California Law Review

Volume 63 | Issue 4 Article 2

July 1975

Native Hawaiian Land Rights

Neil M. Levy

Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/californialawreview

Recommended Citation
Neil M. Levy, Native Hawaiian Land Rights, 63 Cal. L. Rev. 848 (1975).
Available at: http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/californialawreview/vol63/iss4/2

Link to publisher version (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.15779/Z38117N

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the California Law Review at Berkeley Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for
inclusion in California Law Review by an authorized administrator of Berkeley Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected].
 Native Hawaiian Land Rights
Neil M. Levyt

ProfessorLevy traces the historicaldisplacement of Native Hawaiians

from their land and explores the problems of preserving the landhold-
ings and cultural heritage of the Native Hawaiian community. He
suggests that the problems require legislative solutions similar to those
afforded to Native Americans and Alaskan Natives.
In less than 200 years of contact with Western civilization, Native
Hawaiians, descendants of Polynesians who inhabited the Islands prior
to 1778, have lost control of the great bulk of their homeland. Today
they face a new period of crisis. This article focuses on the historical
displacement of Native Hawaiians from their land-a displacement ac-
complished primarily through legal mechanisms rather than military ac-
tions-and then explores the current problems facing the Native
Hawaiian community in its attempt to conserve and expand its presently
limited landholdings. The article suggests that Native Hawaiians, as
an indigenous people, occupy a unique status akin to that of Indians
and Alaskan Natives, and that their problems accordingly require spe-
cial legal solutions.

I
A HISTORY OF NATIVE HAWAIIAN LANDHOLDINGS UNTIL 1920

A. TraditionalLand Tenure

When Captain Cook arrived in Hawaii in 1778, he found a com-

plex land tenure system,' which has been compared to the feudal sys-

" Associate Professor of Law, Golden Gate University; A.B. 1963, Cornell Uni-
versity; J.D. 1966, University of Chicago.
Preliminary research for this article was begun under a summer grant from the Na-
tional Endowment for the Humanities. The author wishes to thank Rhoda Haberman,
J.D. 1975, Golden Gate University, and Sandra Pechter, J.D. 1974, Golden Gate Uni-
versity, for their invaluable assistance in the preparation of this article.
1. For detailed discussions of early Hawaiian land tenure, see generally J.
CHINEN, THE GREAT MAHELE (1958) [hereinafter cited as THE GREAT MAHELE];
G. DAWS, SHOAL OF TIME (1968) [hereinafter cited as SHOAL OF TIME]; J. Honus,
HAWAIIr-A PAGEANT OF THE SOIL (1935) [hereinafter cited as PAGEANT]; 1 R. KUYKEN-
DALL, THE HAWAIIAN KINGDOM 1778-1854 (1938) [hereinafter cited as 1 HAWAIIAN
KINGDOM]; A. LIND, AN ISLAND COMMUNITY (1938) [hereinafter cited as ISLAND
COMMUNITY]; M. Kelly, Changes in Land Tenure in Hawaii, 1778-1850, June, 1956
(unpublished thesis in University of Hawaii Library) [hereinafter cited as Kelly].
1975] HAWAIIAN LAND

tern of medieval Europe.2 This system successfully sustained an ex-

tremely dense population 3 and provided surplus goods sufficient to
support chiefs and priests and to replenish Cook's expedition. 4 Al-
though there were larger administrative divisions, 5 the basic landhold-
ing unit was the ahupuaa, which ranged in size from 100 to 100,000
acres and usually had natural boundaries. 6 The ideal ahupuaa was an
economically self-sufficient, 7 pie-shaped unit which ran from mountain
tops down ridges to the sea. Most ahupuaa were in turn divided into
ill, some of which were virtually independent while others were mere
operating subdivisions of the ahupuaa. A hierarchical society par-
alleled this pattern of land division. At the top, a chief controlled each
ahupuaa;land agents (konohiki) and subchiefs subordinate to the chief
controlled smaller amounts of land; and at the bottom of the hierarchy
common farmers worked land for the chiefs personal benefit. Com-
moners also had plots for their own use and had certain gathering rights
8
in the noncultivated lands of the ahupuaa.
No concept similar to the fee simple absolute existed at this time
and landholdings were considered revocable. On the death of a high
chief, his successor was free to redistribute the land among the low chiefs
and, when any chiefs died, the lands were not necessarily passed on
to the decedent's heirs. Frequent warfare often brought new chiefs
who could reassign the conquered land to their followers, rather than
leave it with the conquered nobles. These changes in control usually
affected neither the boundaries of the ahupuaa and the ili9 nor the ten-
ure, such as it was, of common farmers."0 Although a commoner in
Hawaii owed a work obligation to those higher in the structure, he was
free to leave an ahupuaa if unhappy with his landlord. This situation,
which distinguished pre-Cook land patterns from the European feudal
system, may have been a major factor in ameliorating abuses by the
chiefs, who were anxious to keep ample work forces on their lands."

2. See, e.g., PAGEANT, supra note 1, at 1.

3. An estimated three hundred thousand people lived on 6,415 square miles. R.
SCHMITr, DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS OF HAWAII: 1778-1965, at 10-11 (1968).
4. See 1 HAWAIIAN KINGDOM, supra note 1, at 12-20.
5. The island (mokupuni) was the primary division, followed by a geographic di-
vision called the mokuaina. Although this was not a political unit, modem Hawaiian
judicial districts tend to follow old mokuaina boundaries. THE GREAT MAHELE, supra
note 1, at 3.
6. Id. at 1-3; see discussion of boundary setting practices in In re Boundaries of
Pulehunui, 4 Hawaii 239 (1879).
7. But see Kelly, supra note 1, at 32. Occasional trade fairs were held for goods
not available in all localities.
8. See id. at 20-26.
9. Id. at 3. Today many large estates follow the boundaries of old ahupuaa and
ili kupono.
10. See PAGEANT, supra note 1, at 7.
11. See Kelly, supra note 1, at 42.
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 63:848

B. TransitionalPeriod1778-1846
The arrival of Westerners completely altered socio-economic pat-
terns as Hawaii became a major refreshment stop for European vessels
sailing the Pacific and a major supplier of the sandalwood trade.' 2 Par-
tially through the use of European arms, Kamahameha I had expanded
his rule by 1795 to all of Hawaii except the island of Kauai.13 A pro-
liferation of administrative levels and a rise in palace court life accom-
panied this unification. The king and his court were attracted to newly
available European and Oriental goods, so that the Hawaiian economy
had to supply a now enlarged aristocratic class with imported luxuries.
While the economy thus turned from one primarily aimed at subsis-
tence to one enmeshed in international trade, the commoners' condition
worsened as Western diseases destroyed much of the population,14 trad-
itional notions of feudal responsibility were disrupted, and an onerous
tax system was instituted. 15
Land tenure patterns reflected and served this new economy.
Kamehameha II, who acceded to the throne in 1819, considered it po-
litically unwise to revoke the holdings of his predecessor's subchiefs.
Foreign traders were anxious to codify this new stability, fearing that
changes in landholdings might lead to civil wars and disruption of com-
merce. When Kamehameha III acceded to the throne at the age of
twelve, the council of chiefs, under the tutelage of an English frigate
captain, extracted from the regent a formal policy, later characterized
as the Law of 1825, which allowed chiefs to keep their lands upon a
king's death.'" At the same time, Westerners entered Hawaii's land
usage patterns as foreign settlers were "given" lands by the king or
chiefs in return for services or merely out of traditional Hawaiian gen-
erosity.17 After overharvesting collapsed the sandalwood trade, West-
erners with substantial capital accumulated in that trade began large-
scale plantations on the Islands.' 8

12. ISLAND COMMUNITY, supra note 1, at 9-11.

13. See 1 HAWAIIAN KINGDOM, supra note 1, at 29-60, for description of Kame-
hameha's conqiiest of other kingdoms within the Islands. The independence of Kauai
was eroded over the next several decades.
14. ISLAND COMMUNITY, supra note 1, at 94-99.
15. Id. at 41.
16. 1 HAWAIIAN KINGDOM, supra note 1, at 119-22.
17. See Keelikolani v. Robinson, 2 Hawaii 514 (1862) for a description of one
such land transfer in 1827. See also PAGEANT, supra note 1, at 17-19.
18. Three Americans started the first venture in 1835 under the name of Ladd
& Co., by obtaining a fifty-year lease, signed by both the king and his governor on
Kauai, for a 1000-acre parcel on that island. The lease contained no terms concerning
the rights of tenants but provided that Ladd & Co. might hire native laborers to work
the land if it made adequate payments to the laborers, the governor and the king. The
transaction thus combined the modern Western lease for a term of years with a partially
1975] HAWAIIAN LAND

Hawaii's first written constitution, adopted in 1840, and the laws

immediately enacted pursuant to it, 19 attempted to adjust land rights
to the new relationships between Hawaiian chiefs and commoners and
Hawaiians and Westerners. The constitution and the laws are fre-
quently viewed as liberalizing forces 0 because they announced tenants'
rights in land and lowered labor taxes. They also represent, however,
a final attempt to preserve the non-mercantile land system and to re-
verse the tide of Hawaiians who were leaving their traditional homes for
the booming towns of Honolulu and Lahaina. For example, one statute
provided that, "No man living on a farm whose name is recorded by his
landlord, shall without cause desert the land of his landlord. Nor shall
the landlord causelessly dispossess his tenant."' 21 Native Hawaiians who
had already left the land were offered an opportunity to return by apply-
ing to a governor or the king for any uncultivated lands. 22
The constitution also attempted to deal with two areas of conflict
between Hawaiians and Westerners: attempts by chiefs to vest land
rights in Westerners without the approval of the crown, and attempts
by Westerners, who had received land rights from the king, to transfer
those interests to other foreigners without the king's express permis-
sion. The traditional Hawaiian land system did not confront these is-
sues, since landholdings before the law of 1825 had been revocable
at the pleasure of the king. In disputes over land rights between the
king and foreigners, the foreign community had distinct advantages.

feudal labor arrangement. Lease agreement reproduced in part at 1 HAWAIIAN KING-

DOM, supra note 1, at 175.
19. These documents frequently evidence a strong missionary flavor. See, e.g.,
Law of Nov. 9, 1840, ch. 3, § 5, in TRANSLATION OF THE CONSTrruTION AND LAWS OF
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS ESTABLISHED IN THE REIGN OF KAMEHAMEHA III (1842) 32
[hereinafter cited as TRANSLATION]; (THE FUNDAMENTAL LAw OF HAwAII 18 (L.
Thurston ed. 1904) [hereinafter cited as Thurston]). "As for the idler, let the indus-
trious put him to shame, and sound his name from one end of the country to the other."
Thurston at 18.
The statute book cited above is the first compilation in English of the constitution
of 1840 and the laws enacted within the two years following its passage. Hawaii has
reproduced its early statutes in other volumes. Since statute books for the Hawaiian
Kingdom are now extremely rare, this article will give a parallel citation where appli-
cable to Thurston and to 2 REVISED LAWS 1OF HAwAII 1925 [hereinafter cited as REViSEiD
LAWS 19251. 1
20. See, e.g., 1 HAWAIIAN KINGDOM, supra note 1, at 167.
21. Act of Nov. 9, 1840, ch. 3, § ,6,
in TRANSLATION at 33; (Thurston at 18-19).
This attempt proved futile: "Neither the laws of 1839 nor of 1840 were found ade-
quate to protect the inferior lords and tepants, for although the violators of law, of every
rank, were liable to its penalty, yet it Vas so contrary to ancient usage, to execute the
law on the powerful for the protection Pf the weak, that the latter often suffered, .. "
Principles Adopted by the Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles, Act of Oct.
26, 1846, [1846] Hawaii Laws 87 (REVISED LAWS 1925 at 2127). For further discus-
sion of the Principles see text accompanying note 36 infra.
22. Act of Nov. 9, 1840, ch. 3, § 6, in TRANSLATION at 34 (Thurston at 19).
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 63:848

First, foreign gunboats frequently came to Hawaii to enforce the mer-

chants' views." Second, Westerners had assumed many of the most
important positions and thus were able to influence government deci-
sions.2 4 Native Hawaiians had come to fear the foreigners' accumulation
of land.2 5 The chiefs realized that such holdings would increase the
power exercised by foreigners and decrease their own ability to receive
labor dues from commoners who became part of the Western planta-
tion economy.
In attempting to delimit the Westerners' claims to land, the con-
stitution of 1840 reaffirmed that the king could lose no land without
his consent;2 6 thus he could prevent alienation to foreigners. However,
fearing a confrontation with Westerners, the king provided in the con-
stitution that property already held by them would not be reclaimed by
the crown.2 7 In 1841, Kamehameha Ill again sought to forestall con-
flict with the foreign community by proclaiming a plan of accommoda-
tion allowing the Islands' governors to enter into fifty-year leases with
the foreigners.2 Neither the constitution nor the accommodation plan
put to rest Western-Hawaiian land disputes. In 1843, partially in re-
sponse to a lease dispute involving the British Consul, Richard Charlton,
the British warship Carysfort entered Honolulu and its captain took over
virtually all functions of government for five months. 29 The British

23. In 1837, one prominent American merchant wrote:

Property is much safer here than formerly-the visits of the American, English
and French men-of-war during these sixteen months have established invio-
lability of property and persons, and the natives taught and made to fear the
"laws of the Nations"; and that a sovereign and a government come under the
ban of laws as well as subjects or individuals.
Letter from Henry A. Pierce to James Hunnewell, Aug. 6, 1837, in 1 HAWAIuAN KING-
DOM, supra note 1, at 153.
24. See Kuykendall, American Interests and American Influence in Hawaii in
1842, 1930 ANN. REPORT OF THE HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SoC'e 61 (1930).
25. See, e.g., petition from natives of Molokai and Maui to the King, July, 1845,
objecting to the land being sold to Westerners, Legislative File Folder #2, Hawaii
State Archives.
26. The constitution of 1840 stated:
KAmE.AMEHA I, was the founder of the kingdom, and to him belonged all the
land from one end of the Islands to the other, though it was not his own pri-
vate property. It belonged to the chiefs and people in common, of whom Kam-
ehameha I. was the head, and had the management of the landed property.
Wherefore, there was not formerly, and is not now any person who could or
can convey away the smallest portion of land without the consent of the one
who had, or has the direction of the kingdom.
Constitution of 1840, in TRANSLATION at 11-13 (Thurston at 3).
27. Preamble to constitution of 1840, in TRANSLATION at 10 (Thurston at 1).
This preamble had been proclaimed by Kamehameha III in 1839 in virtually the same
form as it appeared in the constitution and is frequently referred to as the Declaration
of Rights.
28. Royal Proclamation, May 31, 1841, in 1 HAWAIIAN KINGDOM, supra note 1,
at 275.
29. See generally SHOAL OF TIME, supra note 1, at 112-120.
1975] HAWAIIAN LAND

government, upon learning of this action, repudiated it and ordered the

Carysfort to leave Hawaii. To the Hawaiian Kingdom the lesson must
have been clear: its independence was at the whim of great Western
powers, whose nationals increasingly desired to own the lands of Hawaii.

