
- Profit
- Economic growth
- Spread awareness
- Increase longevity of people as whole
- Don’t necessarily need to adopt western legal system
- But it does require adaptation
 - Preservation of tradition into national park and profiting off tourism
- Restoring what’s rightfully theirs in the first place
- Teaches the importance of tradition
- Fishing, hunting, etc
New challenges
- Safety regulations
- Lose indigenous law/tradition because of integration in western systems
- Could impose western narrative of taking control of own culture (so adopting western
tradition in this)
- Challenges indigenous legal system
-
Will plan extend or shorten the blackfeet legal tradition
- Extend: spread awareness and not shorten; livelihood and tradition of land
- Shorten:

Class notes 1/25/23

1. Solving a problem: a written law to hold the community together

a. Revealed and written law
i. Tradition had been lost during captivity
ii. Nsdjkfnkjsnfkas
iii. Unifies the people (social cohesion)
1. Law is no longer based on a groupe tradition bu an outside source
a. Fklfnsdafoawer
2. Written law solves problems and creates problems
a. Religious
i. Based on sacred texts
ii. Covers all aspects of life - living a religious life is living life according to
the law/sacred texts
b. Interpretation
i. 10 commandments are 3500 years old
ii. Example: 5. honor your father and mother
1. But what does honor mean?
3. How does law change without the written law changing?
4. Layers of written law
a. Written torah
i. What was revealed to moses and written down
ii. First five books of jewish bible
b. Mishnah (oral torah)
 i. Moses’ oral explanation of the written torah
1. Other prophets added to it during the rise of israel
ii. Written
c. Talmud (“to study”)
i. commentaries/interpretations of the mishnah
ii. Collected the best commentaries over centuries and write….
d. Reponsa
i. Applications of the law by rabbis
ii. Responses to questions
5. Examples of types of interpretations
a. Literal: according to the letter of the law
i. What did it mean at the time of Revelation?
b. Analogy: applying to other “like” issues
i. How can we apply it to similar activities today?
c. Spirit of law: drawings general principle
i. What’s the intent
6. Today: traditions of interpretation
a. Orthodox: strict adherence to traditional interpretations
b. Reformed
c. Conservative
7. Resolving disputes

ISLAMIC LEGAL TRADITION

1. Starts with revelation with the prophet muhammad

a. The koran
i. Sunna
ii. Ijma: consensus on interpretation of the law made during the first
centuries of islam
iii. Qiyas: applying the new to new circumstances through analogy
b. Shari’a “the way/the path”
i. Covers daily life

RELIGIOUS LAW IN MODERN, CUL

What’s the purpose of charity?

 - Paying it forward
- To what? To whom? Why?
- Out of obligation
- What’s the purpose of this?
- Obligation to what? To who?
- Out of morality/ethics
- Why? What purpose does this serve?
Charities shouldn’t have to exist in the first place
Why do people form religions?