Not in My Backyard Pash v HPC: The Clash between Native Hawaiian Gathering Rights and Western Concepts of Property in Hawaii

Abstract

This article examines the uneasy truce that exists between Western property law and the original Hawaiian native gathering practices that existed before the arrival of Europeans. The author traces the development of Hawaiian law from early cases that severely restricted gathering rights to more permissive results. The article demonstrates both the strengths and weaknesses of the present system of land tenure in Hawaii and argues for the continued expansion of native Hawaiian gather rights providing such expansion takes place within, not outside of, the dominant fee simple land tenure system now in place in Hawaii.