To American Indians, culture is pervasive, encircling, and all-inclusive; similarly, tribal courts do and should differ substantially from courts of the non-Indian world. The tribal court is a relatively new phenomenon in Indian country and will become indispensable in the effort to preserve Indian traditions. American Indian justice seeks to reintegrate offenders into tribal society. The Apache concept of restitution involves a demonstration of remorse by the perpetrator. Most tribal courts are between formative and youthful stages of development. Few tribes have reached a level of maturity in which they can meaningfully make choices between traditional practice and United States legal process. Whether tribes adopt traditional cultural practices will affect the rest of the United States. Federal courts and possibly State courts may have to examine the workings of the tribal courts in regard to their jurisdiction over non-Indians. Federal courts will have to determine whether or not they are justified in criticizing a tribal system where the tribe chooses consciously to avoid written laws, a written record, and other legal positivistic notions. They will have to develop a standard by which they can cross- culturally measure the validity of tribal process and of Indian expectations of justice. The author is the chief judge of the Jicarilla Apache Tribe. Photograph and footnotes