25 U.S.C. § 194
Section 194 · Trial of right of property; burden of proof
Applied in 34 court decisions — leading case County of Oneida New York v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York State New York (1985)
Most recently applied in New York v. Shinnecock Indian Nation (June 2012)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
In all trials about the right of property in which an Indian may be a party on one side, and a white person on the other, the burden of proof shall rest upon the white person, whenever the Indian shall make out a presumption of title in himself from the fact of previous possession or ownership.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
R.S. §2126 derived from act June 30, 1834, ch. 161, §22, 4 Stat. 733.