C. Era of the Mahele

By 1845, the land tenure system could neither maintain itself in

the face of a hostile foreign world nor accommodate itself to the wishes
of that world. The government's response to these problems was a
time honored one: appoint a commission. The Land Commission was
charged to undertake "the investigation and final ascertainment or re-
jection of all claims of private individuals, whether natives or foreigners,
to any landed property acquired anterior to the passage of this Act.
." .oIts decisions, subject only to appeal to the Hawaii Supreme
Court, were to be based on existing land law of the kingdom, including
"native usages in regard to landed tenures."'' z Its ethnic composition
illuminates the hold which non-Hawaiians had obtained on important
government positions: of the Commission's five members, two were
Hawaiians, one was half-Hawaiian, and two were Westerners. 2
Under the traditional land system, especially after the constitution
of 1840, holdings of the king, chiefs and commoners were intertwined
and undivided. Lacking guidelines to undertake the division of those
interests, the Commission at first did not act on the bulk of Hawaiian
lands. Instead it focused its immediate attention on building lots in
Honolulu and Lahaina since this land had already left the feudal pro-
duction scheme.3 3 Claimants proving rights in these lands received
Land Commission Awards specifically stating that the Commission
found "no native rights of occupancy in this plot."34 Although the con-
cept of fee simple was not part of the Hawaiian land system at that
time, the Minister of Interior was authorized to issue fee patents based
upon these awards.35 The Commission was thus able to resolve a num-
ber of land disputes which had developed with the foreign community.

30. Act of Dec. 10, 1845, ch. 7, § 1, 2 [1847] Hawaii Laws 107, in REVISED LAws
1925 at 2120 (Thurston at 137).
31. Id. § 7 at 109, in REvisED LAws 1925 at 2123 (Thurston at 138-39).
32. 1 HAWAIN KINGDOM, supra note 1, at 280.
33. See 2 [1847] Hawaii Laws 84, in REVISED LAws 1925 at 2127 (Thurston at
143).
34. For English language copies of early land Commission Awards and Royal
Patents, see J. CHINEN, OIGINAL LAND TrrLs IN HAwAI 8-9 (1953).
35. Act of Dec. 10, 1845, ch. 7, § 9 [1846] Hawaii Laws 109, in REVISED LAws
1925 at 2123 (TuIMSTON at 139). But see 1 HAwAnAN KINGDOM, supra note 1, at 282-
84 for discussion of the limited government experiment in 1845 of selling small lots with
fee simple title in the Makawao district of Maui and the Manoa valley on Oahu.
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW .[Vol. 63:848

In 1846, the Commission adopted Principles, 0 ratified by the leg-

islature, 7 to guide its work with land still under the traditional system.
The Westerner-dominated Commission perceived its goal to be a total
defeudalization and partition of undivided interests. 8 In discussing a
fair and equitable division between king, chiefs, and tenants, the Prin-
ciples stated:
If the King be disposed voluntarily to yield to the tenant a portion of
what practice has given to himself, he most assuredly has a right to
do it; and should the King allow to the landlord one-third, to the ten-
ant one-third and retain one-third himself, he, according to the uni-
form opinion of the witnesses, would injure no one unless himself;
• . . According to this principle, a tract of land now in the hands of
landlord and occupied by tenants, if all parts of it were equally valu-
able, might be divided into three equal parts .... 39
The specifics for fulfilling the Principles were much debated until a
formulation drafted by a Westerner, Justice William Lee, was accepted
by the king and chiefs in Privy Council on December 18, 1847. The
Lee formulation distinguished the king's private lands (those he held
directly as noble) from lands he held as king and provided that he
should retain all his private lands, with a right in his tenants "to a fee
simple title to one-third of the lands possessed and cultivated by them"
whenever the king or tenants desired. 40 The remaining land of the
kingdom was to be divided into thirds: one-third to the Hawaiian
government, another third to the chiefs and land agents, and the final
third to the tenant farmers. 41 By paying the government, a chief or
konohiki could also retain his proportional share of the one-third that
42
was to go to the government.

36. Principles Adopted by the Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles in

their Adjudication of Claims Presented to Them, Act of Oct. 26, 1846, 2 [1847]
Hawaii Laws 81, in REvIsED LAws 1925 at 2124 (Thurston at 140).
37. The ratification declared that "all claims for landed property in this kingdom
shall be tested by those principles and according to them be confirmed or rejected."
Resolution of the Legislative Council, 2 [1847] Hawaii Laws 94, in RnvisEn LAWS 1925
at 2137 (Thurston at 154).
38. Act of Oct. 26, 1846, 2 [1847] Hawaii LaLws 81, 92, in REVISED LAws 1925
at 2134 (Thurston at 151).
39. Id. at 83, in REvisED LAws 1925 at 2126 (Thurston at 142-43).
40. Rules adopted by the Privy Council, Dec. 18, 1847, § 4, 4 PRIVY COUNCIL
R OD (1847), quoted in Alexander, A Brief History of Land Titles in the Hawaiian
Kingdom, in THRUM's HAwAIIAN ALMANAC AND ANNUAL FOR 1891 at 112.
41. Id. at § 2.
42. Id. § 6 at 112-13. The commutation was often reduced or virtually eliminated
by Privy Council action. Cf. 1 HAwAIIAN KINGDOM, supra note 1, at 288. Moreover,
many konohiki simply failed to make the payment. In 1892, after much of the land
had passed into non-Hawaiian hands, a statute was passed setting the commutation as
one-third the value of the land at the time of the Mahele, without interest. Act of
Dec. 16, 1892, ch. 68, § 1 [1892] Hawaii Laws 165, in REvIsEa LAws 1925 at 2151.
 19751 HAWAIIAN LAND

The "Great Mahele"--or division-began January 27, 1848, and

ended March 7. In the "Mahele Book," the interests of 245 chiefs and
konohiki were divided from the king's private interest and the king
quit-claimed his interest in specific ahupuaa and ili under each chief's
control. The chiefs reciprocally quit-claimed to the king their interests
in the balance of the divided lands, which then became the king's pri-
vate land subject only to commoners' claims to one-third of that which
they possessed and cultivated. Nevertheless, on March 8, 1848, the
day after the last mahele between king and chiefs, the king "set apart
forever to the chiefs and people of my Kingdom" approximately 1,500,
000 acres, 43 retaining for himself, his heirs and successors approxi-
mately 1,000,000 acres. The latter were subsequently referred to as
Crown lands and the former as Government lands. The Land Com-
mission then awarded the remaining 1,500,000 acres of the kingdom to
the chiefs44 though these awards stated specifically that they were "re-
'45
serving the rights of the people.
Total defeudalization of landholdings required the Commission to
divide and parcel out the interests of the common people. An 1850
act 6 allowed each tenant to apply for his own kuleana. The kuleana
could come from the Crown lands, from the Government lands created
by the king, or from the other 1,500,000 acres of the kingdom, and
could only include land which a tenant had "really cultivated ' 47 plus
a houselot of not more than a quarter of an acre. 48 The tenant received
a fee title to this land if the claim was proved before the Land Com-
mission and survey costs were paid.49 The Commission, the legisla-
ture, and the king had previously promised the commoners an un-

Even then, a statute had to be adopted in 1909 to provide for enforcement of the pay-
ments. Act of April 20, 1909, Act 90, § 1, [1909] Hawaii Laws 118.
43. The division was affirmed by legislation. Act of June 7, 1848, t1848]
Hawaii Laws 22, in RniwsnD LAws 1925 at 2152.
44. See IsL m CommuNny, supra note 1, at 46; SHoAL OF TIME, supra note 1,
at 127.
45. An English language copy of such a patent can be found in J. CEiNEN, OsGei-
NAL LAND TrrLs iN HAwII 9 (1953). Because of this reservation, a kuleana award
made later in time was good against an earlier patent. See Kekiekie v. Dennis, 1 Hawaii
69 (1851).
46. Act of Aug. 6, 1850, § 1 [1850] Hawaii Laws 202, in 2 REvisED LAWS 1925
at 2141. Actually, a joint resolution of the Legislature of Nov. 7, 1846 had similarly
allowed the Minister of the Interior to divide out the interests of tenants. §§ 4-5
2 [18471 Hawaii Laws 71. However, little came of that power, probably because of
insufficient government mechanisms to deal with it.
47. Act of Dec. 21, 1849, § 6, [1850] Hawaii Laws 203, in RIvIsED Laws 1925
at 2142.
48. Id. § 5, in REVISED LAWS 1925 at 2142.
49. Except for houselots in Honolulu, Lahaina and Hilo, kuleana recipients did
not have to pay any commutation in order to receive their titles. Id. § 2, in REvIsED
IAws 1925 at 2141-42.
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW ,[Vol. 63:848

divided one-third interest in most of Hawaii."0 Although many his-

torians have viewed the Kuleana Act as a beneficent one,"' creating
more than 8,000 yeoman holdings, 2 commoners received divided title
to fewer than 30,000 acres, less than one percent of the land. 3
Many reasons have been advanced for the scant quantity of land
that commoners received. One suggestion is that most commoners
lacked even the small capital needed for the required survey. Another
is that commoners did not apply for kuleana because they feared re-
prisals by chiefs and land agents.5 4 While these suggestions explain
the number of commoner families receiving grants, the more cogent
reason why commoners received so little kuleana land is that kuleana
grants were severely limited by the "really cultivated" clause of the
Kuleana Act. Furthermore, an act of the legislature barred all com-
moners' land claims not proved by 1854.", Thus, the great bulk of
Hawaiian people was separated from the lands of Hawaii. Trans-
ferable title to almost two-thirds of Hawaii was concentrated in the
hands of the king and the 245 recipients of mahele grants. The failure
of the kuleana to provide an adequate land base for Native Hawaiians
was not merely a function of kuleana size. Historically, commoners
had only small fields to work for their own benefit, but they also were
able to use other non-cultivated lands within the ahupuaa in return for
labor dues. In 1847, the legislature had specifically confirmed the

50. See text accompanying notes 39-41 supra.

51. See, e.g., Lydgate, The Vanishing Kuleana, THRuM's HAWAIIAN ALMANAC AND
ANNUAL FOR 1915 at 103.
52. Recent research by Marion Kelly, historian, Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Ha-
waii determined the number of recipients to be 8205. Letter from Marion Kelley to
Neil Levy, February 18, 1975.
53. 1 HAwAIYAN KINGDOM, supra note 1, at 294. Compare the effect of the Gen-
eral Allotment Act, ch. 119, 24 Stat. 388 (1887) on mainland Indian tribes. Under
the guise of turning Indians into yeomen farmers, that act gave interests in tribal prop-
erty to individual Indians and distributed the "excess" to non-Indians. See D. Ons, TIn
DAWES ACT AND THE ALLOTMENT OF INDIAN LANDS (1973).
54. See, e.g., MoRGAN, HAWAIIu-A CENTURY OF ECONOMIC CHANGE 1778-1876, at
137 (1948).
55. An Act Relating to the Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles, [1853]
Hawaii Laws 26, in RtIVISED LAWS 1925 at 2145. Under Hawaiian case law, decisions
of the Land Commission could not later be collaterally attacked. Kaai v. Mahuka, 5 Ha-
waii 354 (1885); Kukiiahu v. Gill, 1 Hawaii 90 (1851).
In the 1850's one might have argued that the Kuleana Act merely divided out a
small portion of the commoners' interests under the Lee formulation and that the com-
moners should have been entitled to the remainder of those interests. If such a govern-
mental taking argument was made before the Land Commission or the Supreme Court
of Hawaii, it did not succeed. It must be recalled that the Hawaiian Constitution of
1840 had no clause requiring compensation for the taking of property. The closest pro-
vision to a due process clause was the preamble which stated that "nothing whatever
shall be taken from any individual except by express provision of law." TRANSLATION
at 10 (Thurston at 1).
1975] HAWAIIAN LAND

common people's right to grow crops for their own use and to pasture
animals on unoccupied lands.5 6 The Kuleana Act withdrew the right
to grow crops and pasture and merely provided some gathering
rights,57 which meant little to a weak tenant surrounded by large fenced
landholdings. Thus the foreigners heightened the hierarchical struc-
ture of Hawaiian society by removing its ameliorative qualities.
The transformation to the modern Hawaiian land system was com-
pleted by creating formalized mechanisms for the sale of government
lands and by allowing aliens to own land in Hawaii. Acts in 184658
authorized government land sales approved by the king and Privy
Council and, by May 1, 1850, the government had sold over 27,000
acres under these laws. 59 Subsequently, the Kuleana Act directed that
portions of government land be set aside in lots of one to fifty acres
for purchase by natives who did not qualify for kuleana60 and fixed a
minimum price of 50 cents per acre.6 ' Although these laws allowed
common people who had not received kuleana the chance to own land,
they did so at the price of establishing the principle that government
land could be sold off. By 1852, thousands of acres of prime Hawaiian
land were in the hands of foreigners. More importantly, Western prop-
erty concepts were imposed on the legal structure and would facilitate
the rapid, steady takeover of Hawaiian-owned lands during the next
several decades. Moreover, the government's commitment to selling its
remaining land put Westerners, with their access to capital, in a position
to take Hawaiian land through the legal procedures they had estab-
lished. 2 Western Imperialism had been accomplished without the usual
bothersome wars and costly colonial administration.
Apologists for missionaries and other early Westerners might ar-
gue that the introduction of nineteenth-century Western property no-

