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Native American Lawsuit in New York Sheds Light on Dark Aspect of US History
John Miles | What is the legacy from which the United States draws its certainty in the righteousness of American exceptionalism? | “The doctrine of discovery refers to a principle in public international law under which, when a nation ‘discovers’ land, it directly acquires rights on that land,” according to a definition offered by Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute. “This doctrine arose when the European nations discovered non-European lands, and therefore acquired special rights.” ● “More broadly, the doctrine of discovery can be described as an international law doctrine giving authorization to explorers to claim terra nullius [‘uninhabited’ land]... in the name of their sovereign when the land was not populated by Christians.” ● It’s a theory that’s offensive to most modern ears – suggesting settlers have a right to violently confiscate territory in the name of religion – and it was acknowledged as such last year when the Catholic Church officially repudiated it. But the doctrine of discovery was cited by the United States’ highest legal authority as recently as 2005, when the US Supreme Court ruled against the indigenous Oneida Nation in a majority opinion authored by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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