25 CFR § 169.10 - What is the effect of a right-of-way on a tribe's jurisdiction over the underlying parcel?
---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t25/s169.10"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "25 CFR § 169.10 - What is the effect of a right-of-way on a tribe's jurisdiction over the underlying parcel?"
title_number: 25
title_name: "Indians"
section_number: "169.10"
section_name: "What is the effect of a right-of-way on a tribe's jurisdiction over the underlying parcel?"
chapter_name: "BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR"
subchapter_number: "H"
subchapter_name: "LAND AND WATER"
part_number: "169"
part_name: "RIGHTS-OF-WAY OVER INDIAN LAND"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "5 U.S.C. 301; 25 U.S.C. 323-328; 25 U.S.C. 2201"
regulatory_source: "80 FR 72534, Nov. 19, 2015, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "169"
---
# 169.10 What is the effect of a right-of-way on a tribe's jurisdiction over the underlying parcel?
A right-of-way is a non-possessory interest in land, and title does not pass to the grantee. The Secretary's grant of a right-of-way will clarify that it does not diminish to any extent:
(a) The Indian tribe's jurisdiction over the land subject to, and any person or activity within, the right-of-way;
(b) The power of the Indian tribe to tax the land, any improvements on the land, or any person or activity within, the right-of-way;
(c) The Indian tribe's authority to enforce tribal law of general or particular application on the land subject to and within the right-of-way, as if there were no grant of right-of-way;
(d) The Indian tribe's inherent sovereign power to exercise civil jurisdiction over non-members on Indian land; or
(e) The character of the land subject to the right-of-way as Indian country under 18 U.S.C. 1151.