56. Resolution of November 7, 1846, §§ 1-2, 2 [1,847] Hawaii Laws 70.

57. Act of August 6, 1850, § 7, [1850] Hawaii Laws 203, in REvIsED LAws 1925
at 2142. Oni v. Meek, 2 Hawaii 87 (1858) interpreted the Kuleana Act as implicitly
repealing all former gathering rights.
58. Law of April 27, 1846, ch. 7, §§ 1-3, [1846] Hawaii Laws 99-103, in
REVSED LAws 1925 at 2190; Resolution of Nov. 7, 1846, § 6, 2 [1847] Hawaii Laws 71.
59. PAGEANT, supra note 1, at 54.
60. Act of August 6, 1850, § 4, [1850] Hawaii Laws 203, in RvrsED LAws 1925
at 2142.
61. Act of July 11, 1851, [1851] Hawaii Laws 52-53.
62. An 1847 amendment of the Land Commission law permitted foreigners to re-
ceive title to lands in which they had had an interest before 1845. Act of June 28,
1847, 2 [18471 Hawaii Laws 78, in REvISED LAws 1925 at 2233. A limitation in that
amendment, which provided that Western-held land could only be resold to Native Ha-
waiians, was negated by legislation in 1850: Act of July 10, 1850, [18501 Hawaii Laws
146-147, in REvISED Laws 1925 at 2233-34. The 1850 legislation allowed any resident
of Hawaii to own land regardless of citizenship. The sole disability against foreign
property owners, concerning escheatment, was removed in 1854. Act of June 28,
1854, [1854] Hawaii Laws 15, in RnvisED LAws 1925 at 2235.
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW ,[Vol. 63:848

tions helped break a pernicious feudal system, or that the Western com-
munity in Hawaii could not have foreseen the harsh effects of defeudal-
ization and the. difficulties which a people face in turning from a feudal
to a capitalist economy. A more realistic observer can conclude, how-
ever, that the foreigners were motivated by greed. Rev. Richard Arm-
strong wrote to his brother on January 15, 1850:
The government has lately granted fee simple titles to all the natives,
for the land they have lived on and occupied. This gives the final
blow to the old feudal system and makes this a nation of freeholders.
It is a point for which I have long contended and finally on my own
motion it was carried by the King and Council. On their part it lost
a great struggle as it cuts them off, at once, from the labour of all their
tenants, and they must now work their lands by hired labour. This
will compel them to sell their waste lands of which they have an
abundance.6 3
D. The PlantationEconomy
With a permanent population of fewer than two thousand, West-
erners took over most of Hawaii's land in the next half-century0 4 and
manipulated the economy for their own profit. 8 They had already
stripped the land of its only readily exploitable resource, sandalwood.00
After the Reciprocity Treaty of 1876,07 which allowed Hawaiian sugar
to enter the United States duty-free, Western-owned sugar plantations
dominated the Hawaiian economy. 6 That the local population did not
participate in this economy proved no obstacle; laborers were imported
from the Orient and Europe. 69 By the turn of the century Hawaiians
were a minority in their own homeland. 70
63. Letter on file in Library of Congress, Armstrong-Chapman papers; copy on
file, Hawaiian Mission Children's Society, Honolulu, Hawaii (emphasis added).
64. In 1897, the Western 9 percent of the population, owned 67 percent of the
taxable lands, while Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians owned only 24 percent. ISLAND
COMMUNITY, supra note 1, at 57.
65. For detailed histories of Hawaii during this period see generally R. HORO-
wrrz, L. VARGIA, I. FINN, & J. CEASER, PUBLIC LAND POLICY IN HAWAII: AN His-
ToRICAL ANALYSIS (Legislative Reference Bureau Report No. 5, 1965) [hereinafter
cited as HISTORICAL ANALYSIS]; 2 R. KUYKENDALL, THE HAWAIIAN KINGDOM 1854-74
(1953) [hereinafter cited as 2 HAWAIAN KINGDOM]; 3 R. KuYKENDALL, THE HAWAIIAN
KINGDOM 1,874-93 (1967) [hereinafter cited as 3 HAWAIIAN KINGDOM]; J. MORGAN,
HAWAI: A CENTURY OF ECONOMIC CHANGE (1948) [hereinafter cited as CENTURY O
ECONOMIC CHANGE].
66. CENTURY OF ECONOmIC CHANGE, supra note 65, at 61-68.
67. Treaty with Hawaiian Islands, January 30, 1875, [1875] 19 Stat. 625, T.S.
No. 161; Act of July 18, 1876, ch. 2, [1876] Hawaii Laws 4-6.
68. By 1898, 125,000 acres were in cane sugar. See 3 HAWAAN KINGDOM, supra
note 65, at 62. This acreage was the best on the Islands and its economic importance
was greater than its proportion of land.
69. CENTURY OF ECONOMIC CHANGE, supra note 65, at 188-194.
70. In 1896, Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians constituted about 35 percent of the
population. A. LIND, HAwAI's PEOPLE 27 (1967).
 1975] HAWAIIAN LAND

Plantations were made possible by legislation enabling Westerners

to purchase large tracts of government land,71 pursuant to which the
kingdom sold over 600,000 acres by 1893 at an average price of 92
cents per acre. 72 Although Native Hawaiians made the largest number
of purchases, the bulk of the acreage went to Westerners. For ex-
ample, before 1864, more than 320,000 acres were sold to only 213
Westerners. 73 In the following year the entire island of Niihau, over
61,000 acres, was sold to one Western entrepreneur.7 4 Westerners also
accumulated Crown lands via leasehold arrangements despite the fact
that the Crown lands had been made inalienable in 1865. 71 By 1890,
76 lessees controlled 752,431 acres of Crown and government land by
76
leasing at an annual rate of pennies per acre.
Some Westerners acquired large amounts of acreage for planta-
tions by overreaching or actual fraud. In 1880, Claus Spreckels, the
California sugar baron, purchased from a descendant of Kamehameha
I all her rights in the Crown lands.77 Although this claim had no legal
value since Crown lands were inalienable, Spreckels persuaded the 1884
legislature to give him 24,000 acres of high quality sugar land in ex-
78
change for his asserted claim.

71. Statutes cited notes 58 and 62 supra. Until the Act of September 25, 1876,
[1876] Hawaii Laws 118-119, such sale did not have to be at auction.
72. See HIsToRIcAL ANALYSIS, supra note 65, at 186.
73. Compare the purchase during the same period of approximately 90,000 acres
by 333 Native Hawaiians. Statistics compiled by the author from COMMSSIONER OF
PUDLIC LANDS OF THE TERRITORY OF HAWAII, INDICES OF AWAiDS (1929), containing
entries of grantees and acreage for all Royal Hawaiian government land grants.
74. COMIMSSIONER OF PUBLIC LANDS OF THE TERRITORY OF HAWAII, INDICES OF
AWARDs 10 (1929).
75. Upon the death of Kamehameha IV in 1865, Queen Emma applied under the
intestate succession laws for a one-half interest in the estate and a right of dower in
the remaining half. Ruling against her, the Hawaiian Supreme Court declared that de-
spite the clear intent of Kamehameha M during the Mahele to have the Crown lands
treated as private property, they belonged to the possessor of the Crown, subject only
to a dower right. In re Kamehameha IV, 2 Hawaii 715 (1864). This litigation led
to legislation which affirmed the decision of the court and further declared that all land
remaining with the Crown "shall be henceforth inalienable, and shall descend to the
heirs and successors of the Hawaiian Crown forever." Act of January 3, 1865, § 3
[1864] Hawaii Laws 70, in RlvisEn Laws 1925 at 2178. This act also substituted an
income of $6,000 for the Queen's dower and provided for bonds to redeem existing
mortgages.
76. HIsTORIcAL ANALYsIs, supra note 65, at 137.
77. SHOAL OF TrIN, supra note 1, at 225.
78. Act of July 21, 1882, ch. 10, [1882] Hawaii Laws, in Rlvwsn LAws 1925
at 2179.
Under a statute that authorized government land exchanges, Act of August 14,
1895, § 17, [1895] Hawaii Laws 56-57, Charles Gay exchanged slightly fewer than 300
acres on Oahu for 48,000 acres on Lanai. R. HoRowrrz, PUBLIC LAND POLICY IN
HAwAii: LAND EXCHANGES (Legislative Reference Bureau Report No. 2, 1964) 14-15.
McCandless v. Carter, 18 Hawaii 221 (1907) upheld this questionable transaction.
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW ,[Vol. 63:848

In 1865, Joseph H. Morrison measured the dimensions of an

ahupuaa of almost 50,000 acres, reported to the Hawaiian owner that
the ahupuaa was only 1,200 acres, and then purchased it for a mere
$600. The court set aside the transaction, relying not only upon the
disparity between the sales price and the true value, but also on the
relationship of trust between the buyer and seller. 7" In other cases,
however, courts upheld transactions where the evidence strongly sug-
gested an illiterate seller sold property for far less than its true value,
or was confused about the nature of the transaction."0
Intermarriage between Western men and the daughters of land-
rich Hawaiians also resulted in the loss of Native Hawaiian control over
land."1 The courts facilitated this loss of land. For example, one de-
cision voided an attempt by a Hawaiian woman to transfer land to her
brother and thus out of the control of her Western husband.8 2 The
administration of the Bishop Estate illustrates another instance in which
Native Hawaiians lost control of the land.8 3 When Bernice Pauahi
Bishop, the last descendant of Kamehameha I, died in 1884, her estate
included more than 375,000 acres.84 The bulk of her estate was be-
queathed to a charitable trust, administered by five named Westerners,
whose successors were to be appointed by a majority of the justices of
the supreme court. 85 Thus, even if the charitable estate had been ef-
ficiently managed for the benefit of Native Hawaiians, as the testator
intended, control of almost 10 percent of the land of Hawaii passed out
of Hawaiian hands as a result of the disposition. As Rev. Armstrong
had predicted,8 6 the chiefs who had been accustomed to the feudal la-
bor dues system were unable to manage cash plantations and many
large estates were lost through debts and mortgage foreclosures. 87

79. Kapaakea v. Morrison, 2 Hawaii 272 (1860); see also Ainini v. Kala, 6 Ha-
waii 16 (1869); Kapea v. Moehonua, 6 Hawaii 49 (1871).
80. See, e.g., Kanakanui v. Leslie, 7 Hawaii 223 (1888); Namomi v. Ah Nui, 5
Hawaii 441 (1885); Kapaukea v. Lawrence, 4 Hawaii 674 (1873).
81. Although the descendants are obviously part-Hawaiian, subsequent marriages
to Westerners have led to a present landholding class whose cultural identity differs from
the bulk of landless Hawaiians.
82. Mutch v. Holau, 5 Hawaii 316 (1885).
83. For discussion of present problems of the Bishop Estate, see text accompany-
ing notes 171-217 infra.
84. This accumulation of land in the estate of one person occurred because of the
scarcity of heirs in the Kamehameha line. See Midkiff, The Kamehameha Schools and
the Bishop Estate, in THE KAMEHAm HA ScHooLs-75TH ANNivERsARY LECrURaS 163-
64 (1965).
85. Will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, [ 14, Equity file No. 2048 (Hawaii Cir. Ct.,
1st Cir., December 2, 1884). Cited in relevant part in Kekoa v. Supreme Court, 55
Hawaii 174, 516 P.2d 1239, 1241 (1973).
86. See text accompanying note 63 supra.
87. For account of an early mortgage granted by Native Hawaiians, see, e.g., May
v. Haalelea, 2 Hawaii 191 (1859).
19751 HAWAIIAN LAND

As Westerners gained control over government lands and holdings

of the Native Hawaiian aristocracy, the kuleana became easier to ob-
tain and the majority of these minimal holdings were soon lost. 5 The
kuleana owners were frequently harassed by the illegal diversion of
water and by foraging cattle from large ranches.8 9 Without the former
concomitant rights to grow crops and pasture animals on unoccupied
land in the rest of the ahupuaa,90 the kuleana could not provide their
owners with a subsistence living. The economic difficulties in main-
taining them, plus the absence of restraints on alienation, frequently
led to sales at nominal prices.9 1 Kuleana which had been leased to
Westerners were never returned9" because natural landmarks disap-
peared when the kuleana became part of plantations. 93 Kuleana were
lost to larger surrounding landholders by frequent invocation of the doc-
trine of adverse possession.9"

E. The Republic and the Annexation

Westerners, having asserted economic dominance over the Islands

by the 1880's, turned to the establishment of complete political con-
trol.95 Influential Western growers formed the Hawaiian League in
1887, whose stated goals were to end corruption in the Hawaiian gov-
ernment and to reduce the monarch's power. 96 The group staged a
coup d'etat on July 6, 1887, forcing the king to promulgate a new con-
stitution to replace the constitution of 1864. The "Bayonet Constitu-
tion" substituted the power of Western landowners for that of the
king.97 The upper class of legislators, previously appointed by the king
from the Native Hawaiian nobility, 98 was now to be elected by those

88. For discussion of the current problems of remaining kuleana, see text accom-
panying notes 145-70 infra.
89. See discussion of the history of cattle on the Islands in Davis v. Green, 2 Ha-
waii 367 (1861). See also CENTURY OF EcoNoMIc CHANGE, supranote 65, at 169.
90. See text accompanying notes 56-57 supra.
91. Cf. ISLAND CoMmuNrry, supra note 1, at 47-52.
92. Id.
93. See Wise, History of Land Ownership in Hawaii, in ANCIENT HAwAuAN CIv-
ILIZATION 89-90 (1956).
94. See text accompanying notes 160-70 infra.
95. See generally S. STEVENS, AMmucma EXPANSION IN H-AwAI, 1842-1898 (1945)
[hereinafter cited as AzmERCAN EXPANSION]; M. TATE, TnE UNITED STATES AND TEE
-HwAiAN KINGDOM (1965) [hereinafter cited as U.S. AND THE, HAwAnAN KINGDOM].
96. See 3 HAwAIAN KINGDOM, supra note 65, at 347-49.
97. For example, the absolute veto power of the monarch under the constitution
of 1864, art. 31, was reduced to a limited veto power in the constitution of 1887, art.
48, in Thurston at 173, 187.
98. Constitution of 1864, art. 45, in Thurston at 174.
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW .[Vol. 63:848

who paid taxes,9" from a field of candidates limited to wealthy land-

owners. 100 Americans and Europeans residing in Hawaii, who were
literate in any Western language and met the taxpaying criteria, did
not have to be citizens to vote,101 while illiterate Hawaiians under the
age of 47 were barred from voting. 102
The political victory of 1887 did not satisfy the desires of those
Americans who wanted Hawaii annexed to the United States; and in
the 1890's they formed the Annexation Club. 0 a In 1893, when Queen
Liliuokalani threatened to proclaim another constitution increasing the
crown's power,'" 4 the American merchant community organized to
overthrow the monarchy. Even after the Queen had clearly abandoned
her plan, 0 5 the Americans continued their opposition under the name
of the Committee of Public Safety. On January 16, 1893, John L. Ste-
vens, the United States Minister in Hawaii and a long-term friend of
the annexationists, 00 ordered marines to land in Honolulu. His excuse
for invading was to protect American citizens and property. 10 7 The in-
surrectionists proclaimed a provisional government which Stevens re-
cognized even before the Queen's chief lines of defense had surren-
dered. The Queen realized that her forces could not defeat the armed
merchants and the United States Marines. In order to prevent futile
bloodshed, she relinquished her governmental authority. The reaction
on the mainland against United States military involvement in the rev-
olution temporarily prevented the annexation which the merchant revo-
lutionaries had planned.'"" The provisional government therefore es-
tablished the Republic of Hawaii, which lasted until annexation in
1898.

