"It should be stressed that a person who is a member of a Sami village also has a right to use land and water belonging to other people for the maintenance of himself and his reindeer. This is valid for State property as well as private land and also encompasses the right to hunt and fish within a large part of the area in question. It thus appears that the Sami in relation to other Swedes have considerable benefits. However, the area available for reindeer grazing limits the total number of reindeer to about 300,000. Not more than 2,500 Sami can support themselves on the basis of these reindeer and additional incomes. "The new legislation led to a reorganization of the old existing Sarni villages into larger units. The Sami villages have their origin in the old ~ , which originally formed the base of Sami society, consisting of a community of families which migrated seasonally from one hunting, fishing and trapping area to another, and which later on came to work with and follow a particular self-contained herd of reindeer from one seasonal grazing area to another. "Prior to the present legislation, the Sarni were organized in Sarni communities (las»byar). Decision to grant membership of these villages was made by the Landsstyrelsen (County Administrative Board). Under the present legislation, membership in a Sarni village is granted by the members of the Sarni village themselves. "A person who has been denied membership in a Sarni village can appeal against such a decision to the County Administrative Board. Appeals against the Board's decision in the matter can be made to the Kammarratten (Administrative Court of Appeal) and finally to the Regeringsratten (Highest Administrative Court of Sweden). "An appeal against a decision of a Sami community to refuse membership may, however, be granted only if there are special reasons for allowing such membership (see sect. 12, para. 2, of the 1971 Act). According to the legislative history of the Act, the County Administrative Board's right to grant an appeal against a decision made by the Sami community should be exercised very restrictively. It is thus required that the reindeer husbandry which the applicant inteads to carry out within the community be in an essential way useful to the community and that it be of no inconvenience to its other members. An important factor in this context is that the pasture areas remain constant, while additional members means more reindeers. "There seems to be only one previous jUdgement from the Regeringsratten concerning section 12 of the Reindeer Husbandry Act. However, the circumstances are not quite the same as in Ivan Kitok's case ••• "The case that Ivan Kitok has brought to the courts is based on the content of section 12, paragraph 2, of the Reindeer Husbandry Act. The Landsstyrelsen and the courts have thus had to make decisions only upon the question whether there were any special reasons within the meaning of the Act to allow Kitok membership in the Sarni community. The Landsstyrelsen found that there were no such reasons, nor did the Kammarratten or the majority of the Regeringsratten ••• -224-