Abstract
In 1900, President McKinley issued Presidential Executive Order No. 125-A, which delegated control of the American Sāmoan Islands to the Secretary of the Navy. Kruse examines the succession of Tutuila Naval Station Commandants who exercised full authority and powers over the Naval fleet as well as the civil administrators who governed American Sāmoa. Focusing on the Navy’s power over government and adjudication of introduced western law, particularly principles of adverse land possession that required corroboration of testimony, Kruse details how this perfectly supports the discourse of empire building. The chapter examines adverse land possession principles as the building blocks of nationalistic empire building, cloaked as an instrument to civilize and standardize Sāmoan society. Kruse reveals how the Navy favored the individual’s right to title, corroding communal lands available for Sāmoan communal usage that threatens the faˊamātai system.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Brian A. Garner, Black’s Law Dictionary (St. Paul: West Group, 1996), 22; Sue Farran and Don Paterson, South Pacific Property Law (London: Cavendish Publishing, 2004), 166–167; ASCA § 37.0120 (1982); Magalei v. Atualevao, 19 ASR 2d 86 (1991); Willis v. Faiivae, 17 ASR 2d 38 (1990); Salavea v. Ilaoa, 2 ASR 15 (1986); Tuiolosega, v. Voa, 2 ASR 138 (1941) ; Sei v. Aumavae, 2 ASR 396 (1948); Soliai v. Lagafua, 2 ASR 436 (1949); Sione v. Tiualii, 3 ASR 66 (1963); Ofoia v. Pritchard, 4 ASR 326 (1963); Fau v. Wilson, 4 A.S.R. 443 (1964); Lolo v. Heirs of Sekio, 4 ASR 477 (1964); Lualemana v. Atualevao, 16 ASR 2d 34 (1990).
- 2.
Waitangi Treaty is named after the Treaty House on Waitangi Bay, Bay of Islands in (Northern) New Zealand, where the Treaty was signed affording Māoris with protections to their indigenous lands. What is also noteworthy about this Treaty is the symbolism attached to the intent or meaning of this document. Waitangi means ‘weeping waters’ in the Māori language.
- 3.
In Willis v. Faiivae, 17 SASR 2d 38 (1990), it reads, “The court is bound by statute and treaty to recognize freehold grants made by the Land Commission of Sāmoa, which operated in Apia under the supervision of the then-Supreme Court of Sāmoa, prior to the United States-established government.” ASCA. § 37.0201(b) (1999) and Vaiao v. Craddick, 14 ASR 2d 108 (1990), freehold land is all those lands included in court grants prior to 1900.
- 4.
Mulu v. Taliutafa, 3 ASR 82 (1953), at the time of cession of Sāmoa to United States, public property passed to United States Government and not Government of Sāmoa.
- 5.
Taatiatia v. Misi, 2 ASR 46 (1948); Muli v. Ofoia, 2 ASR 408, 410 (1948); Soliai v. Lagafua, 2 ASR 436 (1949); Fa’atiliga v. Fano, 2 ASR 376 (1948); Gi v. Te’o, 3 ASR 570 (1961); Magalei v. Lualemaga 4 ASR 242 (1962); Government v. Letuli, No. 016-63 (1963); Haleck v. Tuia, LT No. 1386-74 (1974); Fanene v. Talio, LT No. 64–77 (1977).
References
American Sāmoa Government v. Haleck, LT 10-08, slip op. (Trial Div. May 1, 2013).
Aftufil v. Timoteo, 3 A.S.R. 395 (1959).
Kaliopa v. Silao, 2 A.S.R. 2d 1 (1983).
Kippion v. Attorney General [1994] VUSC 1.
Mulu v. Taliutafa, 3 A.S.R. 82 (1953).
SMEC v. Temeakamwaka Landowners [1998] KICA 4.
Sapela v. Veevalu, 1 A.S.R. 124 (1905).
Tada v. Usa, [1996] SBHC 7.
Talala v. Logo, 1 A.S.R. 165 (1907).
Taufaasau v. Mauga, A.S.R. (1979).
A.S.C.A. 37.0204, readopted 1980; PL 16-88 §§ 1, 2.
Public Law 7-19 § 9.0103 (1962).
So’o, Asofou, ed. 2007. Changes in the Mātai System: O Suiga I le Fa’amātai. Apia: Centre for Sāmoan Studies.
Barker, Joanne, ed. 2005. Sovereignty Matters: Locations of Contestation and Possibility in Indigenous Struggles for Self-Determination. Lincoln: University of Nebraska.
American Sāmoa Government Department of Commerce. Statistical Yearbook 2013. Published Annually. http://www.doc.as.gov. Accessed 5 January 2013.
Bender, Thomas. 2006. A Nation Among Nations: America’s Place in World History. New York: Hill and Wang.
Bicknell, Edward. 1904. The Territorial Acquisitions of the United States 1787–1904. Boston: Small, Maynard & Company.
Cleave, Peter. 1989. The Sovereignty Game: Power, Knowledge, and Reading the Treaty. Wellington: Victoria University Press.
Coulter, John W. 1957. The Pacific Dependencies of the United States. New York: Macmillan Company.
Darden, Joe T. 1952. Historical Sketch of the Naval Administration of the Government of American Sāmoa, April 17, 1900–July 1, 1951. Washington, DC: Department of Navy.
Ellison, Joseph. 1938. Opening and Penetration of Foreign Influence in Sāmoa to 1880. Corvalis: Oregon State College.
Faleomavaega, Eni. 1995. Navigating the Future: A Samoan Perspective on U.S.-Pacific Relations. Suva: University of South Pacific.
Faleomavaega, Eni. 2014. Historical Documents, Laws, & Deeds Related to American Sāmoa. Washington, DC: American Sāmoa Congressional Office. http://www.house.gov/faleomavaega/treaties.html.
Gray, John A. 1960. Amerika Sāmoa: A History of American Sāmoa and Its United States Naval Administration. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute.
Hanlon, David. 1994. Patterns of Colonial Rule in Micronesia. In Tides of History: The Pacific Islands in the Twentieth Century, ed. Kerry R. Howe, Robert C. Kiste, and Brij V. Lal. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Kelley, Donald. 1990. The Human Measure: Social Thought in the Western Legal Tradition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Leibowitz, Arnold H. 1989. Defining Status: A Comprehensive Analysis of United States Territorial Relations. Norwell: Martinus Nijhoff.
Lyons, Paul. 2005. American Pacificism: Oceania in the U.S. Imagination. New York: Routledge.
Morrow, Arthur. 1974. My Thirty-Two Years in American Samoa.
Paterson, Don, and Sue Farran. 2004. South Pacific Property Law. London: Cavendish Publishing.
Powles, Guy. 1993. South Pacific Island Legal Systems. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Tamanaha, Brian Z. 2001. A General Jurisprudence of Law and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tiffany, Walter W. 1981. “The Applicability of Western Judicial Concepts to Polynesian Land Disputes: High Court Use of the Adverse Possession Principle in American Sāmoa.” Oceania 52 (2): 136–153.
Turner, George. 1884. Sāmoa: A Hundred Years Ago and Long Before. London: Macmillan and Co.
Va’ai, Asiata S. 1999. Sāmoa Faamātai and the Rule of Law. Apia: National University of Sāmoa.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Memea Kruse, LN. (2018). US Naval Administration of American Sāmoa. In: The Pacific Insular Case of American Sāmoa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69971-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69971-4_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69970-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69971-4
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)