99. Constitution of 1887, art. 59, in Thurston at 189.

100. Constitution of 1887, art. 56, in Thurston at 188.
101. Constitution of 1887, art. 59, in Thurston at 189.
102. Constitution of 1887, art. 62, in Thurston at 190.
103. AMERICAN EXPANsION, supra note 95, at 206-08.
104. See U.S. AND THE HAWAIIAN KINGDOM, supranote 95, at 155-91.
105. Id. at 173.
106. AMmuCAN EXPANSION, supranote 95, at 187.
107. See U.S. AND THE HAWAIIAN KINGDOM, supra note 95, at 176.
108. For example, President Cleveland, in refusing to submit a treaty of annex-
ation to the Senate in 1893, pointed to the unethical role the United States had
played.
But for the notorious predilections of the United States Minister
for Annexation, the Committee of Safety, which should be called the
Committee of Annexation, would never have existed.
But for the landing of the United States forces upon false pretexts
respecting the danger to life and property the committee would never
have exposed themselves to the pains and penalties of treason by un-
dertaking the subversion of the Queen's Government.
But for the presence of the United States forces in the immediate
vicinity and in position to afford all needed protection and support the
 1975] HA WAIIAN LAND

The constitution of the Republic expropriated"°9 the Crown lands,

without compensation to the monarch, 110 and made them available to
Westerners for purchase. Although leaving Mahele lands to the de-
scendants of lesser chiefs and their transferees,"' the Western minority
had secured control over another vast part of Hawaii. The Land Act
of 189512 provided for the disposition of some former Crown lands as
homesteads. 11 3 Only citizens could apply for homesteads" 4 and the
exclusion of most Orientals from citizenship" 5 limited homesteading to
Hawaiians and Westerners." 6 The portion of the Act most suited to
Native Hawaiians provided for 999-year leases of small acreage at no
cost."z7 The leases, however, were inalienable and could not be de-

committee would not have proclaimed the provisional government

from the steps of the Government building.
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE RELATING TO THE HAWABLAN ISLANDS, H.R. Exac. Doc. No. 47,
53d Cong., 2d Sess. XIII (1893).
109. See constitution of 1894, art. 95, [1895] Hawaii Laws 118, in Thurston at
237.
110. Queen Liliuokalani brought suit against the United States for compensation,
but this claim was denied. Liliuokalani v. United States, 45 Ct. Cls. 418 (1910).
111. King Kamehameha I had separated his private lands from those of the gov-
ernment to safeguard them from Western takeover. In debate in the Privy Council, June
6, 1848, G.P. Judd had stated that it was necessary for the King to divide his private
lands from the lands of the government because, "If no explanation of this kind is made,
it will mix matters later on, and some of the foreigners will come later on and say they
have an interest in the lands too." Debates of the Privy Council in 1848 at 42, June
6, 1848, on file in Hawaii State Archives.
112. Act of August 14, 1895, Act 26, [1895] Hawaii Laws Spec. Sess. 49-83.
113. Homesteading had been previously provided for by Act of August 29, 1884,
ch. 45, [1884] Hawaii Laws 86, in REVISED LAWS 1925 at 2200. However, only 527
homesteads were taken out under this previous act and subsequent amendments, and of
those only 337 were patented. HousE COMM. ON THE TERurrolEs GovERNMENT FOR
THE TERRITORY OF HAWAII, H.R. REP. No. 305, 56th Cong., 1st Sess. 65 (1900). The
1895 Land Act provided for continued auction sales of land, but limited the size of par-
cels to 1000 acres. Act of August 14, 1895, Act 26, § 17, [1895] Hawaii Laws 56.
114. Act of August 14, 1895, Act 26, § 31 [1895] Hawaii Laws Spec. Sess. 62.
115. Constitution of 1894, art. 17-18, [1895] Hawaii Laws 79, in Thurston at 205-
206. The constitution provided citizenship for only those Orientals born or naturalized
in the Republic of Hawaii. The effect of this naturalization requirement was to exclude
most Orientals from homesteading eligibility.
116. The Land Act was conceived by plantation owners as a means to attract white
labor and to prevent an Oriental takeover by the Chinese and Japanese plantation work-
ers they had imported. See essays by Hawaiian President Sanford B. Dole in 2 HA-
WAIIAN KINGDOM, supra note 95, at 192. Dole wrote, "The problem of population is
only to be worked out through far more comprehensive efforts, which shall aim to bring
settlers and citizens rather than convicts and coolies .... "
117. Act of August 14, 1895, Act 26, H§ 28-55, [1895] Hawaii Laws Spec. Sess. 61.
The Land Act of 1895 also provided a right of purchase lease designed for impoverished
potential agricultural entrepeneurs (id. 9H 59-64 at 75) and a cash freehold for those
who had capital (id. § 65-70 at 78). The Commissioners of Public Land also sold
land for cash plus credit (id. § 17 at 56) and thus fashioned what have frequently been
referred to as "Special Homestead Agreements," primarily with Westerners.
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW ,[Vol. 63:848

vised, but would descend to statutory heirs.",' An analysis of home-

steading in the first years after the Land Act indicates that Native
Hawaiians were not the main beneficiaries." 9
Changing attitudes in the United States concerning imperialism
permitted Hawaiian annexation in 1898,120 but annexation did not im-
mediately affect the homesteading program. Although the joint New-
lands Resolution of Annexation ceded all public lands of the Republic
of Hawaii to the United States,' 2 ' it affirmed the validity of "municipal
legislation of the Hawaiian Islands"'12 2 and the public land laws of the
United States were made inapplicable to Hawaii.12 3 Ironically, a 1910
amendment to the Organic Act,12 4 which was designed to facilitate the
homesteading programs, became the precursor of their demise. It di-
rected the Territory to open land in a given locality when 25 or more
qualified homesteaders applied for that land. 12 For the sugar inter-
ests, this amendment could not have come at a less opportune time.
A large number of long-term leases on crown lands were due to expire
during the 1920's and 1930's, and thus could become open to home-
steading under the 1910 amendment.' 2 6 For example, a prime sugar
tract previously leased to the Waiakea Mill Company near Hilo had
been opened to homesteading in 1918.127 Although the Mill Company
leased back virtually all the land within several years, the industry un-
doubtedly wished to avoid the costs of regaining homestead land.
An entirely different problem provided the rationale for legislation
to protect the sugar industry from homesteading. During this period,

118. Act of August 14, 1895, Act 26, § 43, [1895] Hawaii Laws Spec. Sess. 67.
Under Public Law No. 746 (1950) these 999-year leases can be converted to fee at the
holder's option. Act of Sept. 1, 1950, ch. 833, 64 Stat. 572, as amended, Act of Aug.
23, 1954, ch. 824, 68 Stat. 764.
119. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS, supra note 95, at 11, 14.
Although homesteading continued into the twentieth century, the initial benefits to
Hawaiians were ultimately lost. By 1951, fewer than 10 percent of the homestead leases
remained in Native Hawaiian hands. G. LUTER, REPORT ON HOMESTEADING IN HAWAII
1839-1961 (Jan. 3, 1961) at 15, on file Hawaiian State Dept. of Land and Natural Re-
sources. The lack of capital to fulfill the development condition of the leases and the
ban on testamentary disposition were partly responsible for these relinquishments.
120. AMERICAN EXPANSION, supra note 65, at 293-99.
121. Joint Resolution of July 7, 1898, No. 55, 30 Stat. 750 (1898).
122. Id. § 1.
123. The Newlands Resolution had transferred fee title to the United States but the
Territorial Government interpreted the Resolution as allowing continued disposal of pub-
lic lands. The Organic Act specifically validated those problematic transactions, but it
did not significantly affect homesteading. Act of April 30, 1900, ch. 339, H§ 73, 91, 31
Stat. 141.
124. Act of May 27, 1910, ch. 258, § 5, 36 Stat. 443.
125. Id. 36 Stat. 443, 446.
126. See generally REPORT OF THE WAIAKEA HOMESTEAD COMISSION (1926).
127. Id. at 12.
1975] HAWAIIAN LAND

racial consciousness was rising among Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians,

and the Hawaiian leadership perceived that the Hawaiians were a dying
race. 128 The Hawaiian Protective Association suggested that Native
Hawaiians be "rehabilitated" by removing them from the influences of
city tenements and returning them to the land.'2 9 The result was the
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920130 which, by its terms, pur-
ported to mitigate the perceived racial problem. Although the act may
be cited as a humanitarian effort for the surviving descendants of an in-
digenous people, it was enacted by sugar barons who would not tolerate
accelerated homesteading.13' A deal was struck: some second-class
lands would be put aside for Native Hawaiians under the new program
and, in return, all cultivated sugar lands would be withdrawn from home-
32
steading.
Although the Commission was authorized to lease parcels to Na-
tive Hawaiians for 99 years at nominal rates,' 33 the land made available
was arid and of marginal agricultural value.' 34 Hawaiians, in many in-
stances several generations removed from agricultural life, were thus
to rehabilitate themselves on land that experienced farmers would not
touch.' 1 Furthermore, homesteaders' land rights were limited: they
could not sublet, transfer or mortgage the land to non-Hawaiians and
they even needed Commission approval to transfer to Hawaiians. 8 '
Finally, the Act provided little financial assistance to Native Hawaiians
desiring to erect homes and begin farming operations.1 7

128. Cf. A. Lnum, HAWAII's PEOPLE 17-18 (1955). Hindsight demonstrates that by
1920, the population of part-Hawaiians was increasing faster than the population of pure
Hawaiians was decreasing. Id.
129. M. Vause, Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1962 (unpublished thesis in Uni-
versity of Hawaii Library) 119.
130. Act of July 9, 1921, ch. 42, 42 Stat. 108.
131. See generally M. Vause, Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1962 (unpublished
thesis in University of Hawaii Library).
132. Withdrawal was authorized by Congress in the Act of July 9, 1921, ch. 42, §§
203, 212, 42 Stat. 109, 112.
133. Id. §§ 207(a), 208(2), 42 Stat. 109-11.
134. Approximately 200,000 acres of public land were "made available" to the Ha-
waiian Homes Commission, which was a branch of the territorial government. Act of
July 9, 1921, ch. 42, § 203, 42 Stat. 109. See text accompanying notes 218-52 infra
for discussion of current problems of the Hawaiian Homes program.
135. At that time, Governor McCarthy of Hawaii stated that if better lands were
made available to Hawaiians, "the main object of the measure would be defeated as the
Hawaiians would not work the land themselves but would have the work done by Japa-
nese." Letter from Governor McCarthy to Secretary of the Interior Payne, June 30,
1920, in M. Vause, Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1962 (unpublished thesis in Uni-
versity of Hawaii Library) 117.
136. Act of July 9, 1921, ch. 42, § 208(5), 42 Stat. 111.
137. The Commission could lend prospective homesteaders up to $3,000. Id. §§
214-15, 42 Stat. 111, 112.
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW ,[Vol. 63: 848

In return, the Organic Act was amended to provide that non-home-

stead leases of public land would be for 15 years and that those leases
could not be withdrawn to meet new demands for homestead leases. 3 s
Since no one could outbid the sugar interests for these leases, the indus-
try obtained the use of the best lands in Hawaii. In fact, the sugar
interests had bought virtually permanent use of government-owned sugar
lands. Homesteading, except by Native Hawaiians under the Hawaiian
Homes program, came to an end. 130 Poorer Caucasians and Hawaiian-
born Orientals, who as United States citizens would have been eligible
for homesteading, were denied access to public lands since only persons
possessing "not less than one-half part of the blood of the races inhabit-
ing the Hawaiian Islands previous to 1778"140 were eligible under the
Act.

PRESENT LAND PROBLEMS OF NATIVE HAWAIIANS

Almost 20 percent of Hawaii's population has some Native
Hawaiian ancestry.' 4 ' Great variation in wealth and degree of assimi-
lation exists among Native Hawaiians, but generally that community is
one of the poorest ethnic groups within the State today. 42 As real es-
tate values in Hawaii rise, the number of geographic areas in which Na-
tive Hawaiians are able to purchase land or can afford to live decreases.
Since Native Hawaiian culture has been tied to the land,"'13 a land base
is necessary for those Hawaiians who choose a traditional way of life.
In addition, sufficient urban homeland must be assured so that
economic necessity will not force Native Hawaiians to leave the Islands
44
that form the basis of their cultural identity.1
In exploring possible methods to preserve and increase the land
base of Native Hawaiians, this section will focus on the problems faced
by Native Hawaiian kuleana holders: these problems are representa-
tive of those confronting other Native Hawaiian owners of small acreage
fee interests. The section will then examine the Bishop Estate and the
Hawaiian Homes program, the two most important potential land bases

138. Compare Act of April 2, 1908, ch. 124, 35 Stat. 56 with Act of July 9, 1921,
ch. 42, § 304, 42 Stat. 117.
139. From 192.1 to 1946 only one tract of land was opened for general homestead-
ing. HAWAII (TERRITORY) LAND LAWS REVISION COMMISSION, FINAL REPORT 44 (1946).
140. Act of July 9, 1921, ch. 42, § 201 (a) (7), 42 Stat. 108.
141. See T. FISHER, HAWAII: GROWING PAINS IN PARADISE 12 (1973).
142. See generally D. Tuttle, Hawaii Voting Behavior: A Guide to Estimated Social
and Economic Characteristics, 1972 (unpublished thesis in University of Hawaii Li-
brary).
143. See generally Handy, Handy & Pukui, Native PlantePs in Old Hawaii, in BER-
NICE P. BISHOP MUSEUM BULL. No. 233.
144. Today most Native Hawaiians live in or near Honolulu. STATE OF HAWAII,
THE STATE OF HAWAII DATA BOOK, A STATISTiCAL AnsmRcr 8 (1974).
 1975] HAWAIIAN LAND

for Native Hawaiian utilization. Finally, it will analyze the current land
reparation claim of Native Hawaiians.

