25 U.S.C. § 202

Inducing conveyances by Indians of trust interests in lands

Read at: OLRCuscode.house.gov CornellLII GovInfogovinfo.gov JustiaTitle 25 CasesGoogle Scholar

It shall be unlawful for any person to induce any Indian to execute any contract, deed, mortgage, or other instrument purporting to convey any land or any interest therein held by the United States in trust for such Indian, or to offer any such contract, deed, mortgage, or other instrument for record in the office of any recorder of deeds. Any person violating this provision shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500 for the first offense, and if convicted for a second offense may be punished by a fine not exceeding $500 or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court. This section shall not apply to any lease or other contract authorized by law to be made.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 5 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1970–2025 · leading case: Tooahnippah v. Hickel
Tooahnippah v. Hickel (1970) scotus · cites it 2× “held by the United States in trust for such Indian," 25 U. S. C. § 202 . Under an elaborate regulatory scheme, it is only by securing the prior approval of the Secretary of the Interior that someone like George Chahsenah, the decedent here, could sell, mortgage, or give away his…”
NAHNO-LOPEZ v. Houser (2009) okwd · cites it 3× “§ 177 ; — Title 25 U.S.C. § 202 ; — Title 25 U.S.C. § 345 ; — Title 25 U.”
Northwest South Dakota Production Credit Ass'n v. Smith (1986) ca8 “855 , 857 (codified at 25 U.S.C. § 202 ). Handbook at 618-19. . PCA asserts that it has "no alternate forum” to support the existence of federal jurisdiction.”
UTE Indian Tribe of the Uintah v. Lawrence (2018) utd “25 U.S.C. § 202 ; see also 25 U.S.C. § 396 (hereinafter The Indian Mineral Leasing Act of 1938) (providing that leases of Indian property held in trust by the United States may be leased for mining purposes upon approval by the Secretary of the Interior).”
Sleighter v. United States (2025) sdd “See 25 U.S.C. § 202 (a)(1)(A)(i). Regulations related to road maintenance are found at Subpart G of 25 C.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.