Beyond the Courts of the Conqueror: Balancing Private and Cultural Property Rights under Hawai'i Law (Panel Presentation)

This essay examines the modern development of land-use law governing the rights of native Hawaiians to access private and public lands to carry on traditional practices. We argue that the Hawai'i Supreme Court's doctrinal approach in this area is striking in its hybrid character. The combination of western and native Hawaiian legal elements used to resolve such disputes holds promise that someday a truly multi-cultural form of property law may be developed in Hawai'i, at least for certain purposes-a property law that explicitly reaches beyond that known by the "courts of the conqueror.