A. Protectionof Kuleana Rights

Despite the loss of many kuleana,1 45 a significant number are still
held by Native Hawaiians, particularly in rural areas such as East
Molokai. Inherited kuleana constitute an important source of land held
in fee by impoverished Native Hawaiians. 14 6 These plots, and the
gathering rights they confer, 147 have provided adequate homesites for
nuclear or extended Hawaiian families. However, three major legal
obstacles bar full use of many kuleana.

1. FractionatedOwnership
A kuleana that one person received in the 1850's may now be
owned by dozens of individuals if, in the intervening generations, the
property passed by intestate succession."4" Although each joint owner
has a legal right to enter and use the land, 49 no one has much incentive
to improve the land or pay taxes' 50 if title is so clouded that ownership
is perceived as only temporary. Even if estate counseling were feasible
and effective for the future, legal assistance would be necessary to un-
tangle those kuleana interests which are already fractionated.
If the number of joint owners is relatively small, there are three pos-
sible remedies. First, one joint owner can buy out the others. Second,
the kuleana can be partitioned and each joint owner given title to a

145. Several studies indicate how few kuleana were retained by Native Hawaiians.
One estimate is that no more than one-third of the 937 kuleana on Kauai were securely
held by Hawaiians in 1915. J. Lydgate, The Vanishing Kuleana, in THRUM'S HAwAIIAN
ALMANAc AND ANNUAL FOR 1915 at 109. Although the percentage was likely to have
been greater on the outer islands, a recent survey indicated that in densely populated
Oahu less than 6.6 percent of the kuleana were still in Hawaiian hands as of 1936. Is-
LAND COMMUN1TY, supra note 1, at 49.
146. Interview with Fred Bicoy, West Molokai Community Advisor, Office of Eco-
nomic Opportunity, in East Molokai, July 27-29, 1973.
147. The ahupuaa historically ran from the mountains to the sea, with gathering
rights for residents extending throughout this area. Today, lawful occupants of kuleana
retain these rights. They may take firewood, house timber, aho cord, thatch and ki leaf
for their own use. HAwm REv. STATS. § 7-1 (1968).
148. As with mainland Indians, the imposition of a foreign inheritance scheme has
led to ownership patterns neither traditional nor typical of Western landholding. See
Comment, Too Little Land, Too Many Heirs-The Indian Heirship Problem, 46 WASH.
L. Rev. 709 (1971).
149. See Moranho v. De Aguiar, 25 Hawaii 267, modified, 25 Hawaii 271 (1920);
Lui v. Kaleikini, 10 Hawaii 391 (1896).
150. The nonpayment of taxes is a recurrent cause of loss of kuleana. Interview
with Fred Bicoy, East Molokai Community Adviser, Office of Economic Opportunity,
in East Molokai, July 28, 1973.
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW ,[Vol. 63:848

portion of the land. 5 ' Finally, if joint owners prefer to retain un-
divided ownership, title can be assigned to a mutually-owned corpora-
tion, trust, or partnership with the power to assure payment of taxes
and to enforce agreed-upon land use patterns.
The owners of a kuleana, however, may be so numerous as to ren-
der the latter two solutions infeasible. Effective use of the land may
require one or more of the joint owners to purchase the interests of
others. The risk inherent in this approach is that impoverished Native
Hawaiians may lose their only access to land ownership as they are
bought out by more financially able Hawaiians. Only infusion of money
from government or charitable sources will allow financially needy joint
owners to undertake acquisition. Perhaps if kuleana ownership is
viewed as a base of self-support for people who might otherwise need
continual financial assistance, public funding is politically possible.

2. Inadequate Access
Since large plantations and developments surround kuleana, many
roads leading to them are indirect or in such poor condition as to ren-
der them impassable to modern transportation. Legal tools already ex-
ist to remedy this problem: the doctrine of easements by necessity, for
example, has been consistently recognized by Hawaiian courts.' 2 In
applying this doctrine, the courts have not required prior ownership by
a single person of both the servient and dominant estates, 5 3 nor, if the
property is landlocked, have they required that the right-of-way be ab-
solutely necessary. 54 The easement must be "reasonably" necessary;
that is, other access must be either difficult or expensive to use.',"
Thus, convenient right-of-way presently used by a kuleana holder can
usually be upheld even if the user cannot establish a prescriptive ease-
ment.
In addition, statutory sanction exists for rights-of-way to kuleana.
Hawaiian law still retains the 1850 statute establishing kuleana, which
declares that, "the people shall have . . .the right of way.. . . The
roads shall be free to all, on all lands granted in fee simple."' 6 This
provision has been used as historical evidence to strengthen the theory

151. HAwAII REv. STATS. § 668 (1968) provides procedures for partition of real es-
tate. Of course, compliance with zoning laws concerning subdivision of property would
also be necessary.
152. See Palama v. Sheehan, 50 Hawaii 298, 440 P.2d 95 (1968).
153. Henry v. Ahlo, 9 Hawaii 490 (1894).
154. Palama v. Sheehan, 50 Hawaii 298, 301, 440 P.2d 95, 98 (1968); Enos v. Wa
Sing, 4 Hawaii 457 (1882).
155. See, e.g., Kalaukoa v. Keawe, 9 Hawaii 191, 193 (1893).
156. HAWAu REV. STATs. § 7-1 (1968) (originally enacted as Act of August 6,
1850, § 7, [1850] Hawaii Laws 202); REv SED Laws 1925 at 2142.
19751 HAWAIIAN LAND

of right-of-way by necessity. 57 It should also be used as an inde-

pendent ground to establish access to land. There is precedent using an-
cient Hawaiian custom and usage to determine modem property rights.
For example, the court has considered the purpose of laws enacted at
the time of the Great Mahele in order to resolve a current water rights
issue. 1 8 Since the problems of the kuleana also stems from the Great
Mahele, a similar approach should be taken to preserve access. 159

3. Adverse Possession
Fractionated ownership and lack of access often lead to disuse of
kuleana plots which, in turn may lead to permanent loss of possessory
rights through adverse possession. The doctrine of adverse possession
denies to the legal owner of land the ability to use the courts to eject
one who has occupied that land for a statutory period' 60 in an open,
hostile, notorious, and exclusive manner.' 61 Doctrines developed in
other jurisdictions that would stay this trend, and limit the application
of adverse possession, have not been adopted in Hawaii.' 62 Rather,
adverse possession has been used primarily by large landholders to ab-
sorb the enclosed kuleana of Native Hawaiians. 6 3 Although a large

157. Palama v. Sheehan, 50 Hawaii 298, 300, 440 P.2d 95, 97 (1968).
158. McBryde Sugar Co. v. Robinson, 54 Hawaii 174, 504 P.2d 1330, af'd on re-
hearing,55 Haw. 260, 517 P.2d 26 (1973), appeal dismissed, 417 U.S. 962 (1974).
159. Traditional rights of kuleana owners might also be used to control resource-de-
structive aspects of development and to extend rights-of-way throughout the ahupuaa to
reach the mountains and beaches. It could be argued that since the people have rights
to gather resources within the ahupuaa, any future development that would destroy these
natural resources must be halted. See note 147 supra.
As a modest note, the legislature passed a public access statute, H-IwAx Rav. STATS.
46-6.5(a) (1968). It provides that all developers, as a condition precedent to final
approval of a subdivision where public access is not already established, must dedicate
land for public access from public highways to the coastal shoreline, mountain trails,
and existing facilities for hiking, hunting, fruit-picking, ti-leaf sliding, and other recrea-
tional purposes. See Comment, Hawaiian Beach Access: A Customary Right, 26
HAsmiaNs LJ. 823 (1975).
160. HAvu REv. STATS. §§ 657-31, 669-1 (1968). The statute of limitations was
originally 20 years. Act of July 18, 1870, ch. 22, § 1, [1870] Hawaii Laws 28. This
period was reduced to 10 years in 1898. Act of April 22, 1898, Act 19, § 1, [1898]
Hawaii Laws 22. See note 165 infra for the 1973 amendment which changed the period
back to 20 years.
161. For example, Hawaiian courts have not been strict in demanding that the ad-
verse possessor enter under claim of title. See Deponte v. Ulupalakua Ranch, Ltd., 47
Hawaii 17, 395 P.2d 273 (1964); Lalakea v. Hawaiian Irrigation Co., 36 Hawaii 692
(1944). Nor have they always required the adverse possessor faithfully to pay taxes.
See Gomes v. Upchurch, 50 Hawaii 125, 432 P.2d 890 (1967); Deponte v. Ulupalakua
Ranch, Ltd., 48 Hawaii 17, 395 P.2d 273 (1964).
162. Thomas v. State, 55 Hawaii 30, 514 P.2d 572 (1973); Oahu Ry. and Land Co.
v. Kaili, 22 Hawaii 673 (1915); Booth v. Beckley, 11 Hawaii 518 (1898).
163. See Town & Yuen, Public Access to Beaches in Hawaii, "A Social Necessity,"
10 HAwAni B.J. 5, 21 (1973).
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW ,[Vol. 63:848

landholder cannot gain title by merely showing non-use of the ku-

leana,6 4 it may be relatively easy to cultivate the lands of an enclosed
kuleana and to begin occupying the land through adverse possession.
Reduction of adverse possession claims to paper title is then a simple
matter' 65 and opens the door to development. Native Hawaiians have
been less able to use the doctrine to secure land for themselves. For
example, if a native tenant remained on cultivated lands after 1850,
but never applied for a kuleana, his continued possession was deemed
permissive rather than adverse.' 6 6 Thus it became practically impos-
sible for a commoner to adversely possess land owned by a konohiki.
There are two approaches for kuleana owners who want to avoid
this loss. One alternative, suggested by Chief Justice William Richard-
son of the Hawaii Supreme Court, is that more Native Hawaiians regis-
ter their lands to prevent them from being taken by adverse posses-
sion.' 6 7 A second approach is Native Hawaiian pressure to reform the
adverse possession laws. In 1973, the statutory period for adverse
possession was changed from 10 to 20 years, 6 8 thus allowing land
owners a longer period in which to evict a potential adverse possessor.
The legislature also passed a bill which would have required an adverse
claimant to have entered the land in good faith.' 00 Although this bill
would merely have prevented successful claims by those who had not
acted in good faith, it was vetoed by the governor."'

B. The Bishop Estate

The Bishop Estate171 is the largest and most important of Hawaii's
landed charitable estates."' Its holdings on all major Islands except

164. Akowai v. Lupong, 4 Hawaii 259 (1880).

165. Title can be established pursuant to the Land Court Registration Act, HAWAII
REv. STATS. § 501 (1968), Hawaii's enactment of the Torrens System. That Act has
had very limited use because of its complex procedures; an application must include a
boundary survey and a complete abstract of title. Expense, in fact, limits use of the
Act to wealthy landowners and large developers. Most landholders rely instead on ac-
tions to quiet title, which are simple to bring, especially when unopposed. HAwAII REV.
STATS. § 669 (1968). See D. Dauthet, Clearing Land Titles in Hawaii, Sept. 23, 1974
(unpublished paper).
166. See, e.g., Dowsett v. Maukeala, 10 Hawaii 166 (1895).
167. Hawaii Advertiser, Feb. 9, 1974, at A-2, col. 1.
168. HAWAII REV. STATS. § 657-31 (Supp. 1974).
169. H.B. 15, S.B. 879, Reg. Sess. (1973); legislative passage, April 11, 1973.
170. Governor's veto, June 1, 1973. SEvENTH LEoISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HA-
WAII, FINAL STATUS OF BILLS AND RESOLuTIoNS 202 (1974).
171. See text accompanying notes 83-85 supra for discussion of the formation of the
Bishop Estate.
172. Other major landed charitable estates include Queen's Hospital, Queen Liliuo-
kalani Trust, and The Bernice P. Bishop Museum. See R. HOROWrrz, PUBLIC LAND
POLIcY IN HAWAII: MAJOR LANDoWNERs 17 (Legislative Reference Bureau Report No.
3, 1967) [hereinafter cited as MAJOR LANDOWNERS].
 1975] HAWAIIAN LAND

Lanai comprise nine percent of the state.173 The will of Princess Ber-
nice Pauahi Bishop established the Estate and named five Westerners
as trustees; their successors were to be named by the members of the
Hawaii Supreme Court.17 4 The trustees were authorized "to sell and
dispose of any lands of the. . . estate and to exchange lands and other-
wise dispose of the same" to further the trust purposes. 75 Approxi-
mately 90 percent of the Estate's land is leased for long terms for resi-
dential, agricultural, commercial, and industrial purposes. 7 6 But the
Estate has failed to put its resources to effective use. Although the
Estate's total landholdings are valued conservatively at more than $500,
000,000,177 its annual income is under $9,000,000,178 or less than two
percent of its capital. Such a minimal return raises the question of wheth-
er the trustees are fulfilling their statutory obligation to manage the Es-
tate in the "manner in which men of ordinary prudence, discretion, and
179
judgment would act in the management of their own affairs."'
More importantly, the low return has prevented the Estate from
realizing its benevolent aims. Princess Bishop's will directed the trust-
ees to hold the corpus upon the following trusts: to maintain two
schools, and to support orphans and other indigents, "giving the prefer-
ence to Hawaiians of pure or part aboriginal blood. . . ... 10 Despite

