1840 Constitution of The Kingdom Hawaii
The 1840 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii set up a structure for democracy in Hawaii, and stated that the lands of Hawaii belonged to its people and were to be managed by the king. It established the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. The document established property rights of the individual, and provided for removal of any chief who did not act in accordance with the constitution.
Hoping to keep ownership of the land out of the hands of foreigners in the event of a political coup d'état, Kamehameha III and 245 chiefs met to divide the Hawaii lands among themselves. The Mahele abolished the previous semi-feudal system. Under this, rule over an ahupuaʻa was given by the king to a chief, who received taxes and tribute from the people who worked the land collectively. Private land ownership did not exist, as a commoner could be expelled from his land by the chief, or the chief removed by the king.
1/3 of the land was allocated to the crown as the Hawaiian crown lands. 1/3 was allocated to the chiefs. The remaining 1/3 was to go to the common people, but they only received less than 1% because claims for land needed to be filed under the Kuleanan Act of 1850 and many did not file within the two year time frame to make a claim.
Eventually most of this land was sold or leased to foreigners. The large amount of land that went to the government resulted in Hawaiʻi having a very high proportion of state-owned land: about 32% is owned by the state, while another 4.8% is Hawaiian Homelands.
Read more about this topic: Great Mahele
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