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76 Judicature 15 (1992-1993)
Moral Principles, Traditions, and Fairness in the Navajo Nation Code of Judicial Conduct

handle is hein.journals/judica76 and id is 17 raw text is: Moral principles, traditions, and fairness in the Navajo Nation Code of Judicial Conduct Although based on the ABA Model Code, the new Navajo Code ofJudicial Conduct incorporates traditional Navajo legal and social values. by Tom Tso Navajo Family, by Laura Gilpin, 1950. The family plays a central role in the Navajo Nation's traditions of justice, which are incorporated with American values in its new Code of Judicial Conduct. The graphics that accompany this article are inspired by elements of the 19th-century Terraced style of Navajo blanket design. T he Courts of the Navajo Na- tion adopted a new Code of Judicial Conduct on Novem- ber 1, 1991. It is unique be- cause, although it uses many prin- ciples of the American Bar Asso- ciation's Model Code of Judicial Con- duct,' it also uses traditional Navajo legal values. Indian courts of the United States have a special problem because, while they use the American method of adjudication to resolve dis- putes, their judges and litigants are, for the most part, accustomed to dif- ferent methods of justice. The adjudi- cation method largely depends on an authority figure .(the judge) using the power of the state to decide for one party and against another. Indian jus- tice methods largely rely on relations among equals and use consensus to decide disputes.2 This article explains 1. American Bar Association, MODEL CODE OFJu- DICIAL CONDUCT (1990). The prior Navajo Nation Judicial Code of Ethics, adopted on February 6, 1978, was, word-for-word, the American Bar Asso- ciation CODE OF JUDICIAL CONDUCT (1972). 2. Traditional tribal justice tends to be infor- mal and consensual rather than adjudicative, and often emphasizes restitution rather than punish- ment. United States v. Wheeler, 435 U.S. 313, 332 n. 34 (1978) (citations omitted). Tribal courts should consider their contextual legitimacy and the role of their interpretive community, i.e. foundations for a popular legal system and the role of the bench and bar to achieve them. Pommersheim, The Contextual Legitimacy of Adjudi- cation in Tribal Courts and the Role of the Tribal Bar as an Interpretive Communit: An Essay, 18 NEw MEXICO L. RE,'. 49 (1988). These are goals of the code.