173. Id. at 17, 44.

174. Will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, para. 14, Equity file No. 2048 (Hawaii
Cir. Ct., 1st Cir. Dec. 2, 1884).
For the decision that Justices, when appointing Trustees, are acting as individuals
rather than as members of the judiciary, see Kekoa v. Supreme Court, 59 Hawaii 174,
516 P.2d 1239 (1973); In re Bishop Estate, 23 Hawaii 575 (1917), aff'd, 250 F. 145
(9th Cir. 1918).
175. Will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, para. 13, Equity file No. 2048 (Hawaii
Cir. Ct., 1st Cir. Dec. 2, 1884). Codicil No. 1, para. 17 further states: "I give unto
the trustees named in my will the most ample power to sell and dispose of any lands
or other portions of my estate . . . but [direct them] to continue and manage the same,
unless in their opinion a sale may be necessary for the establishment or maintenance
of said schools, or for the best interest of my estate." Quoted in Midkiff v. Koba-
yashi, 54 Hawaii 299, 330, 507 P.2d 724, 742 (1973).
176. MAJOR LANDOWNERS, supranote 172, at 20, 23-24.
177. The Bishop Estate reported the basis of its tax assessment of July 1, 1972 was
$360,592,000. See Honolulu Advertiser, Aug. 1, 1973, at A-7, col. 1. The state
assesses property at 70% of real market value. PRoPERTY TECHNICAL OFFICE, DEP'T
OF TAXATION, HAWAII's AsSESSMENT-SALES RATIO STUDY 1973 at 1 (1974). Compare for
example, the endowment of Stanford University at $365,000,000, STANFORD UNrVERsrrY,
FACrs: STANFoRD UNIvERsrrY, 1973-1974, and the Carnegee Corporation at $284,-
000,000, M. Lnwis, THE FOUNDATION DmECTORY 258 (1971).
178. "In 1971-1972 the annual rents totaled $8,775,805. There was additional in-
come of $666,968, from interest, dividends and other sources." Honolulu Advertiser,
Aug. 1, 1973, at A-7, col. 1.
179. HAWAI REV. STATS. § 557-2(a)(3) (Supp. 1974).
180. Will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, para. 13, Equity file No. 2048 (Hawaii
Cir. Ct., 1st Cir. Dec. 2, 1884), cited in In re Bishop Estate, 53 Hawaii 604, 609-10,
499 P.2d 670, 674 (1972).
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW ,[Vol. 63:848

this broad directive to support and educate indigent Native Hawaiians,

the Estate has limited its activities almost exclusively to maintaining the
Kamehameha Schools.'"' Moreover, the Kamehameha Schools receive
only 85 percent of their expenses from the Estate; the balance is col-
lected in tuition from students-all of whom are part-Hawaiian 8 2
To combat the low return on its capital, the Estate has begun to
lease large tracts of land to private companies which develop and sublet
that land. These transactions, however, have sparked resentment
among those Native Hawaiians who no longer believe that develop-
ment is always beneficial. In 1969, for example, a broad-based politi-
cal coalition opposed the eviction of a pig farmer from Bishop Estate
land slated by the trustees for a Kaiser Aetna development. 8 3 It is
ironic and unfortunate that a charitable estate would have prevented
a traditional Hawaiian activity in order to produce revenue to educate
Native Hawaiians. During the past five years, the Estate has attempted
to raise capital by large acreage sales.' 8 A 1970 sale of 2,300 acres
to a developer was set aside as against the best interest of the Estate,
because the trustees had not insured that the sales price was ade-
quate."8 5 In 1973, the Estate agreed to sell 15,000 acres on the island
of Hawaii for $6,200,000,186 a price of about $413 an acre.
The trustees have attempted to minimize public inquiry about
Estate finances by pointing to the difficulties of running a tax-exempt
foundation.'8 7 Their activities are shrouded in an accounting system
that has been described as difficult to understand;' 88 and, in the past,

181. Zalborg, Bishop Estate-Kam Schools Relations, Honolulu Advertiser, Aug. 1,

1973, at A-7, col. 1.
182. Statement of Trustee Matsuo Takabuki in Honolulu Advertiser, July 31, 1973,
at A-13, col. 1; The Kamehameha Schools, Providing Education Services for Hawaii's
Youth (1973) (brochure to parents from the schools).
183. See R. Pedersen, The Ad Hoe Committee for a Hawaiian Trustee 28, August,
1972 (unpublished thesis in University of Hawaii Library) [hereinafter cited as Peder-
sen].
184. Nevertheless, the trustees recently claimed that tax consequences made the sale
of small plots of Estate land prohibitive, thereby justifying their low cash flow. Hawai-
ian Advertiser, Aug. 1, 1973, at A-7, col. 1.
On the other hand, in the early 1960's, the Estate vigorously opposed legislation
that would have allowed long-term lessees of residential property to purchase the re-
mainder interests in leased lands. See, e.g., H.B. 16, Reg. Sess. (1961). For discussion
of the political battle see R. HoROWrTz & N. MILLER, LAND AND POLITICS IN HAWAII
(1963). The Estate marshaled Native Hawaiian opposition to the legislation by point-
ing to the potential shrinkage of Estate holdings. See generally Pedersen.
185. Midkiff v. Kobayashi, 54 Hawaii 299, 329-34, 507 P.2d 724, 743 (1973).
186. Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 11, 1973, at A-i, col. 2.
187. Zalborg, Bishop Estate-Kam Schools Relations, Honolulu Advertiser, Aug. 1,
1973, at A-7, col. 1.
188. Report of the Master on the Petition of the Trustees for Approval of the 83rd
Annual Report at 30, Equity file No. 2048 (Hawaii Cir. Ct., 1st Cir. Sept. 25, 1970)
[hereinafter cited as Master's Report].
1975] HAWAIIAN LAND

they have breached their legal obligation to publish annually a list of

the Estate's assets in a Honolulu newspaper. 18 9
The trustees could amplify the Estate's benefits to Native Hawai-
ians, consonant with the Bishop will, by making land available directly
to Native Hawaiians. The Estate's sale of land to developers for $413
an acre indicates that the same or comparable land could have been
made available to Native Hawaiian groups at a similar rate. Although
the price may have been inadequate for a third party, it is arguably
proper for a beneficiary. 90 This procedure would ease the problems of
landless Native Hawaiians without lessening Estate revenues. Further-
more, the will directed the trustees to "devote a portion of each year's
income to the support and education of orphans, and others in indigent
circumstances, giving the preference to Hawaiians. . .... "I Case law
is clear that trustees have latitude in implementing the intent of the
testator as determined from a will in its entirety. 92 Under this author-
ity the Estate could support indigent Native Hawaiians by leasing land to
them at a nominal rate. In a narrower application of this principle,
land and homes could be made available to indigent parents of students
and potential students of the Kamehameha Schools. 93
Since trustees have enormous discretion under the will, lawsuits
probably cannot force them to take innovative action such as allowing
Native Hawaiians free use of Estate land or deciding against develop-
ment projects that might disrupt Native Hawaiian communities. Action
by the trustees themselves is the best hope for such policy changes.
The appointment of trustees sympathetic to the needs of Native Hawai-
ians is the surest means of effecting major changes within the Bishop
Estate. Consequently, the Native Hawaiian community has attempted
to reform the appointment of trustees. In 1971 the Ad Hoc Committee
for a Hawaiian Trustee was formed to prevent the appointment of a
non-Hawaiian to fill a vacancy on the Board of Trustees. 94 Although
both the political movement and corollary lawsuits 9 5 were unsuccess-
ful, when another vacancy opened up in 1974, the Supreme Court ap-
pointed a Native Hawaiian to the position.' 9 6
189. In re Bishop Estate, 16 Hawaii 804 (1905).
190. See text accompanying note 193 infra.
191. Will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, para. 13, Equity file No. 2048 (Cir.
CL, 1st Cir. Dec. 2, 1884); cited in In re Bishop Estate, 53 Hawaii 604, 609-10, 499
P.2d 670, 674 (1972) (emphasis added).
192. See Estate of Weill, 48 Hawaii 553, 406 P.2d 718 (1965); Hawaiian Trust Co.
v. Breault, 42 Hawaii 268 (1958).
193. For a discussion of the interrelation of poverty and education, see C. JENCKS,
INEQAL1Ty-A REASSESSMENT OF TH EFFECT OF FAmILY AND ScHOOLING IN AMERICA
(1972).
194. See generally Pedersen, supra note 183.
195. Kekoa v. Supreme Court, 53 Hawaii 174, 516 P.2d 1239 (1973).
196. Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Aug. 14, 1974, at A-1, col. 5.
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 63:848
However, lawsuits by Native Hawaiians are a proper means of en-
forcing the trustees' non-discretionary duties to account and to make
the trust productive. 1 97 To date, Native Hawaiians have been reluctant
to prosecute such suits for fear that, if brought into issue, the entire
Estate program might be challenged as granting an unconstitutional
preference on the basis of race. This concern was exacerbated in 1972
by a concurring opinion in an appeal to the Hawaii Supreme Court from
a routine order approving an accounting by the trustees.' 0 8 Justice
Abe took the occasion to opine that the Bishop will does not require
the Estate to prefer Native Hawaiians for admission to Kamehameha
Schools, 9 ' even though this interpretation of the will conflicts with that
of the original trustees, including the testator's husband.20 0 More-
over, the opinion concluded that such a preference for Native Hawai-
ians would be unconstitutional. 20 1 The majority refused to discuss the
question of preference since it had not been raised at the trial. 212
However, the issue will surely be judicially considered in the future.
Interpreting the will to require preference for Native Hawaiians
in admission to the Kamehameha Schools raises the question of the con-
stitutionality of such a provision in a charitable trust. The Equal Pro-
tection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment forbids discrimination
against a racial minority by a private school established by a state-ad-
ministered will. 2 ° 3 The United States Supreme Court has not yet de-
cided whether providing special benefits to an economically disadvan-

197. The Hawaiian Supreme Court has assumed without discussion that Native Ha-
waiians, as special beneficiaries of the Estate, have standing to sue. See, e.g., Kekoa
v. Supreme Court, 53 Hawaii 174, 516 P.2d 1239 (1973); see also 4 ScoTr ON TRUSTS
§ 391 (2d ed. 1956). The Attorney General of the State also has authority to bring
suit to protect the interests of beneficiaries of charitable estates. See Midkiff v. Koba-
yashi, 54 Hawaii 299, 335, 507 P.2d 724, 745 (1973).
198. In re Bishop Estate, 53 Hawaii 604, 499 P.2d 673 (1972).
199. He stated that the will
provides simply for the erection of "two schools, each for boarding and day
scholars, one for boys and one for girls . . ." The only racial limitation is
contained in the direction "to devote a portion of each year's income to the
support and education of orphans, and others in indigent circumstances, giving
preference to Hawaiians of pure or part aboriginal blood. .
Id. at 610, 494 P.2d at 674 (Abe, J., concurring).
200. SHOAL OF TIME 299-301.
Although the interpretation of the will by Bernice's husband as trustee is not bind-
ing on a court, much is known of the allegiance which Bernice, the last of the Kame-
hameha line, felt towards Native Hawaiians. See H. KENT, CmuALEs REED BISHOP:
MAN OF HAwA I (1969); AC.B.AcK & K. MELLEN, PINCESS PAUAHI BISHOP AND HER
LEGACy (1959). Her testamentary intent would be carried out most faithfully by inter-
preting the preference clause as referring to all the charitable aims of the Estate.
201. 53 Hawaii at 611, 499 P.2d at 674.
202. Id. at 608, 499 P.2d at 673.
203. See, e.g., Pennsylvania v. Board of Trusts, 353 U.S. 230 (1957) (The Girard
College Case). See also Lusky, National Policy and the Dead Hand: The Race
Conscious Trust, in 112 TRUST AND ESTAT.ES 554 (1973).
 1975] HAWAIIAN LAND

taged minority groups can justify racial criteria in admissions. 20 4 Even

if such programs are generally declared unconstitutional, 20 5 the Bishop
Estate program should be considered constitutional as reasonably re-
lated to a legitimate concern for an indigenous people.
United States statutes and case law20 have traditionally applied
special rules to American Indians. Congress has passed Indian legisla-
tion in the fields of education,20 7 health, 2 8 civil liberties,2 0 9 and general
welfare. 210 Morton v. Mancari2 1 ' upheld a statute21 2 which required
that Indians be preferred for employment within the Bureau of Indian
Affairs. The Court specifically enunciated what had been implicit in
earlier decisions:2 1 3 Indian legislation is constitutional if ". . the spe-
cial treatment can be tied rationally to the fulfillment of Congress'
unique obligation toward the Indians ... .14 Although Native
Hawaiians cannot properly be called "American Indians" in an anthro-
pological sense, the plight of both groups as indigenous peoples within
the United States calls for analogous legal treatment.215 The phrase
"Hawaiians. . . of pure or part aboriginal blood" 210 in the Bishop will
is not as exclusive as the term "white." Our society tends to define
one as white only if he or she has no other identifiable racial ancestry.

204. In the past term, the Court ruled moot a case which challenged an admission
policy designed to increase minority enrollment at a law school. DeFunis v. Odegaard,
416 U.S. 312 (1974).
205. For arguments supporting the necessity for and constitutionality of minority
admissions programs, see Bell, In Defense of Minority Admissions Programs: A Re-
sponse to Professor Gaglia, 119 U. PA. L. REv. 364 (1970); Morris, Equal Protection,
Affirmative Action and Racial Preferences in Law Admission: DeFunis v. Odegaard,
49 WASH. L. Rv. 1 (1973). For a general discussion of considering race in order to
correct racial imbalance and discrimination, see Vieria, Racial Imbalance, Black Separa-
tism, and Permissible Classificationby Race, 67 MiCH. L. REv. 1553 (1969).
206. See, e.g., Morton v. Mancari, 417 U.S. 535 (1974); Board of Comm'rs v. Seber,
318 U.S. 705 (1943).
207. See, e.g., 25 U.S.C. § 452 (1970), formerly Act of Apr. 16, 1934, ch. 147, §
1, 48 Stat. 596.
208. 42 U.S.C. §§ 2001-2005(f) (1970), formerly Act of Aug. 1, 1954, ch. 658, 68
Stat. 674 (Indian Hospitals and Health Facilities).
209. 25 U.S.C. §§ 1302-1303 (1970), formerly Act of Apr. 11, 1968, Pub. L. No.
90-284, §§ 202-03 (Indian Civil Rights Act).
210. See, e.g., 25 U.S.C. §§ 631-632 (1970), formerly Act of Apr. 19, 1950, ch. 92,
§§ 1, 2, 64 Stat. 44 (Navaho and Hopi Tribes: Rehabilitation).
211. 417 U.S. 535 (1974).
Z12. Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, 25 U.S.C. § 472 (1970).
213. See Board of Comm'rs v. Seber, 318 U.S. 705 (1943); Simmons v. Eagle Seelat-
see, 244 F. Supp. 808 (E.D. Wash. 1965).
214. Morton v. Mancari, 417 U.S. 535, 555 (1974).
215. The United States Supreme Court has never defined the term "Indian" but has
implicitly expanded its meaning to include Alaskan Aleuts and Eskimos, non-Indians
under an "anthropological" meaning. See Alaska Pacific Fisheries v. United States, 248
U.S. 78 (1918), aff'g 240 F. 274 (9th Cir. 1917). See also Alaska v. Annette Island
Packing Co., 289 F. 671 (9th Cir. 1923).
216. See text accompanying note 180 supra.
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW ,[Vol. 63:848

One who has any Hawaiian blood is by definition part-Hawaiian. Thus-

although all of the students at the Kamehameha Schools have some
Hawaiian blood, 83 percent have Caucasian ancestry, 67 percent have
Chinese ancestry, 24 percent have Japanese ancestry, and 10 percent
2 17
have Filipino ancestry.
In sum, the Native Hawaiian preference regarding admission to
the Kamehameha Schools is probably constitutional. Since the issue
will undoubtedly be raised, remedial lawsuits aimed at correcting Estate
deficiencies should not be avoided for fear that the preference clause
will be declared unconstitutional.

