48 U.S.C. § 1451
Section 1451 · Rights of Indians not impaired; boundaries
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case Tenorio v. Tenorio (1940)
Most recently applied in In re Admission of Unger (July 2002)
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.
Nothing in title 23 of the Revised Statutes shall be construed to impair the rights of person or property pertaining to the Indians in any Territory, so long as such rights remain unextinguished by treaty between the United States and such Indians, or to include any Territory which, by treaty with any Indian tribe, is not, without the consent of such tribe, embraced within the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any State or Territory; but all such territory shall be excepted out of the boundaries, and constitute no part of any Territory now or hereafter organized until such tribe signifies its assent to the President to be embraced within a particular Territory. As used herein, the term “Territory” does not include the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, or the Northern Mariana Islands.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
Title 23 of the Revised Statutes, referred to in text, was in the original “this Title”, meaning title XXIII of the Revised Statutes, consisting of R.S. §§1839 to 1976, and which, insofar as classified to the Code, is classified to sections 1451 to 1455, 1457 to 1460a, 1463, 1463a, 1465, 1467 to 1470, 1480, and 1482 to 1485 of this title and to sections 644 to 647, 649, and 655 to 657 of Title 16, Conservation. For complete classification of R.S. §§1839 to 1976 to the Code, see Tables.
Codification
R.S. §1839 derived from N.M., act Sept. 9, 1850, ch. 49, §2, 9 Stat. 447. Utah, act Sept. 9, 1850, ch. 51, §1, 9 Stat. 453. Wash., act Mar. 2, 1853, ch. 90, §1, 10 Stat. 172. Colo., act Feb. 28, 1861, ch. 59, §1, 12 Stat. 172. Dak., act Mar. 2, 1861, ch. 86, §1, 12 Stat. 239. Ariz., act Feb. 24, 1863, ch. 56, §1, 12 Stat. 664. Idaho, act Mar. 3, 1863, ch. 117, §1, 12 Stat. 808. Mont., act May 26, 1864, ch. 95, §1, 13 Stat. 85. Wyo., act July 25, 1868, ch. 235, §1, 15 Stat. 178.
Amendments
1983—Pub. L. 98–213 inserted provisions excluding from the term “Territory” the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, or the Northern Mariana Islands.