The Yurok Tribal Council is the duly elected and authorized governing body of the Yurok Tribe; a federally recognized Indian Tribe which is eligible for all rights and privileges afforded to a federally recognized Indian Tribe and, as such, enacts the ordinance codified in this chapter by the power and authority granted under the Constitution of the Yurok Tribe, Article VII, authorizing that “(t)he judicial power of the Yurok Tribe shall be vested in such Tribal Court(s) as may from time to time be established by ordinances enacted for that purpose.” Further, the Yurok Tribal Council is the governing body of the Tribe whose existence predates federal recognition and whose existence is independent of any such recognition either in the past or the future. The Tribal Council enacts the ordinance codified in this chapter pursuant to its inherent sovereign rights and responsibilities. [Ord. 17, adopted, 3/26/2008.]