Research in tribal law differs from typical legal research in that federally recognized tribes are governed by Federal law and tribal sovereign governments. A recognized tribe is one identified by the Bureau of Indian Affairs under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601).
Note: There are non-federally recognized tribes and tribes that are recognized by individual states, but not by the Federal government. Tribal governments recognized by a state are empowered by that state's own constitution, statutes, and courts.
American Indian law can encompass the legal issues arising between tribes, the Federal government, and states, as well as all other areas of law - both civil and criminal. Each tribe also has its own system of governance.
Indian tribes are sovereign under the Constitution (Art. I, sec. 8). The relationship between American Indian tribes and the federal government has been defined by three Supreme Court cases, known as the Marshall Trilogy:
Johnson v M'Intosh 21 US 543 (1823)
Cherokee Nation v Georgia 30 US 1 (1831)
Worcester v Georgia 31 US 515 (1832)
See the Federal Primary Law tab to learn more about the Marshall Trilogy.
The Library of Congress Classification uses the term American Indian for its subject classification of materials on indigenous tribes of the United States.
There are multiple terms that are commonly used to describe the indigenous peoples of the United States as a whole, including "Native American," "American Indian," or "indigenous."
The preferred name is defined by each tribe and individual. Websites for tribal governments are good resources for identifying the official or preferred name.
Library of Congress, 1978, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3701e.ct008649