C. HawaiianHome Lands
Formed more than fifty years 18 ago to return Native Hawaiians
to a pastoral life, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands 210 has yet
to provide the Native Hawaiian community with a substantial land
22
base. 2 ° Although there are 190,000 acres under its jurisdiction, '
less than 15 percent of that acreage is currently under lease to Native
Hawaiian homesteaders. 222 Today, only 69 families live on ranch-size

217. The Kamehameba Schools, Providing Education Services for Hawaii's Youth
(1973) (brochure to parents from the schools).
218. See text accompanying notes 126-142 supra on the formation of the Hawaiian
Homes program. Problems of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands have been ex-
tensively studied. See generally D. CLEGG, PROGRAM STuDY AND EVALUATION OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF HAwAIAN HOME LANDS, STATE OF HAWAII (1971) [hereinafter cited
as PROGRAM STUDY]; H. Doi, LEGAL AsPECTS OF THE HAWAIIAN HOMES PROGRAM
(Legislative Reference Bureau Rep. No. IA, 1964) [hereinafter cited as LEGAL ASPECTS];
D. HANSEN, THE HOMSTAD PAPERS: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MANAGEMENT
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS (1971) [hereinafter cited as HOME-
STEAD PAPERS]; A. SPix, LAND AsPECrS OF Tm HAWAIIAN HOMES PROGRAM (Legislative
Reference Bureau Rep. No. IC, 1964) [hereinafter cited as LAND AsPECS]; A. SPITZ,
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE HAWAIIAN HOMES PROGRAM (1963).
219. The Federal government gave title to Hawaiian Homes property to the state in
Hawaii Admission Act, Pub. L. No. 86-3, § 5(b), 73 Stat. 5 (1959). The name of the
administrative organization was then changed from the Hawaiian Homes Commission
to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. The Department is a state executive
branch directed by a Commission, whose seven members are appointed by the Governor
and must include four Native Hawaiians of at least one-fourth native blood. HAWAII
CoNsT., Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, § 202. Provisions governing the Ha-
waiian Homes Commission Act are now part of the state constitution as required by the
Hawaii Admission Act, § 4, 48 U.S.C. Prec. § 491 (1970).
220. Doubts of the program's constitutionality were expressed both at the time of
its adoption and at the time of statehood. See LEGAL AsPECrs, supra note 218, at 41-
54. See text accompanying notes 205-217, supra, for a contrary argument.
221. DuN & AKINAKA, A LAND INVENTORY AND LAND USE STUDY FOR THE DEPART-
MENT OF HAWAIIAN HOMES 2-4 (1972) [hereinafter cited as LAND INVENTORY]. There
is a disparity between the original acreage established in 1920 and the present tally.
See, e.g., HOMESTEAD PAPERS, supra note 218, at 30. Dunn and Akinaka attempt to an-
swer criticism that there are "missing" homestead lands. LAND INVENTORY at 4.
222. LAND INVENTORY, app., table 2. However, almost 13,000 acres not under indi-
vidual lease are used for community pastures for homesteaders. Id. See note 235 infra
1975] HAWAIIAN LAND

parcels and 365 families live on farms, usually of 40 acres.223 Over 2,000
homesteading families have been assigned houselots, some as small as
7,500 square feet, in subdivision communities such as Papakolea in ur-
ban Honolulu and Kalamaula on rural Molokai.224
The Hawaiian Homes program must be considered a failure as
measured by its original objective to rehabilitate Native Hawiians by
returning them to a farming life. Few of the families living on farm-
size parcels actually engage in farming operations. Most have relin-
quished management of their land to pineapple companies in return
for monthly stipends.2 2 5 However, the program has succeeded in pro-
viding houselots which save some Native Hawaiians from expulsion due
to rising land costs. The houselot program evolved from the political
pressures of Native Hawaiian squatters at Papakolea who wished the
land they were living on to be brought under Hawaiian Homes juris-
diction.2 26 Today the greatest demand for homesteads is for urban
houselots, 227 and accounts of twenty-year waits for houselots on land-
short Oahu have been documented. 2 8
Many explanations can be offered as to why the vast acreage of
the Hawaiian Homes program has provided so few homesteads. Some
critics have pointed to administrative heavy-handedness and lack of in-
novative thinking.2 29 The Department itself blames the inferior qual-

for land use of the remainder of Hawaiian Home Lands.

223. J. DuNN & A. AKiNAYA, LAD., A LAND INVENTORY AND LAND UsE STUDY FOR
TiE DEPARTMENT OF HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS 4 (1972).
224. DEPARTMENT OF HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS, ANNUAL REPORT 5 (1973).
225. Homesteaders are not allowed to sublet homesteads. HAWAII CONST., Hawaiian
Homes Commission Act, 1920, § 208(5). However, a series of Attorney General opin-
ions approved arrangements which differ little from subleases. See LEGAL ASPECTS,
supra note 218 at 14-16. The issue may become moot because pineapple companies are
rapidly leaving the Hawaiian Islands. Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Dec. 14, 1973, at C-14,
col. 5.
226. See account in E. Heen, The Hawaiians of Papakolea: A Study in Social and
Economic Realism, 28-31, June, 1936 (unpublished thesis in University of Hawaii Li-
brary).
227. Currently over 3,300 Native Hawaiians, considerably more than the present
number of homesteaders, are on waiting lists for urban lots. DEPARTMENT OF HAWAIIAN
HOME LAN]Ds, ANNUAL REPORT 4 (1973).
228. See, e.g., Honolulu Advertiser, Dec. 17, 1973, at A-6, col. 1; Honolulu Adver-
tiser, Nov. 13, 1970, at 0-3, col. 1.
At present the only way for an applicant to avoid the long waiting list is to receive
a homestead through inheritance. If a homesteader dies, the remainder of the 99-year
lease can descend or be devised but only to relatives enumerated in HAWAI CONST., Ha-
waiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, § 209. Because of the widespread system of
hanai, an informal Native Hawaiian adoption system, children who have lived with a
homesteading family often cannot inherit because they do not have legal standing. See
Op. HAwAII ATr'Y GEN. 18 (1973). Another inheritance problem arises under the Act's
blood quantum requirement: homesteaders must have at least 50 percent Hawaiian
blood. HAWAII CONST., Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, § 201(7).
229. See, e.g., HOMESTEAD PAPERS, supra note 218.
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW ,[Vol. 63:848

ity of much of its land and the fact that its acreage is often located in
a geographic area of low demand.2 30 But the fundamental causes of
the Department's failures inhere in its financial structure.2 '" First, this
structure confronts the Department with a clear conflict of interests.
Although funding patterns have changed since 1920, a consistent
source of revenue has been the public leasing of Department lands not
assigned to Native Hawaiian homesteaders. 23 2 Today, the Department's
internal administrative costs are provided from those receipts. 23 3
Although direct legislative appropriation is possible when revenue is in-
sufficient to meet administrative costs, 23 4 the Department has usually
chosen to generate funds from public leasing, thus withholding valuable
property from homesteaders.1 35 Whenever technological improvements
or demographic movements make Hawaiian home lands valuable, the
Department is faced with the choice either of allowing individual Hawai-
ians to use valuable land or of leasing it to non-Hawaiians in order to
fund department expenses. Second, statutory fiscal ceilings stymie as-
signment of homesites. The Department will not open a houselot tract
unless that tract has adequate roads, drainage systems and other im-
provements.23 0 But the Hawaiian home-development fund, which
finances these non-revenue producing improvements, has a statutory
fiscal ceiling. 23 7 Similarly, it is Department policy not to award specific
homesites unless the land has a completed home or firm construction
plans.23 8 Most Native Hawaiians are unable to finance construction

230. See BIENNIAL REP. OF THE DEP'T OF HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS TO THE LEGIsLA-
TURF, OF THE STATE OF HwAII 6 (1971).
231. For a description of the Department's byzantine funding scheme see PROGRAM
STUDY, supra note 218, at 54-61.
232. Compare Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, ch. 42, § 213, 42 Stat.
112, with HAwAn CONST., Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, § 213(f).
233. HAWAII CONST., Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, § 213(f). From
July 1, 1972 to June 30, 1973, the receipts from general leasing totalled $798,670, while
administrative expenditures were $558,606. Statistics supplied in interview with Richard
Paglinawin, Deputy Director of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, in Honolulu,
Hawaii, Nov. 11, 1974.
234. HAwAII CONST. Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, § 213(f) (3). If the
income produced from general leases in a fiscal year is greater than the Department's
approved budget, the extra revenues spill over into the Hawaiian home-development
fund. Id. Thus, in fiscal year 1972-73, $240,064 from general lease revenue went to
that fund.
235. Today over 108,000 acres rae under general lease. LAND INVENTORY, supra
note 218, app., table 2. Over 30,000 additional acres of Hawaiian Home Lands in
water, forest, and game conservation districts are not benefiting Native Hawaiians to any
greater degree than the public at large. Id.
236. Shapiro, Hawaiian Homes Panel Changes Leasing Policy, Honolulu Star-Bul-
letin, May 26, 1973, at A-10, col. 2.
237. The ceiling for the Hawaiian home-development fund is, in fact, $1,250,000 be-
cause of limitations on its sources of revenue. PROGRAM STUDY, supra note 218, at 56.
238. Shapiro, Hawaiian Homes Panel Changes Leasing Policy, Honolulu Star-Bul-
letin, May 26, 1973, at A-10, col. 2.
1975] HAWAIIAN LAND

of their own homes 2 a9 and banks are unwilling to lend money since
Hawaiian Home lands cannot be mortgaged. 24 0 New applicants must
therefore turn to the Department's Hawaiian home-loan fund for financ-
ing2 4 1 -which also has a fiscal ceiling set by statute.2 42 Thus, when
homes cannot be built, land is not assigned to Native Hawaiian home-
steaders.
Three major changes could assure more rapid homesteading of the
land. First, the Department could assign homesites before houses are
constructed, especially within existing tracts that do not need further
development. In 1973, the commissioners voted unanimously to re-
lease unimproved lands for houselots, 24 3 but rescinded their action at
the next regular meeting.244 Since the Hawaii Attorney General has
interpreted the Hawaiian Home lands as being exempt from the zoning
powers of the counties, 245 homesteaders could make immediate use of
assigned land, even if they were unable to conform to housing codes.
Second, the Department should reverse its present policy of denying
houselots to Native Hawaiians whose net assets exceed $10,000.
Although it might be justifiable for the Department to withhold con-
struction loans from middle-class Native Hawaiians so that its limited
funds can provide homes for the poor, the Department has, by favoring
general leasing and refusing homesteads to Native Hawaiians with suffi-
cient funds to construct their own homes, perpetuated the use of
Hawaiian Home lands by non-Hawaiians. Furthermore, it can be
argued that Hawaiian Homes communities should reflect the true
economic range of the Native Hawaiian community, rather than just its
poorest members. Finally, adequate funding is necessary to develop
homesteads. The statutory ceilings on the Hawaiian home-loan fund

239. Department regulations forbid the awarding of a houselot to any person with
net assets over $10,000 or "whose net worth, together with that of his spouse, is in ex-
cess of $15,000." DEP'T OF HA.wAiIN HOME LANDs, RULEs &REG. § 5.01 (1973).
240. HAwAII CONST., Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, § 208(5). As an ex-
ception property can be mortgaged to another Native Hawaiian with Department per-
mission. Id.
241. Under the usual arrangement, the applicant receives a land lease at a nominal
rate, but must make monthly payments to the Department for monies lent for home con-
struction. See discussion in Kila v. Hawaiian Homes Commission, No. 74-12 (D. Ha-
waii, Sept. 17, 1974).
If a homesteader wishes to surrender a homestead, the Department must pay him
for certain improvements on the property. The Department will then award the home-
stead to an applicant on the waiting list who must agree to repay the Department that
value. HAwAI CONsT., Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, § 209(1).
242. The ceiling for the Hawaiian home-loan fund is $5,000,000. HAWAII CONST.,
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, § 213 (b).
243. Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 26, 1973, at B-1, col. 1.
244. Minutes of Hawaiian Homes Commission, Aug. 31, 1973, on file in Department
of Hawaiian Home Lands.
245. op.HAWAI ATr'Y GEN. 21 (1972).
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 63: 848

and the Hawaiian Home-development fund must be removed. The

Department should also attempt to generate funds from outside sources,
such as the federal government, to finance home construction for Native
Hawaiians.24 6 The Department should seek appropriate statutory
amendments24 7 to allow use of the Hawaiian home-loan fund to insure
the flow of private capital into Hawaiian Homes construction; a small
amount of Department funds could thus generate the flow of much
greater amounts for capital. A program might be patterned after the
federal program of student loans, 48 with the Department guarantee-
ing private loans to Native Hawaiians. 4 Such guarantees might en-
courage banks to grant construction loans without requiring collateral
since experience has indicated that most homesteaders will not fall into
250
serious default.
Since the above changes will require a major commitment of funds
by the State, the Department must be willing to lead a compaign for the
legislative2 5 ' and budgetary changes necessary to increase utilization of
homesteading. It is hardly in position to lead this fight while it is still
dependent on general lease revenue for its administrative costs.
Therefore the State's initial step must be to finance these costs from
its general budget.25 2

