ACTS OF CONGRESS 

 SEC. 601 INDIAN LANDS. 



lands so selected and of the right to prospect for, mine and remove the 

 same in accordance with the provisions of the act of which said section 

 is a part, and such lands shall be subject to all the conditions and 

 limitations of said act. (Act Ap'l 30, '12; 37 Stat. L., p. 105.) 



This section modifies sec. 591, ante. 



All minerals reserved in sale by state : sec. 85, ante. 



Application by state for non-mineral classification : sec. 51, ante. 



SEC. 601. INDIAN LANDS SUITS BY STATE. 



In any suit heretofore or hereafter instituted in the Supreme Court 

 of the United States to determine the right of a state to what are com- 

 monly known as school lands within any Indian reservation or any 

 Indian cession where an Indian tribe claims any right to or interest in 

 the lands in controversy, or in the disposition thereof by the United 

 States, the right of such state may be fully tested and determined with- 

 out making the Indian tribe, or any portion thereof, a party to the suit 

 if the Secretary of the Interior is made a party thereto; and the duty of 

 representing and defending the right or interest of the Indian tribe, or 

 any portion thereof, in the matter shall devolve upon the Attorney 

 General upon the request of such secretary. (Act Mar. 2, '01; 31 Stat. 

 L., p. 950; 6 Fed. Stat. Ann., p. 467; 1 Comp. Stat, p. 1384:) 



Commissioner or Attorney General to appear for state: sec. 50%, ante. 



Cited: 160 U. S. 394 (40 L. Ed. 469) ; 185 U. S. 373 (46 L. Ed. 954) ; 201 

 U. S. 202 (50 L. Ed. 727) ; 202 U. S. 60 (50 L. Ed. 935) ; 202 U. S. 473 (50 

 L. Ed. 1113) ; 30 Land Dec. 620 ; 35 L. D. 450. 



Congress "has by this legislation in effect declared that the Indians, al- 

 though the real parties in interest, need not be made parties to the suit ; that 

 the United States will, for the purposes of litigation, stand as the real party in 

 interest, and so far as it could within constitutional limits has expressed the 

 consent of the government to the maintenance of this suit in this court. By the 

 act, it, in effect, declares that it waives all objections on the ground that 

 it is a mere trustee ; that it assumes the full responsibilities of ownership, and 

 that it will, whatever may be the outcome of any litigation, stand responsible 

 to the Indians for the full value of the lands in controversy. * * * 

 Our conclusion, therefore, is that the original jurisdiction vested by the 

 Constitution in this court over controversies in which a state is a party is not 

 affected by the question whether the state is party plaintiff or party defendant ; 

 that a dispute as to the title to real estate is a question of a justiciable 

 nature, and can properly be determined in a judicial proceeding, and that the 

 United States is to be taken, for the purposes of this case, as the real party 

 in interest adverse to the state. We are of opinion, therefore, that this court 

 has jurisdiction of this controversy, and is called upon to determine the case 

 upon its merits." Minnesota v. Hitchcock, 185 U. S. 373. 



The general scope of the legislation of Congress in regard to public schools 

 and also in regard to Indians as the wards of the government, as well as the 

 technical rules of statutory construction, sustain the contention that none of 

 the lands ceded to Indians passed to the state under the school grants. This is 

 true, although no patent has been executed by the United States to the Indians 

 in severalty or to the tribe at large. Minnesota v. Hitchcock, 185 U. S. 373. 

 See also, Spalding v. Chandler, 160 U. S. 394. 



