Opinion ID: 1386452
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Initial Acquisition of Title by the Government

Text: Although the trial court expressed some doubts whether the Hawaiian government ever possessed title to the lots, this court is satisfied that the government acquired title in mid-nineteenth century. Under Knudsen v. Board of Education, 8 Haw. 60, 66 (1890), and In re Land Title, 49 Haw. 537, 547-50, 425 P.2d 83, 89-91 (1967), a Makalena survey of a school or church lot [2] creates a presumption the lot was granted to the government for school or church purposes. Knudsen more specifically held that such a grant is presumed to have been made prior to enactment of the School Lands Act of 1850, which provided that such lots were to be reserved as government property and devoted to the purposes of education or religion. The 1850 Act stated: All sites for school houses and houses for public worship, now occupied and in use, and not owned by private parties . . granted either by the government, or by individuals ... with a view to promote the interests of education or religion, shall be reserved as government property, devoted to the purposes above mentioned. ... Penal Code & Laws of 1850, at 136; RLH 1925, at 2184 (emphasis added). [3] In the instant case there is no evidence to rebut the presumption arising from the Makalena surveys that the Holualoa and Kahalu'u lots were reserved as government property pursuant to the 1850 Act. Given such reservation by operation of law, an express clause of reservation in the 1852 land commission award to Victoria Kamamalu was unnecessary. Knudsen, supra, 8 Haw. at 64.