246. See PROGRAM STUDY, supra note 218, at 27 for discussion of the difficulties of
homesteaders receiving EHA loans. See also, Hawaii H. CON. REs. 56, Reg. Sess.
(1971), requesting Hawaii's Congressional delegation to investigate statutory changes to
allow Native Hawaiian homesteaders to receive assistance under the National Housing
Act of 1949 and from the Farmer's Home Administration.
247. "Both the Admissions Act and the State Constitution delineate the methods by
which the HHCA may be amended. [Hawaiian Statehood Act, § 4, 48 U.S.C. Prec.
§ 491 (1970); Hawaii Const. art. XI, § 3.1 Certain provisions of the Act relating to
administration, duties of non-administrative officials, and the increase of benefits to les-
sees (native Hawaiians) may be amended 'in the constitution, or in the manner required
for State legislation . . .' Generally speaking, all other provisions may be amended
only with the consent of the United States." Kila v. Hawaiian Homes Commission, No.
74-12 (D. Hawaii Sept. 17, 1974) (court footnote in brackets). See also LEOAL As-
PErcs, supra note 218, at 66-70.
248. Higher Education Act of 1965, 20 U.S.C. § 1071-1086 (1970).
249. PRoGRAM STUDY, supra note 218, at 22-25 makes this proposal along with the
suggestion for interest subsidies in this era of high interest rates. A bill to allow the
Department to make such guarantees was introduced into the Hawaii legislature in 1971
but was not passed. H.B. No. 1592 Reg. Sess. (1971).
250. At present, 41 percent of homesteaders are to some degree delinquent on loan
payments, but fewer than 20 percent are more than 120 days behind in payments. Hon-
olulu Advertiser, Jan. 30, 1974, at A-13, col. 7.
251. The Department cannot homestead more than 20,000 new acres in any five
year period. HAWAII CoNST., Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, § 204(3). In
the past, the Department has never approached this limit, but if homesteading is to be
drastically increased, the section may have to be repealed.
252. To guard against any conflict of interest, revenue from the general leasing of
Hawaiian Home Lands should not be separately tabulated, but should be included in the
State's general revenues.
1975] HAWAIIAN LAND

D. HawaiianLand Claim
On June 27, 1974, a bill was submitted to the United States House
of Representatives "to provide for the settlement of historic claims of
the Hawaiian Natives.1 255 The bill would establish an Hawaiian Native
Fund of one billion dollars, deposited in 10 equal yearly amounts, to be
administered by the Secretary of the Interior.2 54 One corporation would
be empowered to make distributions from the Fund to benefit Native
Hawaiians; 211 the board of directors would be elected by all fullblood
or part-blood Native Hawaiians. 256 The Hawaiian drive for repara-
tions, spearheaded by the "ALOHA" movement (Aboriginal Lands of
Hawaiian Ancestry), has grown over the past two years, 57 partially
motivated by the success of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act.25 8 Under that settlement, Alaskan Natives will receive almost one
billion dollars and 38 million acres of land.2 59 Native Hawaiians see
similarities between their claims and those of the Alaskans. In both
cases, the United States, without paying compensation to the indigenous
population, 0 ° gained title to land in territories that later became
26 1
states.
The Native Hawaiian land claim can also be compared to United
States compensation for the lands of North American Indian tribes.
Where Indian title to land had been recognized, taking could be only
by consent, such as a treaty, or by compensation.2 6 2 Despite the words

253. Hawaiian Native Claims Settlement Act, H.R. 15666, 93d Cong., 2d Sess.
(1974). At the time of this writing, the measure had not been introduced in the 94th
Congress.
254. Id. § 5(a).
255. Id. § 6. Compare the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Pub. L. No. 92-
203 § 7(a) (Dec. 18, 1971), 85 Stat. 691 in which Congress established 12 regional
corporations because of the cultural diversity in Alaska.
256. H.R. 15666, 93d Cong., 2d Sess., § 6(f) (1974).
257. For an account of Queen Liliuokalani's unsuccessful attempt to seek redress,
see Liliuokalani v. United States, 45 Ct. Cl. 418 (1910).
258. Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Pub. L. No. 92-203 (Dec. 18, 1971) 85
Stat. 688-716. This bill provided for settlement of a claim filed by Alaskan natives
under the Indian Claims Commission Act, 25 U.S.C. § 70 (1970). See text accom-
panying notes 264-70 infra.
259. Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Pub. L. No. 92-203 (Dec. 18, 1971) §§
6(a), 12, 85 Stat. 690-91, 701-02.
260. "In both Alaska and Hawaii Organic Acts Congress left open the possibility
of a future settlement of land claims." R. Jones, A History of the Alaska Native
Claims, April 20, 1973 at 31 (unpublished study for Congressional Reference Service,
in Library of Congress). Compare Alaska Organic Act, ch. 53, 23 Stat. 24, 26 (1884),
with Hawaiian Organic Act, ch. 399, § 73, 31 Stat. 141 (1900).
261. A nation does not automatically gain title to privately held land over which it
asserts political sovereignty. See United States v. Percheman, 32 U.S. (7 Pet.) 51,
86 (1833); but ef. Milirrpum v. Nabalco Pty. Ltd., 17 F.L.R. 141, 200 (Austl. 1971).
See generally A. SNow, THm QUEsTION OF ABOInGIFS (1921).
262. "When the Congress by treaty or other agreement has declared that thereafter
Indians were to hold the lands permanently, compensation must be paid for subsequent
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW .[Vol. 63:848

of the fifth amendment, jurisdiction to hear the claims of Indian tribes

was removed from the Court of Claims in 1863.113 Congress had to
pass a special jurisdictional act for each Indian claim, until 1946, when
Congress adopted the Indian Claims Commission Act. 21' The Act
vested jurisdiction in the Indian Claims Commission and waived de-
fenses based upon sovereign immunity or the passage of time.2"' A
five-year time limit was set for any tribe on the mainland or in Alaska
to present specified claims to the Commission:
(1) claims in law or equity arising under the Constitution, laws,
treaties, of the United States, and Executive orders of the President;
(2) all other claims in law or equity, including those sounding in tort,
with respect to which the claimant would have been entitled to sue in
a court of the United States if the United States was subject to suit;
(3) claims which would result if the treaties, contracts, and agree-
ments between the claimant and the United States were revised on
the ground of fraud, duress, unconscionable consideration, mututal
or unilateral mistake, whether of law or fact, or any other ground cog-
nizable by a court of equity; (4) claims arising from the taking by
the United States, whether as the result of a treaty of cession or oth-
erwise, of lands owned or occupied by the claimant without the pay-
ment for such lands of compensation agreed to by the claimant; and
(5) claims based upon fair and honorable dealings, that are not rec-
26
ognized by any existing rule of law or equity
More than 300 claims have been presented under the Act,20 7
many
of which were based exclusively on the "fair and honorable dealings"
clause. 26s This clause indicated that moral as well as legal considera-
tions were relevant.2 9° In debate over the bill, then Congressman Henry
Jackson stated,
Let us pay out debts to the Indian tribes that sold us the land we live
on . . . . [L]et us make sure that when the Indians have their day
in court they have an opportunity to present all their claims of every

taking." Tee-hit-ton Indians v. United States, 348 U.S. 272, 277-378 (1955). But see,
D. BRowN, BuRY My HEART AT WOUD-D KNEE (1970) for a contrary view of the
treatment of Native Americans by the United States.
263. Act of March 3, 1863, ch. 42, § 9, 12 Stat. 765, 767.
264. 25 U.S.C. § 70 (1970).
265. Id. § 70(a).
266. Id. (emphasis added).
267. See Vance, Indian Claims-The U.S. Experience, 38 SASK. L. REv. 1, 6
(1974).
268. See, e.g., Gila River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community v. United States, 467
F.2d 1351 (Ct. Cl. 1972); Osage Nation of Indians v. United States, 97 F. Supp. 381
(Ct. Cl. 1951).
269. Representative Karl Mundt stated, "If any Indian tribe can prove it has been
unfairly and dishonorably dealt with by the United States, it is entitled to recover." 92
CoNG. Ruc. A4923 (1946) (extension of remarks of Rep. Karl Mundt).
1975] HAWAIIAN LAND

kind, shape, and variety, so that the problem can be truly solved once
and for all .... 270

Native Hawaiians have not yet received compensation for the less than
fair and honorable treatment they suffered at the hands of Western set-
tlers of Hawaii. 7 1 Uncompensated taking of title to government and
Crown lands by the United States at the time of Annexation could sup-
port a compensation claim. There are two interrelated objections to
compensating Native Hawaiians. First, some of the lands taken were
Crown lands and therefore it can be argued that compensation for them
should go to the heirs of Queen Liliuokalani. However, the Court of
Claims denied compensation to Queen Liliuokalani partly on the
grounds that the land should not be treated as private property. 27 2
Second, much of the land taken by the United States after annexation
was returned to the State of Hawaii at the time of statehood. Never-
theless, the federal government today retains title to approximately
400,000 acres. 274 Moreover, at the time of statehood Native Hawaiians
comprised only a minority of citizenship, unlike their majority status at
the time of annexation. 275 This delay in exchanging federal title for
state title cost Native Hawaiians the power to control the use of the
returned land. Specific Congressional legislation is probably necessary
to authorize a suit for compensation. No action could be brought
under the Indian Claims Commission Act which is limited to
claims by mainland Indians and Alaskan Natives. 27 6 Nor does it seem
likely that an action could be brought in the Court of Claims based on
its jurisdiction over claims against the United States founded upon the
Constitution; 77 it is doubtful that annexation included a fifth amend-
ment taking2 78 and any claim so founded would probably be time-
279
barred.

270. 92 CONG. REc. 5312 (1946) (remarks of Congressman Jackson).

271. It is doubtful that the Kuleana Act which reduced the land rights of commoners
from approximately one-third of the kingdom to fewer than 30,000 acres could support
a land claim against the United States. First, the act was passed during the time of
the Hawaiian Kingdom, a half century before American sovereignty was asserted. Addi-
tionally the Hawaiian Constitution of 1840 had no clause requiring compensation for
the taking of property.
272. Liliuokalani v. United States, 45 Ct. Cl. 418, 527 (1910).
273. See Hawaiian Statehood Act, § 5, 48 U.S.C. Prec. § 491 (1970).
274. MAJOR LANDOWNERS, supra note 218 at 99.
275. A. LIND, HAWAII's PEOPLE 27 (1955). Most Chinese and Japanese inhabitants
were excluded from citizenship at the time of annexation. See note 115 supra.
276. 25 U.S.C. § 70(a) (1970).
277. "The Court of Claims shall have jurisdiction to render judgment upon any claim
against the United States founded. . . upon the Constitution .. " 28 U.S.C. § 1491
(1970).
278. Cf. Tee-hit-ton Indians v. United States, 348 U.S. 272 (1955).
279. "Every claim of which the Court of Claims has jurisdiction shall be barred un-
 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW ,[Vol. 63:848

The proposed Hawaiian Native Claims Settlement Act would place

a dollar value on the Native Hawaiian land claim, rather than estab-
lishing a claims procedure. 28 0 Native Hawaiians could thus avoid issues
that have complicated other compensation litigation,28 ' for example, the
judicial determination of the value of the land at the time of the govern-
mental taking.28 2 In the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Con-
gress determined the total value of the claim in order to avoid such
difficulties, 2 3
and this procedure should be followed for Hawaii. Since
there will be few, if any, additional claims by indigenous people, Con-
gress need not fear the work load inherent in this task of establishing
the dollar value of land claims.
The Hawaiian Native Claims Settlement Act also avoids a prema-
ture decision on whether compensation funds should be distributed per
capita to the claimants or used for cooperative development. 8 4 Funds
would be turned over to the Hawaiian Native Corporation, which would
be empowered to use funds for either purpose. 285 By participating in
the corporation, Native Hawaiians could determine the Fund's uses.2"'
Many Native Hawaiian land problems could be remedied if the corpora-
tion allocated funds for community development. For example, funds
could be used to defractionate kuleana, to finance housing construction
on Hawaiian Home lands, 28 7 and to purchase additional lands for Native

less the petition thereon is filed within six years after such claim first accrues." 28
U.S.C. § 2501 (1970).
280. H.R. 15666, 93d Cong., 2d Sess. § 5(a) (1974).
281. California Indians, for example, began their claims movement in 1902 and did
not receive final compensation until 1973. For a discussion of the California claims
fight see generally K. JOHNSON, K-344 FOR THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA VS. THE UNITED
STATES (1966).
282. Under court-developed doctrines, claimants were not entitled to the land's pres-
ent value but only to the value of the land at the time of the governmental action, unless
that action amounted to a fifth amendment taking, in which case the claimants were
also entitled to imputed interest. Compare, e.g., Fort Berthold Reservation v. United
States, 390 F.2d 686 (Ct. Cl. 1968) and Uintah and White River and White River Band
of Indians, 152 F. Supp. 953 (Ct. Cl. 1957) with United States v. Kiowa, Comanche
and Apache Tribes, 163 F. Supp. 603 (Ct. Cl. 1958).
Perhaps the most sensible question concerning these cases was asked by Professor
Monroe Price:
But how much sense does it make for judges, anthropologists, lawyers and
Congressmen to go through incredible contortions to determine what occurred
one hundred years ago and base compensation on such a determination?
M. PxicE, LAw AN =a AmmucAN INDIAN 356 (1973).
283. See note 259 supra.
284. On the other hand, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Pub. L. No. 92-
203, § 7(j), 85 Stat. 688 (1971) mandates some per capitadistribution.
285. H. 15666, 93d Cong., 2d Sess. § 6 (1974).
286. See text accompanying note 256 supra.
287. Interestingly, H.R. 15666 does not vest rights to the Hawaiian Home Lands in
the Native Hawaiian Community.
19751 HAWAIIAN LAND

Hawaiians. 2 8 If the Bishop Estate needed to sell lands to maintain

its liquidity, the corporation could buy them so that the Estate land
would continue to serve Native Hawaiians.
Compensation to indigenous people is essentially an ethical rather
than a legal issue. Annexation removed from Native Hawaiians the
opportunity to assert sovereignty over a homeland. The Hawaiian
Native Claims Settlement Act would allow Native Hawaiians to reestab-
lish some degree of cultural autonomy.

CONCLUSION

A central theme of Hawaiian history during the past two centuries

has been the continual displacement of Native Hawaiians from the con-
trol and ownership of the lands of Hawaii. This trend has been less
than monolithic; Native Hawaiians have received access to a token land
base through ameliorative steps such as kuleana and the Hawaiian Homes
program. Recent pressures against Native Hawaiian land holdings are
posed by increased immigration and commercial growth. Just as dis-
placement of Native Hawaiians was accomplished primarily through
manipulation of the legal system, so, too, legal action is necessary to
assure Native Hawaiians a future on the Islands. Kuleana will continue
to be lost unless the legal rights of their owners are protected. Struct-
ural changes are necessary if Native Hawaiians are to fully utilize the
Bishop Estate and Hawaiian Homes land. One catalyst for change
would be a major award from the United States in compensation for
lands taken in the past. But without a concomitant commitment by the
legal system to preserve a land base for Native Hawaiians, their future
on the very Islands that nurtured their culture is bleak.

288. The bill would give the corporation first option to acquire return of surplus fed-
eral lands. H.R. 15666, 93d Cong., 2d Sess. § 7 (1974).