Cite as: 520 U. S. 438 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
on-reservation conduct—even over matters involving non-Indians—if doing so would " 'infring[e] on the right of reservation Indians to make their own laws and be ruled by them.' " Id., at 386 (citation omitted).
In light of the citation of Montana, Colville, and Fisher, the Iowa Mutual statement emphasized by petitioners does not limit the Montana rule. In keeping with the precedent to which Iowa Mutual refers, the statement stands for nothing more than the unremarkable proposition that, where tribes possess authority to regulate the activities of non-members, "[c]ivil jurisdiction over [disputes arising out of] such activities presumptively lies in the tribal courts." 480 U. S., at 18.
Recognizing that our precedent has been variously interpreted, we reiterate that National Farmers and Iowa Mutual enunciate only an exhaustion requirement, a "prudential rule," see Iowa Mutual, 480 U. S., at 20, n. 14, based on comity, see id., at 16, n. 8. These decisions do not expand or stand apart from Montana's instruction on "the inherent sovereign powers of an Indian tribe." 450 U. S., at 565. While Montana immediately involved regulatory authority, the Court broadly addressed the concept of "inherent sovereignty." Id., at 563. Regarding activity on non-Indian fee land within a reservation, Montana delineated—in a main rule and exceptions—the bounds of the power tribes retain to exercise "forms of civil jurisdiction over non-Indians." Id., at 565. As to nonmembers, we hold, a tribe's adjudicative jurisdiction does not exceed its legislative jurisdiction. Absent congressional direction enlarging tribal-court jurisdiction, we adhere to that understanding. Subject to controlling provisions in treaties and statutes, and the two exceptions identified in Montana, the civil authority of Indian tribes and their courts with respect to non-Indian fee lands generally "do[es] not extend to the activities of nonmembers of the tribe." Ibid.
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