I~s~id5y vT&- P.,L?~C07. ,T , SCI3JCX E3ii33 ~ictiond-. +oecc.rch Councii iKcisliingtor, D. C. September 1, 1952 TFBLE OF CONTRiTS Profwe ........................................................ iii ;~C!QIOV~C.dgeine~.tr; ..............+................................ iii Introduc:tioil: Lmd Teriure ................................. .. .. 1 Piiysiczl Description ........................................... 2 Lad Use ....................................................... 3 fiieciiimk? of Divisioll of Copm Shme ........................... 4 Deviations fzom thz Getlord Pc-tterr. ............................ 4 Inheritmcc 2,-ttern ..........................................mo 5 P?.trilined Usufruct ilights .................................... 6 Adoptive Rights ..........................................o.... 7 Usufruct ?.ights kcquiced ky l~ilinri'iage .......................... 8 I.!ills .......................................................... 8 Xen'mls ........................................................ 9 bhclavos ....................................................... 9 Reef 3iights .................................................... 11 Fishing Rights ................................................ 12 Game Rzserve:; .................................................. 12 Indigenous Attihdzs Tomrd Lad .............................. 13 Conce?ts of L2nd h'wrhlp ...................................... 13 Cntegoriss 3f Lmd ... 15 Bwij in A3e - fmoimje - D'ficied Lsrd ........................... 16 Conclusion ...........................................o......... 32 Addendum ............................................*......... 33 Literxture Cited ............................................... 35 Apymdix ....................................................... 35 FIGURES Big . 1 Kap of the Marshdl Islmds ..................... facitlg 1 pig . 2 ".'""". .. "....<.....*a.>..9'ao.......e.... .. 11 6 Fig. 3 m..ovu...... .........a. 11 17 m.1h1.s report is the result of research in the field while the author was employed by the Government of the Trust Territory as Anthropological liie2.d Consultant for the Marshall:; District, August 1950 to August 1951 and from October 1951 to the present date. It is felt that the infomation obtained will be. of immediate practical .,. valu.e to those concerned with ~~:~i&~~.f;:i~of land dispu.bes and other analogous problems. The author wishes to express sincere appreciation to Mr. Harold J. Coolidge, Executive Secretary of the Pacific Science Board of the National Research Council, Pliss Ernestine hkers, and others of that body; Mr. Leonard Mason, Associate Professor of Anthropology of the University of Hawaii; to the Office of Naval Research and to the officials of the Civil Administrative Staff of the Marshall Islands whose assistance and encouragement made this research possible. Special appreciation is owed: Jowej, Dwight Heine, Lokrab, Raymond DeBrum, Jetfiil Felix, Laiimoj, Kabua Kabua, Litarjikit, Kondo S., and other MarshaUese friends, without whose cooperation this paper could not have been written. J.E.T. Majuro 3-U-52 iii INTRODUCTION: WID TENURE Lknd in the Marshttll Islands is placed in many categories, each uith its own descriptive naue and rules of inheritance. The land is of paramount importance to the Marshal-lese people whose agricultural economy is based on copra production and much of whose diet comes from their l'and. This land area is so snial.1--74 square miles scattered over 29 atolls "'and fi-ve islands thro-ughont 375,000 square miles of ocean, that it is patently precious to its ll,OOOinhabitants, each of whom is born with land rights. The Marshallese system of land tenure provides for all eventualities and takes care of the needs of dl of the members of the iularshallese society. Iio one need go huli.lry for lack of land from which to draw food. There arc? no poor i~ousesor old peoples1 homes in the Marshall 1s:Lancis. Tile system proviaes for all members of the Marshallese society; it is, in effect, its social security. The IGrshallese have an attitude of security which is undoubtedly due to a great degree to their system of land tenure. Despite the fact that they have seen three foreign powers take over their islaads--German, Japanese, and hericari, they still have possession of most of their land, unlike the unfortmate indigenes in many other areas of tie world. The present policy forbids sale of land to non-indigenes 'and, at lofig last, stepsare being td;cen to return lands occupied by iunerican forces during tile war and to piy retroactive rent for their use. It is anticipated that former Japanese Government lands and land seised by the Japanese for military installations will be made available for the use of the Marshallese people. Other land needed