Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 6, 1 June 2015 — 'Native Hawaiian Rights Handbook' is updated [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

'Native Hawaiian Rights Handbook' is updated

By Lurline McGregor The Native Hawaiian Rights Handbook, edited by Melody Kapilialoha MaeKenzie and published in 1991 by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, heeame the bible for anyone - and everyone, attorneys and lay people

alike, who had an interest in the laws and rights affecting Native Hawaiians. "This Handbook is the first eomprehensive analysis of the vast array of laws and cases affecting Native Hawaiian people (and) establishes Native Hawaiian rights as a growing and exciting field of law," former Hawai'i Supreme Court Chief Justice William Richardson said in a blurb on the back cover. Nine years later, in 2000, the Rice v. Cayetano decision struck down Hawai'i's restricting eleetions for OHA trustees to those with Hawaiian blood. That heeame the catalyst for then-NHLC Executive Director Mahealani Wendt to suggest to MacKenzie that it was time to update the handbook, according to MacKenzie. By 2005, so mueh more was happening in Hawaiian law, including in areas of law that had not been

covered in the original handbook, that it needed more than the revision she had already completed. MacKenzie had started Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law at the University of Hawai'i School of Law, and with the help of additional paddlers, a metaphor she uses in describing her journey, she was finally able to complete the new book. The result is no longer a handbook, but something mueh larger, titled Native Hawaiian Law -A Treatise. Published by Kamehameha Publishing, MacKenzie is editor-in-chief, Susan K. Serrano and D. Kapua'ala Sproat are executive editors, and Ashley Kaiao Obrey and Avis Kuuipoleialoha Poai are associate editors. "Eaeh chapter was written by or under the supervision of an attorney, often a leading expert in the field," writes MacKenzie in the introduction. Native Hcrwaiian Law - A Trea-

tise "discusses and analyzes the events, cases, statutes, regulations and actions that form and give substance to a body of law affecting Kānaka Maoli, the Native Hawaiian people," says MacKenzie. The book is divided into five parts: Part I, "Lands and Sovereignty" discusses the history of government and crown lands, the puhlie land trust, Kaho'olawe and the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act. It provides an analysis of possible paths to nationhood, including both the nation-within-a-nation model and independence.

Part II, "Individual Land Titles" is about land ownership and the laws affecting it, including quiet title actions, land court registration and the doctrine of adverse possession. Part III, "Natural Resource Rights" traces the evolution of water rights, fishing rights of konohiki and native tenants and shoreline boundaries. Loko i'a (fishponds) and Papahānaumokuākea are also chapters included in this section. Part IV, "Traditional and Customary Rights" discusses laws that protect access and gathering rights, religious freedom, iwi kūpuna

(ancestral remains) and cultural sites. Also included are chapters on protection for indigenous cultural property, ho'oponopono (family peacemaking) and customary adoption. Finally, Part V, "Resources for Native Hawaiians" includes a discussion of the ali'i trusts, the resurgence of Hawaiian language and laws, both federal and state, that support Native Hawaiian edueahon and health. Like its predecessor, this book is for anyone with an interest in Hawaiian laws and rights. While it includes legal and regulatory citations, it is not a legal textbook. It is an excellent compilation of information relevant to Hawaiian history, traditional practices, current law and nationhood. This book has been a long time coming and will no doubt stand as an important resource for decades to eome. ■

Lwīine Wailana McGregor is a writer, teīevision producer and author o/Between the Deep Blue Sea and Me.

"Eaeh chapter was written by or under the supervision of an attorney, often a leading expert in the field."

Native Hawaiian Law -A Treatise Edited by Melody Kapilialoha MacKenzie with Susan K. Serrano anei D. Kapua'ala Sproat Kamehameha Publishing, HardGOver $100, softcover $50

Melody Kapilialoha MacKenzie. - Courtesy photo