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[Vol. 3 9 They menta - 3 led to the de - strain .1d stu- )lic ad- rp Cur - he em - al de- ionally Private iety by 1 slight ination can BO- H.Q.L. Adver- col. 5. more Ler. I gen- now 5. COUNTY O,.ENIK. COUN'TY OF FAINAN 7049 HAT? HAWAII'S CEDED LANDS* L INTRODUCTION On August 12, 1898, the Republic of Hawaii ceded sovereignty to the United States,' together with absolute title to approximately 1,750,000 acres of Government and Crown lands constituting its public domain.' Under Hawaii's Organic Act,' these "ceded bands"—the public lands (and properties) transferred to the United States without compensation at an- * The author feels obligated to add a word of qualification at the outset. While the topic of Hawaii's ceded lands necessarily implicates broader issues of native Hawaiian rights, this comment is narrowly limited to a discussion of the federal -state relationship in the history of the administration of the ceded lands "trust." The author does not purport to define or discuss the rights of the beneficiaries of the trust., but rather focuses on the nature of the trustee's role as it passed from the federal government to the state. ' Formal transfer of sovereignty under the Joint Resolution of Annexation of July 7, 30 Stat. 750 (18 ) took place on August 12, 1:: ; [hereinafter Joint Resolution]. For an excellent compilation of documents, opinions and communications regarding Hawaii's an- nexation, see L. THURSTON, A HANDBOOK ON TH1 ANIMATION or Hswsu (no date). See gen- erally 3 R. KovIEENDALL, THE HAWAIIAN Kirionom 523-650 (1967); Levy, Native Hawaiian Land Rights. 63 Csur. L. Rxv. 948, 1-62 (1975). 1 J. Howls, HAWAII; A Psosstrr or nut Son. 118 (1935). Hobbs notes that the lands were valued at approximately $5,500,000, although other sources give conflicting figures. See L. THURSTON, supra note 1, at 24 (who gives the amount of acreage involved as 1,740,000 acres valued at $4,389,550 in 1894). Both Thurston and S. R. No. 80, th Cong., let Sesa. 2-3 (1959) note that the lands were mostly mountainous and waste lands of little value, since moat of the arable portions had been sold or were under lease. Congress' power over territories, including the power to acquire title (whether by purchase, treaty, gift or cession) to their public lands, exists in the United States govern- ment's sovereign capacity, although it has been traced to the article IV property clause or to the executive and legislative power to make treaties and declare war. See note 36 infra. The effect of this cession, as was that of the cation by the original thirteen states of their claims to western territories and as was explicitly described in the Joint Resolution, was to vest absolute fee title to the affected properties in the United States. "'Cession" in other contexts has been used to describe a transfer of right or title to, or jurisdiction over public properties between governmental units and without need for compensation. But see City of Cincinnati v. Nussbaum, 14 Ohio Miec. 19, 233 N.E.2d 152 (1t. :) (mere suspension of state jurisdiction over certain properties until Congress abandons them and not an absolute and perpetual abandonment of jurisdiction); Interior Airways, Inc. v. Wien Alaska Airlines, Inc., 1 F. Supp. 107 (D. Alaska 1960) (irrevocable suspension of jurisdiction). * Organic Act of Apr. 30, 1900, ch. 339, 31 Stat. 141 [hereinafter cited as Organic Act]. Art amended version of the Organic Act has also been enacted in Hawaii. HAWAII Ray. STAT. 1-107 (1976). 101