The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-08-01

The following article on Land Re
gistration in the Territory of Hawaii"
is the leading article in the American
Law Review for May-June 1t is by
Philip L. Weaver, judge of the Land
Registration Court.
The legislature of the Territory of
Hawaii enacted a Land Registration
Act in 1908, which went into force
in the that year, July LIST. That act has
since been embodied in the Revised
Laws Of Hawaii as chapter 154 thereof
entitled Land Registration. The act
is adapted from the Massachusetts Act
and is similar to the act in force in the
Philippine Islands.
Unlike the Acts Oh Illinois, Minnesota
Colorado, Oregon and California, there
is separate court for the trial Of pc
titions for registration of title of lands.
and a separate corps of officials to car
ry on the work. The court was organ
/ lied and ready for business on October
13, 1903, and the business before it has
increased slowly but steadily since it's
organization.
/ Up to January 31st, 1906, seventy four
petitions have been filed, covering prop
erty which is assessed at $770, 800: The
area of the city lots registered or des-
cribed in petitions to register title is
21.7 acres, and of country land is IL
1923 acres
(Since then the number of petitions
| filed has risen to more than 100 and the
| assessed value of the property involved
to more than $1,000. 0OO.)
Among the ratitio1ar- oro ,,a.,- zz,,
porations organized since the act went
into effect which the law declares shall
register their titles, and many other
corporations which register title upon
completion of a purchase. Private
parties, who are about to buy, insist
upon registered title, and home own
ers register their titles in the name of
the wife, as an additional safeguard
for the home. AS a rule the seller is
much annoyed at this requirement,
but experience has shown that the
buyer in many cases congratulates
himself on the means of compelling the
seller to pay for the expense of curing
defects i'm title discovered in the process
of registration.
The practical working of the act is
simplified in the Territory of Hawaii,
by the fact that the court has it's
headquarters in Honolulu. where all
the sessions of the court have been
held up to date, and that there is but
one record Office for the registry of
conveyances, and of issuing certificates
Of title and that is in Honolulu in the
Judiciary building, with the court. Re-
ferences Of titles to the court are there
it, al
record is not certain on it's face.
/ Two years experience with the act
has demonstrated its practical working
applicability to the needs of the prop
etry owners of the Territory of Ha-
wall. The trouble with titles here
may be classed as defects in title and
defects in description, and the act is
as useful to settle boundaries on
these islands, as to settle title
In examining titles, the court officials
are fortunate in being able to rely on
the wise provision of a statute to quiet
titles to land, enacted in the year
1916, whereby the lands of the king
dom were divided between the King
and the chiefs and common people in
severalty, as distinguished from a
sort of feudal tenure, worked out by
I this Polynesian race before the white
man reached these shores. BY that
act all the chiefs and common people
were compelled to prove their title to
the lands claimed by them, and to
have issued to them a land commits
sion award, on which to base their
claims. The descriptions of the lands
were defective, but in a general way
LODI
portions of the large tracts were own
ed by natives, what by chiefs, and what
belonged to the king or to the govern
ment
The work was a great one and of
necessity hastily performed by more
or less competent surveyors, princi-
pally by any one who dared handle a
chain and a compass. In one case a
lot in the heart of Honolulu. was
measured and described, about 1S4S, by
fathom rope and a ships compass,
and the courses We're described as one
would set a course for a vessel.
The work was so great that the
large tracts of land running from the
mountains, forming the backbone of
each island, to the sea, were described
and awarded by name only, as the land
of Kaipapau (sea-shell) This work
was intended to be completed later by
boundary commissioner, who would
take the evidence of the tenants on
the land as to the traditional boun-
dairy, for all the lands here, even to
small lots, have individual names and
well known boundaries. But, in the
easy going way of the old chief own
ers of these large tracts, no effort was
made by many of them to get a proper
survey Of their lands, and now in 1906,
1t becomes necessary often to inquire
as to the boundaries of these lands,
as well as to the title. Most of the old
natives, whose habit was to keep post
ed on these things, have died and their
places are taken by young natives
ignorant Of these matters.
The work done is very valuable to
rs OOM however a means Of he