Kuleana rights are certain land use rights once enjoyed by Hawaiian tenant farmers and in the modern day are attached to particular plots of land. The six distinct kuleana rights are: [1]
(1) reasonable access to the land-locked kuleana from major thoroughfares;
(2) agricultural uses, such as taro cultivation;
(3) traditional gathering rights in and around the ahupua'a [neighborhood];
(4) a house lot not larger than 1/4 acre;
(5) sufficient water for drinking and irrigation from nearby streams, including traditionally established waterways such as 'auwai;
(6) fishing rights in the kunalu (the coastal region extending from beach to reef).
A kuleana is the smallest portion of land in the traditional ahupuaʻa system of land management and would be cultivated by a single tenant family on behalf of a regional chief. These rights were first acknowledged in statute as part of the Great Māhele of King Kamehameha III and the Kuleana Act of 1850 and continue to be protected by the modern-day constitution of Hawaii and Hawaiian state law. Kuleana rights can be attached to the kuleana land itself or to a descendant's use of a specific plot.
In 2012 the Hawaiian Supreme Court confirmed the viability of Kuleana rights in the present day. [2]
In late 2016 Mark Zuckerberg filed suit to eliminate the ownership interests of more than 100 Hawaiians in Kuleana lands located within his larger parcel. [3] Early in 2017 Mr. Zuckerberg announced that he would drop the litigation. [4]
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Levi Haʻalelea was a high chief and member of the Hawaiian nobility during the Hawaiian Kingdom. He initially served as a kahu and konohiki for High Chief Leleiohoku, one of the grandsons of Kamehameha I. He later became aa Hulumanu in the royal court of Kamehameha III and eventually served as Chamberlain for the court. He married Kekauʻōnohi, the granddaughter of Kamehameha I. These connections to the ruling dynasty gave him access to vast landholding during the land division of the Great Mahele in 1848. Active in politics, he was a member of the Privy Council of State and served in the House of Nobles. In later life, he helped the early Mormon missionaries to the islands by leasing them land and eventually converted to that faith.
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