A superior court judge last week dismissed the claim by the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation that the state of Connecticut owes it $610 million for land that the tribe claims was seized nearly 200 years ago.
Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher wrote in his decision, “To sue the state for taking your property, first you have to have some property.”
The tribe claims the state illegally seized more than 2,000 acres from its reservation in the western part of the state from 1801-1918 without compensation. The tribe based its claim on legislative resolutions from the then colony of Connecticut in 1736 and 1752 that it said proved it owned the land, but which the judge said simply showed that they were allowed to use it.
The judge wrote, “Telling someone they can stay somewhere, fix it up, and cut wood for themselves on it until the owners says otherwise doesn’t sound very much like the owner is giving that person the land. This conclusion is even easier to reach under the legal rules governing land transfers that applied in the 18th century and before and still apply today.”
