25 U.S.C. § 264
Section 264 · Trading without license; white persons as clerks
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 23 court decisions — leading case Warren Trading Post Company v. Arizona State Tax Commission (1965)
Most recently applied in Mashantucket Pequot Tribe v. Town of Ledyard (July 2013)
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.
Any person other than an Indian of the full blood who shall attempt to reside in the Indian country, or on any Indian reservation, as a trader, or to introduce goods, or to trade therein, without such license, shall forfeit all merchandise offered for sale to the Indians or found in his possession, and shall moreover be liable to a penalty of $500: Provided, That this section shall not apply to any person residing among or trading with the Choctaws, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Creeks, or Seminoles, commonly called the Five Civilized Tribes, residing in said Indian country, and belonging to the Union Agency therein: And provided further, That no white person shall be employed as a clerk by any Indian trader, except such as trade with said Five Civilized Tribes, unless first licensed so to do by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, under and in conformity to regulations to be established by the Secretary of the Interior.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
R.S. §2133 derived from act June 30, 1834, ch. 161, §4, 4 Stat. 729.
Act July 31, 1882, inserted “of the full blood” and “or on any Indian reservation” and added the two provisos.
Transfer of Functions
For transfer of functions of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of the Interior, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of the Interior, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1950, §§1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1262, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
Cross References
Persons permitted to trade with Indians, see section 262 of this title.