The Pacific Insular Case of American S?moa

Land Rights and Law in Unincorporated US Territories

Line-Noue Memea Kruse

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9783319699707
• eBook ISBN:
  9783319699714
• Topic: Politique et relations internationales
• Subtopic: Droit comparé

This book is a researched study of land issues in American S?moathat analyzes the impactofU.S. colonialism and empire building in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Carefully tracing changes in land laws up to the present, this volume also draws on a careful examination of legal traditions, administrative decisions, court cases and rising tensions between indigenous customary land tenure practices in AmericanS?moaand Western notions of individual private ownership. It alsohighlights how unusual the status of American S?moa is in its relationship with the U.S., namely as the only "unincorporated" and "unorganized" overseas territory, and aims toexpand the U.S. empire-building scholarship to include and recognize American S?moa into the vernacular of Americanization projects.

© The Author(s) 2018

Line-Noue Memea KruseThe Pacific Insular Case of American Sāmoahttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69971-4_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Line-Noue Memea Kruse¹ 

(1)

Brigham Young University–Hawai’i, La’ie, Hawaii, USA

 

End Abstract

The February 19, 1900 General Order No. 540 of the US Naval Department was enacted vis-à-vis Executive Order No. 125-A, thus placing the “Sāmoan Group” under the control of the Naval Department.¹ The Naval Department had supreme legislative, executive, and judicial power over the Sāmoan Group (Gray 1960, p. 232).

The Naval Administration instituted American property laws alongside the traditional Sāmoan land tenure system in American Sāmoa. One of the significant property laws introduced was adverse land possession . Adverse land ownership rights were determined to be a milestone of enlightened western jurisprudence for land issues where Sāmoan customary laws were deemed insufficient, without merit, and uncivilized. The evolution of adverse land possession principles and rights in American Sāmoa has worked to erode the traditional communal land tenure system and fa’asāmoa ² culture (customs and daily respectful behavior practiced by every Sāmoan ) by laying the groundwork for individually owned land rights. Individually owned land classification is incongruent with the Sāmoan communal land tenure system. This book examines the early Naval Court decisions and the incorporation of adverse land possession rights that has evolved into the individually owned land classification in American Sāmoa.

The system of classifying land as individually owned takes away precious land holdings from communal tenure, which is not regulated or monitored by the American Sāmoa Government. Since the Naval Court decisions, more and more lands have become individually owned, a trend that has damaged the communal land holding system and the fa’asāmoa culture . Preserving what remains of traditional land tenure cannot be achieved without examining the political and legal relationships between American Sāmoa and the United States. I examine these relationships to recommend practical alternatives to shelter Sāmoan cultural institutions within the American body-politic.

Cultural identity is the core basis of the Sāmoan people, and communally owned lands are the central foundation that will allow our cultural identity to survive in today’s world. Communally owned lands provide a space for Sāmoans to live together with āiga (family, kin) members in a village setting to practice our Sāmoan traditions. The fa’amātai is the Sāmoan chiefly system and is fundamental to the sociopolitical organization of the Sāmoan society. It is the traditional system of governance. The fa’amātai system exists because there are communal lands for all members of the āiga to serve and protect the collective interests. The fa’amātai system is based on āiga clanship, composed of immediate āiga (father, brother, etc.) and a nexus of āiga potopoto (extended family). Every single mātai (chief) title has authority through which they exercise their oversight responsibilities over the āiga . The mātai has stewardship over the communal lands of their āiga and thus directs and supervises the āiga living on these land parcels according to tradition, cultural obligation, and duty.

Reference

1. Gray, John A. 1960. Amerika Sāmoa: A History of American Sāmoa and Its United States Naval Administration. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute.

Footnotes

1

Sāmoan Group—Convention Between the United States, Germany, and Great Britain to Adjust Amicably the Question Between the Three Governments in respect to the Sāmoan Group of Islands, December 2, 1899, 31 Stat. 1878, repr. in American Samoa Code Annotated (ASCA) sec. 5 (1973); Cession of Tutuila and Aunu’u, April 17, 1900, chiefs of Tutuila and Aunu’u Islands to US Government, repr. in ASCA sec. 2 (1981) [48 USC. § 1661]; Cession of Manu’a, July 14, 1904, King of Manu’a with chiefs of Manu’a Islands to US Government, repr. in ASCA sec. 2 (1981) [48 USC § 1661].

 

2

When dealing with fa’asāmoa, the main core values are taken from gagana Sāmoa as “O tūma ‘upu fa’aaloalo ‘ia tausisi I ai ia faia I aso ‘uma o le ōlaga o le Sāmoa,” translated in English as “Customs and ways of behaving as well as words of deference and respect which every Sāmoan must practise each day,” S.P. Ma’ilo, Palefuiono (Apia: Fanuatanu, 1972). For additional resources of fa’asāmoa, see Tupua Tamasese, “Fa’aSāmoa speaks to my heart and soul,” (Keynote address to the Pasifika Medical Association Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 2000); Asiata S. Va’ai, Sāmoa Faamātai and the Rule of Law (Apia: National University of Sāmoa, 1999); Malama Meleisea, The Making of Modern Sāmoa: Traditional Authority and Colonial Administration in the History of Western Sāmoa (Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, 1987); Felix Keesing, Modern Sāmoa: Its government and changing life (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1934).

 

© The Author(s) 2018

Line-Noue Memea KruseThe Pacific Insular Case of American Sāmoahttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69971-4_2

Begin Abstract

2. Sāmoa and Traditional Land Tenure

Ia uluulu a mata-folau

Line-Noue Memea Kruse¹

(1)

Brigham Young University–Hawai’i, La’ie, Hawaii, USA

This Sāmoan phrase means to “have a vision while on a journey.”

End Abstract

American Sāmoa is in the Pacific Ocean and is the only US territory south of the equator, at 14 degrees south latitude and approximately 170 degrees west longitude. American Sāmoa is about 2300 miles south-southwest of Hawai’i, over 4100 miles southwest of San Francisco, and 1600 miles east-northeast of New Zealand. American Sāmoa consists of five volcanic islands and two atolls, called Rose Island and Swains Island. Tutuila, Aunu’u, Ofu, Olosega, and Ta’ū are the five main islands. The capital, Pago Pago, is located on the island of Tutuila, the most densely populated island that holds over 90 percent of the territory’s residents. American Sāmoa’s landmass is composed of 76 square miles; the island of Tutuila is the largest island with 56 square miles, while the remaining four islands are composed of 20 square miles.

American Sāmoa has a mountainous steep terrain and is in the path of the southeast trade winds, with an annual tropical rainfall that averages between 90 inches per year in the drier areas to 300 inches per year in the mountainous areas (2286 mm and 7620 mm) (National Park 2013, website). October to May is the rainy summer season (locals refer to it as the cyclone period), and the cooler, drier season occurs between June and September. American Sāmoa’s topography is nearly two-thirds steep m...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Sāmoa and Traditional Land Tenure
• 3. American International Expansion
• 4. US Naval Administration of American Sāmoa
• 5. Ex Proprio Vigore and the Insular Cases
• 6. American Sāmoan Legal History: 1900–1941
• 7. Individually Owned Lands and Communal Land Tenure
• 8. Retention of Communal Lands
• 9. Legal and Political Futures for American Sāmoa
• 10. Conclusion
• Back Matter