HomeMy WebLinkAboutGT 0006 - Hawaii's Ceded Lands[Vol. 3
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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).
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