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
- 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).