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Anjetob v Taklob [1968] TTLawRp 50; 4 TTR 120 (31 August 1968)

4 TTR 120

TRIAL DIVISION OF THE HIGH COURT

MARSHALL ISLANDS DISTRICT

Civil Action No. 207

ANJETOB and DRIEO

Plaintiffs

v.

TAKLOB, NEMILLE, and Others

Defendants

August 31, 1968

Action to upset determination of land ownership by an iroij elap concerning lands under control. The Trial Division of the High Court, E. P. Furber, Temporary Judge, held that where so many, years had passed since the original determination had made there was a presumption that the determination proper.

1. Marshalls Land Law-"Iroij Elap"-Powers

Determinations by an iroij elap, with regards to his lands are entitled to great weight and it is to be supposed that they are reasonable unless it is clear they are not.

2. Marshalls Land Law-"Iroij Elap"-Powers

Where so many years had passed since an iroij's decision as to succession to certain land the presumption that his determination was reasonable and proper was reinforced by a presumption analogous to the "presumption of grant" or "doctrine of lost grant".

FURBER, Temporary Judge

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. By an arrangement approved by the then ruling iroij elap of the lands in question and recognized by the Japanese authorities well before the end of the Japanese administration, the descendants of Kanaki were excluded from succession to the positions of alab and senior dri jerbal of these lands.

2. The plaintiffs have failed to prove their claim that Leroij Telinej ever re-established any rights of ownership in the lands in question in the descendants of Kanaki.

OPINION

[1] This is an action in the plaintiffs seek to have the court upset the clearly expressed determination of the acknowledged iroij elap of lands under the Marshallese system of land ownership as to the holding of subordinate in lands under him. The court has repeatedly held that determinations by an iroij elap (which is an equivalent term to that of iroij lablab) with regard to his lands are entitled to great weight it is to be supposed that they are reasonable unless it is clear they are not. Limine v. Lainej, 1 T.T.R. 107, 231, 595. Lalik v; Lazarus S., 1 T.T.R. 143. Lalik v. Elsen, 1 T.T.R. 134.

In this instance the exact reasons for Iroij Lokoboj Loeak to approve excluding the descendants of Kanaki from the succession have not been shown, but it is clear that they were excluded long ago and this was acquiesced in by all those then directly concerned. There is some evidence that some of Kanaki's descendants, for whom the plaintiffs make claim, were permitted to make occasional use of the lands after that, but the court considers this understand-able as a matter of common accommodation between relatives under Marshallese custom without necessarily showing acknowledgment of any rights in the lands.

[2] So many years have now gone by since Iroij Lokoboj Loeak's exclusion of the descendants of Kanaki from the succession that the presumption that his determination was reasonable and proper is reinforced by a presumption analogous to the "presumption of grant" or "doctrine of lost grant", discussed in the opinion in Kanser v. Pitor and Kanser v. Enita, 2 T.T.R. 48l.

Under the circumstances the court considers that there is nothing unreasonable about the present Iroij Elap Albert Loeak's obvious position or determination that the plain-tiffs had no rights in the lands in question at the time the Trust Territory Government purchased rights in them. That determination is therefore controlling.

JUDGMENT

It is ordered, adjudged, and decreed as follows:-

1. As between the parties and all persons claiming under them, the plaintiffs Anjetob and Drieo and the other descendants Kanaki, for whom the plaintiffs claim in this action, had no rights of ownership, as dri jerbal or prospective alab or otherwise, in the following lands or any of them at the time the Trust Territory Government purchased rights in·them, vis:-

Lobatrear wato,

Lobatrelik wato,

Mertakrear wato, and

Mertakrelik wato,

all four wato being located on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands District.

2. The plaintiffs are therefore not entitled to share in the purchase money paid by the Trust Territory Government for rights in said wato and none of the defendants owe either plaintiff, or any of those for whom the plaintiffs claim, anything.

3. The temporary injunction issued in this action August 21, 1964, is hereby dissolved.

4. The defendants Taklob and Neimille are awarded such costs, if any, as they may have had which are taxable under the first sentence of Section 265 of the Trust Territory Code, provided they file a sworn itemized statement of them by December 2, 1968; otherwise no costs will be allowed. Each plaintiff is liable for the full amount of the costs herein awarded, but the defendants may collect that full amount only once.

5. Time for appeal from this judgment is extended to and including December 2, 1968.