## Facts

- A substantial portion of the Cayuga Nation (one of the Six Nations) moved in 1784 from the Buffalo Creek area in New York to the Grand River in Canada; other Cayugas remained in New York.
- The State of New York concluded treaties with the Cayuga Nation in 1789, 1790, and 1795 for cessions of Cayuga lands; the 1795 treaty (which the tribunal treated as merging the earlier covenants) provided an annuity of **$1,800 per year “forever”** to the “Cayuga Nation,” payable at Canandaigua, New York.
- For years after the treaty, annuity payments were made in a manner that allowed Cayugas residing in Canada to receive a share; by about **1810–1811**, payment practice shifted so that the annuity was paid only to Cayugas residing in the United States.
- In the War of 1812, Cayugas in the United States and Cayugas in Canada supported opposing sides.
- **Article IX of the Treaty of Ghent (1814)** required the United States to restore to the Indian tribes with which it had been at war “all the possessions, rights, and privileges” they had enjoyed or been entitled to in **1811**.
- Great Britain, acting “on behalf of the Cayuga Indians in Canada” (Grand River Cayugas, treated as British subjects), presented a claim in 1912 seeking (i) the whole annuity from 1810 onward, or (ii) a proportionate share measured by the relative numbers of Cayugas in Canada and in the United States.
- The dispute was decided by the **American–British Claims Arbitration Tribunal** constituted under the **18 August 1910** Agreement; the final award issued on **22 January 1926**.

## Issues

1. Whether an Indian tribe is a subject of international law capable of holding and asserting treaty-based rights against a State in international proceedings.
2. Whether, after the American Revolution, the Cayuga Nation was under British protection or instead under the protection of New York (and thus a legal unit only by New York law), and whether the Cayuga Nation had British nationality at the time the claim arose.
3. Whether Great Britain could present the claim on behalf of Cayugas residing in Canada as British subjects.
4. Whether the New York treaties—especially the 1795 annuity covenant to the “Cayuga Nation”—required that Cayugas residing in Canada receive a share of the $1,800 annuity.
5. Whether Article IX of the Treaty of Ghent required restoration of the Canadian Cayugas’ annuity rights as of 1811 after the War of 1812.
6. If a right existed, how to quantify arrears and how to set any continuing division of the annuity between Cayugas in Canada and in New York.

## Decision

- The tribunal held that an **Indian tribe is not a legal unit of international law**, and exists as a legal unit only so far as recognized by the law of the sovereign within whose territory it occupies land.
- It held that, at the Revolution, **New York State (not the United States) succeeded to the British Crown as the protecting power** of the Cayuga Nation within New York; the “Cayuga Nation” contracting with New York was, so far as it had legal status, a unit of New York law.
- It concluded that the Cayuga Nation, at the time the claim arose, **did not have British nationality** in the sense required to treat the Nation itself as a British international person.
- The tribunal nevertheless proceeded with the case as presented by Great Britain on behalf of Cayugas in Canada and determined that, under the New York treaty annuity obligation and **Article IX of the Treaty of Ghent**, the Grand River Cayugas had been wrongfully deprived of their share once payment was confined to Cayugas resident in the United States.
- Because exact historical population figures and distributions were not available for every period, the tribunal used an **equitable apportionment** to calculate a substantial **lump-sum award for past unpaid annuity shares** and set a **fixed proportion of the annuity for future payments** in favor of the Canadian Cayugas.

## Legal Principles

- Indian tribes, as such, are not subjects of public international law; their legal character depends on recognition by the municipal law of the sovereign exercising territorial authority.
- Succession of protective authority can follow internal territorial change: after independence, New York succeeded to the British Crown’s protective role over the Cayugas within New York for purposes of the New York–Cayuga treaties.
- A claimant State may, in appropriate arbitral proceedings, present a claim on behalf of persons regarded as its nationals (including Indigenous communities resident in its territory) even if the tribe itself is not treated as an international legal person.
- A treaty annuity payable to a collective beneficiary (“the Cayuga Nation”) can require distribution to members living outside the treaty-maker’s territory when text and historical payment practice show that the beneficiary group was treated as including those members.
- Restoration clauses in peace treaties (here, Treaty of Ghent, Article IX) protect “rights and privileges” held or enjoyed in the baseline year (1811) and can require reinstatement of benefits cut off due to wartime divisions.
- International arbitral tribunals may apply equitable methods to apportion and value long-running monetary obligations when strict proof is incomplete, in order to reach a workable monetary award and a practicable rule for future performance.

## Conclusion

In *Cayuga Indians (Gr. Brit.) v. United States*, the American–British Claims Arbitration Tribunal ruled that the Cayuga Nation was not an international legal person and that New York—not Great Britain—was the successor protecting authority after the Revolution, but it still entertained Great Britain’s claim on behalf of Canadian-resident Cayugas and held that, under the New York annuity treaties and Article IX of the Treaty of Ghent, the Grand River Cayugas were entitled to an equitably determined share of the $1,800 perpetual annuity, with a lump-sum recovery for past nonpayment and a fixed proportional share for the future.


Cayuga Indians (Gr. Brit.) v. United States, 6 R.I.A.A. 173 (Am.-Brit. Cl. Arb. Trib. 1926).