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DATE DOWNLOADED: Wed Jan 27 18:33:02 2021 SOURCE: Content Downloaded from HeinOnline Citations: Bluebook 21st ed. Shaunda A. K. Liu, Native Hawaiian Homestead Water Reservation Rights: Providing Good Living Conditions for Native Hawaiian Homesteaders, 25 U. HAW. L. REV. 85 (2002). ALWD 6th ed. Liu, S. A., Native hawaiian homestead water reservation rights: Providing good living conditions for native hawaiian homesteaders, 25(1) U. Haw. L. Rev. 85 (2002). APA 7th ed. Liu, S. A. (2002). Native hawaiian homestead water reservation rights: Providing good living conditions for native hawaiian homesteaders. University of Hawaii Law Review, 25(1), 85-130. Chicago 17th ed. Shaunda A. K. Liu, "Native Hawaiian Homestead Water Reservation Rights: Providing Good Living Conditions for Native Hawaiian Homesteaders," University of Hawaii Law Review 25, no. 1 (Winter 2002): 85-130 McGill Guide 9th ed. Shaunda A K Liu, "Native Hawaiian Homestead Water Reservation Rights: Providing Good Living Conditions for Native Hawaiian Homesteaders" (2002) 25:1 U Haw L Rev 85. AGLC 4th ed. Shaunda AK Liu, 'Native Hawaiian Homestead Water Reservation Rights: Providing Good Living Conditions for Native Hawaiian Homesteaders' (2002) 25(1) University of Hawaii Law Review 85. MLA 8th ed. Liu, Shaunda A. K. "Native Hawaiian Homestead Water Reservation Rights: Providing Good Living Conditions for Native Hawaiian Homesteaders." University of Hawaii Law Review, vol. 25, no. 1, Winter 2002, p. 85-130. HeinOnline. OSCOLA 4th ed. Shaunda A K Liu, 'Native Hawaiian Homestead Water Reservation Rights: Providing Good Living Conditions for Native Hawaiian Homesteaders' (2002) 25 U Haw L Rev 85 Provided by: William S. Richardson School of Law -- Your use of this HeinOnline PDF indicates your acceptance of HeinOnline's Terms and Conditions of the license agreement available at https://heinonline.org/HOL/License -- The search text of this PDF is generated from uncorrected OCR text. -- To obtain permission to use this article beyond the scope of your license, please use: Copyright Information Native Hawaiian Homestead Water Reservation Rights: Providing Good Living Conditions for Native Hawaiian Homesteaders I. INTRODUCTION Mbhala i ka wai ka maka o ka pua.' This Hawaiian saying translated into English literally means "unfolded by the water are the faces of the flowers."2 The saying is better understood as, "flowers thrive where there is water, as thriving people are found where living conditions are good."3 Like flowers, people need water to flourish. Water is essential to the survival of any type of life. But for Hawaiians, both of the past and present, survival is dependent on both land and water.4 The two are inseparable in providing for good living conditions. The centrality of the 'dina5 and wai6 to Hawaiians is reflected in the language, stories, and in the ability to thrive in Hawai'i today.7 I While the BLUEBOOK requires foreign words and phrases to be italicized, Hawaiian is not a foreign language in the State of Hawai'i, and will not be italicized in this paper. HAW. REV. STAT. ANN. § 1-13 (LEXIS through 2002) ("English and Hawaiian are the official languages of Hawaii"); THE BLUEBOOK: A UNIFORM SYSTEM OF CITATION R. 7 at 50 (Columbia Law Review Ass'n et al. eds., 17th ed. 2000). 2 Mary Kawena Pukui, 'Olelo No'eau: Hawaiian Proverbs and Poetical Sayings, 237 (1983). 3 id. ' "Uwe ka lani, ola ka honua," is another Hawaiian proverb meaning, "when the sky weeps, the earth lives." Id. at 315. This saying acknowledges the importance of water to life on land. See also Reppun v. Board of Water Supply, 65 Haw. 531, 540, 656 P.2d 57, 64 (1982). In Reppun, the cultural importance of water and the traditional water system was described as: a matter of great importance to the Hawaiians, they were, in general, willing to contribute their efforts to the water system. The konohikis aimed to secure equal rights to all makaainana and to avoid disputes. Beneficial use of water by the makaainana were also essential to the continued delivery of water. Id. at 540 (citing to Van Dyke et al., Water Rights in Hawaii, in LAND AND WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN HAWAII 141 (1977)). ' 'Aina is the Hawaiian word for land. See MARY KAWENA PUKUI & SAMUEL H. ELBERT, HAWAIIAN DICTIONARY, 11 (1985)[hereinafter HAWAIIAN DICTIONARY]. 6 Wai is the Hawaiian word for fresh water. Id. at 377. 