Opinion ID: 1186420
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: application of federal law in determining status of subject land

Text: The link which was fashioned by the majority in the State's claimed title to the subject lava extensions, i.e. that the Republic had an inchoate right to all future lava extensions, which right was granted to the United States by the Joint Resolution of Annexation in 1898 and granted back to the State under the Admission Act of 1959, was not advanced by the Attorney General. Thus this theory of State ownership was not addressed by appellees. No evidence was submitted to nor received by the trial court, nor argument briefed for this court, as to whether the law of the United States, which was the sovereign law at the time this land was created, should be consulted or is controlling as to the status of the subject land. No consideration has been given to whether it is the prerogative of a United States court to determine, in the event of a disputed issue, what land was ceded to the State under the Admission Act. I believe these questions are worthy of further inquiry, particularly as many acres of land have been created by lava flows which extend the seaward boundaries of United States-owned land in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. [19] Should not the United States government be heard as to whether or not it ceded to the State lava extensions which were created when it was sovereign, particularly when that determination now controls who owns the lava extensions which abut United States lands?