Courts were effectively extensions of the agents, at whose pleasure the judges were appointed and served. Occasionally the judges were police officers, but often they were influential chiefs. The degree of an Indian’s apparent assimilation was a major criterion in his selection as a judge; agents’ reports are replete with descriptions of Indian judges as “Christian,” “wearing white man’s clothing,” or “monogamous.” By placing the legal process in the hands of assimilated Indians, agents factionalized notions of authority on the reservations, as some Indians continued to practice their own
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