7 See generally, MARTHA BECKWITH, HAWAIIAN MYTHOLOGY (1970); E.S. CRAIGHILL HANDY & MARY KAWENA PUKUI, THE POLYNESIAN FAMILY SYSTEM IN KA'U, HAWAI'I (1991); GEORGE HU'EU SANFORD KANAHELE, K1 KANAKA - STAND TALL A SEARCH FOR HAWAIIAN VALUES 89, 93-94 (1986) (discussing the major gods of the Hawaiian culture); HERB KAWAINUI KANE, PELE GODDESS OF HAWAI'I'S VOLCANOES 11-15 (1987) (describing a Hawaiian story in University of Hawai'i Law Review / Vol. 25:85 The 'dina and wai sustained the people of ancient Hawai'i. 8 In ancient which Pele, the goddess of the volcanoes, and her sister Namakaokaha'i, goddess of the sea, clashed with each other); Antonio Perry, Hawaiian Water-Rights, in HAWAIIAN ALMANAC & ANN. FOR 1913 at 91-96 (Thos. G. Thrum ed., 1912) (discussing the role of water and water rights in ancient Hawai'i). The gods of ancient Hawaiian culture were connected to nature and relied upon for basic necessities. Lono, one of four major gods, was the provider of many things, including rain, and thus was integral to the success or poor showing of crops. KANAHELE, supra at 89. Lono was important to the agrarian lifestyle of the Hawaiians, as insufficient rain led to a bad harvest, which could lead to a famine. Id. Kane, another of the four major gods, came in many forms, went by various names, and was associated with a variety of duties. Id. at 93. One of Kdne's forms was as the deity of fresh water. Id. "For the planter he was, as embodied in fresh water for irrigation, ka-wai-ola-a-Kane,water-of-life invoked in taro planting." HANDY & PUKUI, supra at 34. Kane can also be viewed as the god of wealth because water was so valued to ancient Hawaiian culture, as seen in the word for wealth, waiwai, derived from the Hawaiian word for water, wai. KANAHELE, at 94. The connection of the major gods to water helps to display the important role water played in Hawaiian culture, especially the ancient, agrarian lifestyle. Another god, who was and still is central to the Hawaiian culture is Pele, goddess of the volcano. KANE, supra at 5-7. It is said that Pele sought a deep pit in which she could protect the sacred fires and she began her search in the northernmost islands of the archipelago and worked her way down to Ni'ihau and Kaua'i. Id. at 13. But each time Pele began to dig a pit for the flame, her sister would wash out the area. Id. Pele continued down the islands and finally found a safe haven on the Big Island of Hawai'i. Id. This story highlights the importance of the elements of water, fire and the land, and at the same time recognizes that each element is individually central to the culture. The importance of water is also reflected in the Hawaiian language as seen, for example, in the word kndwai, Hawaiian for the word law. HAWAIIAN DICTIONARY, supra note 5,at 127. One belief is that the word kanawai is based in the regulation of water. Perry, supra at 91-92. "The very first laws or rules of any consequence that the ancient Hawaiians ever had are said to have been those relating to water." Id. at 92. Similarly, the word 'aina itself indicates the importance of the land to Hawaiian survival. HANDY & PUKUI, supra at 3. "The term 'aina represented a concept essentially belonging to an agricultural people . Id.I..." 'Aina is rooted in "the verb 'ai, to feed, with the substantive suffix na added, so that it signified 'that which feeds' or 'feeder."' Id. In addition to its association with gods and deities, water use had a religious element to it. Perry, supra at 94. Constructing and diverting water for a dam was an earnest event, involving priests, praying "to the local water god, invoking his assistance and protection." Id. at 94. All parcels of land received their share of water from the ditches and all water recipients were expected to contribute to the maintenance of the ditches. Id. Failure to do so was punishable by "temporary suspension or [an] entire deprivation of their water rights or even to total dispossession of their lands." Id. 8 See HANDY & PUKUI, supra note 7, at 3. The evidence of the cultural dominance of the taro, the food plant that was the Hawaiian staple oflife, is implicit in the use of the terms 'aina and 'ohana. 'Ai may designate food or eating in general, but specifically it refers to the paste termed poi made from the corm of the taro ...The Hawaiian diet was built around poi. Now the taro differs from all other food plants in Hawai'i in propagating itself by means of the 'oha or sprouts from 2002 / HOMESTEADER WATER RESERVATION RIGHTS times, the land and its resources were under the control of the king, who in turn parceled out areas to his chiefs and supporters down to the common people.9 Everyone who had a parcel of land had access to most of the vegetation and could gather food from the land and the water." Hawai'i's traditional land system was eliminated in 1848, by the Mhele, which converted Hawai'i's land to governance by a private property system." The Western property system quickly took hold in Hawai'i, and coupled with various factors, eventually forced many Hawaiians off their ancestral lands.