New York Ex Rel. Kennedy v. Becker
Headline: New York’s authority to enforce fish-and-game law against Seneca tribe members fishing off-reservation is upheld, ruling treaty-reserved hunting and fishing rights are nonexclusive and subject to state regulation.
Holding:
- Allows New York to enforce its fish-and-game law against Seneca members fishing off the reservation.
- Treaty reservation creates a nonexclusive easement, not immunity from state regulation.
- Leaves questions about fishing rights on the reservation undecided.
Summary
Background
Three Seneca men who lived on the Cattaraugus Reservation and were under the care of a United States Indian agent were arrested for spearing fish in Eighteen Mile Creek in Erie County, New York, outside the reservation. They were charged under §176 of New York’s Conservation Law for taking or possessing fish. The defendants argued their 1797 treaty reservation of the right to fish and hunt on the lands they had ceded to Robert Morris protected them from state prosecution. A lower New York court initially discharged them, but the Appellate Division and the Court of Appeals reversed and held the state law applied.
Reasoning
The central question was whether the 1797 treaty reservation kept the State from regulating fishing on the ceded lands. The Court explained that the reservation was a nonexclusive privilege to fish and hunt in common with landowners and others, not a reservation of sovereign power. Allowing a separate tribal sovereignty at that spot would prevent either the State or private owners from conserving fish and game. The Court relied on prior decisions recognizing treaty fishing easements but held those easements are subject to reasonable state regulation. The Court therefore affirmed the state court judgment.
Real world impact
The decision means New York can enforce its conservation law against these Seneca men for fishing off the reservation on ceded lands. It does not decide fishing rights within the reservation itself, and it leaves other relations between the State and tribes unchanged. The ruling treats the treaty right as limited and compatible with state regulation.
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