for U.S. military md Civil Adniinistr~tionuse, a relatively szaa3.l amount, may. be leased or pur- chased from the owners. High level policy in regard this important matter is undecided, however, at this writing. A3.tiiough the Marshallese system of land tenure may seem overly com- plex, it has developed to meet the needs of this particular group of people and is an integral part of the culture. Any radical. change by outsiders would disturb the society and do irreparable damage--as any student of social- anthropdogy well knows. Future administrators would do well to respect this system of adjust- ment to the environment which the Marshallese people have evolved and should allow any changes in the system of land tenure to come from within the culture. The U.S. Naval Administration, in accordance with the Trusteeship Agreement, has on the whole respected indigenous customs and has not attempted to force the MarshaiZese peogle into an American mould or to drastically modify th~. culture. It is hoped tha-t the future administrations will follow this wise course. MARSHALL ISLANDS R R . JEMO 1.0 0 *I'D mJ1J I. - WOTTO . QLIKIEP A . aWOTJE WAJUN ERIKUBQ ICNAJALEIN) ,ELIP I. BEELAP u JABWOT I. ' AIL~~~~LAPLAP~J MA TO^ & ARNO MILEQ jALUIJ NARIKRIX 0 N-wIw 0 OKILI I. - ---DISTANCES BETWEEN MARSHALL- --ISLANDS UJILA~to MILE -- 700 miles ESON to BOKRK -- 600 miles Figure 1. PXSICAL DESCRIPTION The typical Harshallese land-holding or p& consists of a &rip of laad stretchj.ug froxu ltlgoon .to ocean and va~yiugin size from about one to five acres in extent. Each has its own name and history. S~mtime~the WZto may be broken up into two or three xg&(s) with transverse boundary lines. The bowdarics, kctan w& are marked off by I.iUes, red shrubs, or frequently by slashes on coconut trees. These markers are called kakale. The extended family (&iJjmembers may live on thehormerely ' make copra on it and use its food resources: coconuts, breadfruit, pandatius, arrow root, taro (mainly in the Southern Marshalls) and fish from tlle ad- jacent marine areas, if the7 possess more than one & a_s is usually the case. On most of the isiands, the people live on their -(s). The structures found are usutil.ly a cook house, one, tvo, or three sleeping houses, <md a copra drying shed. The houses are mainly constructed of native materials with sheet me-kal and sal~agelumber used in varying degrees throughout the islands. The sleeping house area is covered with small coral .stones from the beach-- -.-ionle in Ilaik, Lo& in Radak. These serve as drainage and prevent the area aroimd &he house from becoming a roorass during the rains. This par- meable covering is renewed regularly ty the women of the household. This was the typical household arrangement prior to the comirig of the foreign regimes. When the Gemans and later the Japnese set up their capital at Jabwor in Jaluit Atoll, people from all over the Marshalls were attracted to the Wig Cityf1for various reasons. Those who did not have land or relatives in the atoil sere forced to live in Large "guest housesll each of which accommodated as many as sixty people, i.e., Arno house, Wotje house, Namu, Ililiiilz.plap, etc.--almost all the atolls. These were of wooden con- struction--ca. 40' x 60' in dimension. The traditional pattern of living was changed by this congregation of people froa different atolls in large population centers. Although the beehive metropolis of Jabwor was destroyed by American bombers, the "guest housen--communal quarters type of dwelling, was per- petuated on Majuro Atoll which became the new seat of government under the American regime. Here, two large former Japanese army barracks are used by the Arno Atoll people and the northern Radak people respectively. Another large house is known as the Nille house and used by the people from that atoll. Still another group composed of individuals of mixed Gilbertese- British-Germm-Marshallese ancestry, in varying combinations, occupy a group of houses known as the "Gilbertese Village1I. The "villagesll on bjuro md Kuajlen constructed by the Naval. Acl- ministrtiiion for its employees represent another change in the traditional pattern of life. The household routine remains relativeiy unchanged in the new type surroundings except that living is done in closer proximity than before. Cook houses, bath houses, and m(s)are shared by all who live in the coma1 houses and "CivAd Villagesll. The CivAd i-civil ~drpinistrationJ center of Majuro is atypicjl also in that a llsquatter.slll town has arisen on Jarcj (Rita), one of the islands adjacent to tile CivAd cerhe?. Many l.Iarshcilleso,. at1;racted to the adminis- trstive center by much the saine motives that attracted people to Jabwor in the Japanese period, hxve occupied abandoned quonsets