Land Tenure Patterns, 1958, Vol. 01

Land Tenure Patterns, 1958, Vol. 01 (Report). Saipan, Mariana Islands: Department of Resources and Development, Land and Survey, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. 1958.

Abstract: The volume titled Land Tenure Patterns, 1958, Vol. 01 contains editor’s notes explaining that, due to difficulty of contact and communication, sections of the reports were revised and brought up to date from files on hand, with introductory sections written and manuscripts edited to achieve uniformity of coverage. The editor accepts responsibility for any misinterpretation resulting from rewriting and editing and expresses gratitude to the researchers, to the person who prepared the final manuscript and index for the handbook, and to Miss Edith Mendiola, who typed the original manuscripts. The preface is signed by John E. deYoung in Guam, dated June 1958. Within the section on Land Tenure in the Marshall Islands, the outlined topics include Introductions, Indigenous Attitudes Toward the Land, Concepts of Land Ownership, and Physical Description of the Land. The Marshalls report is presented as the result of field research conducted while the author served as Anthropologist for the Marshalls District from August 1950 to 1957. It was first issued in 1952 in briefer form as Paper No. 11 in the Atoll Research Bulletin Series of the Pacific Science Board, National Research Council of Washington, D.C., and was revised in 1956. The writer expresses appreciation to the Pacific Science Board of the National Research Council for permission to utilize materials and to Mr. Harold J. Coolidge, Executive Secretary of the Pacific Science Board. The conclusions describe changes in land tenure related to acculturative influences and a growing orientation toward a cash economy, the elimination of warfare and resulting stabilization of land ownership compared to periods of inter-clan and familial strife, and the weakening of royal authority under foreign administrative systems while retaining the system of inheritance and usufruct. Additional concluding remarks note population increases attributed to the American medical program’s eradication of venereal and other diseases, the absence of serious population pressure at present, and an anticipated future need for full land utilization. A detailed report on the removal of the Bikini people is referenced. Another paper in the volume is described as detailing the mechanics of Yapese land ownership and transfer according to local custom, including the crucial position of the tabinaw.