Heirs of Mongkeya v Heirs of Mackwelung [1997] FMKSC 1; 8 FSM Intrm. 31 (Kos. S. Ct. Tr. 1997) (10 March 1997)

KOSRAE STATE COURT
TRIAL DIVISION
Cite as Heirs of Mongkeya v Heirs of Mackwelung, 8 FSM Intrm. 31 (Kos. S. Ct. Tr. 1997)

HEIRS OF KUN MONGKEYA,
Plaintiffs,

vs.

HEIRS OF ALLEN MACKWELUNG,
Defendants.

CIVIL ACTION NO. 1-83

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

Martin G. Yinug
Temporary Justice

Trial: October 31-November 1, 1996
Decided: March 10, 1997

APPEARANCES:

For the Plaintiffs:
Charles Greenfield, Esq.
Micronesian Legal Services Corporation
P.O. Box 129
Kolonia, Pohnpei FM 96941

For the Defendants:
Aliksa B. Aliksa
P.O. Box 511
Kosrae FM 96944

* * * *

HEADNOTES

Administrative Law - Judicial Review; Property - Land Commission
An appeal from the land commission will be on the record unless the court finds good cause for a trial of the matter. At a trial de novo the parties may offer any competent evidence, including the record of proceedings before the land commission, but the question of whether the commission considered the evidence submitted to it is not normally a part of judicial scrutiny. Heirs of Mongkeya v. Heirs of Mackwelung, 8 FSM Intrm. 31, 35 (Kos. S. Ct. Tr. 1997).

Administrative Law - Judicial Review; Property - Land Commission
On appeal the court should not substitute its judgment for those well-founded findings of the land commission, but questions of law are reserved to the court. Heirs of Mongkeya v. Heirs of Mackwelung, 8 FSM Intrm. 31, 35 (Kos. S. Ct. Tr. 1997).

Custom and Tradition - Kosrae; Property
On Kosrae, usru is a gift of land by a parent to one's children, and kewosr is an outright gift of land from a man to a favored lover. Heirs of Mongkeya v. Heirs of Mackwelung, 8 FSM Intrm. 31, 36 (Kos. S. Ct. Tr. 1997).

Custom and Tradition - Kosrae; Property
Under Kosraen custom one does not openly declare that a kewosr has taken place, but simply acts, with a witness present, in a certain fashion. A kewosr is a secret way of giving land that only the man and woman involved know about. Heirs of Mongkeya v. Heirs of Mackwelung, 8 FSM Intrm. 31, 36 (Kos. S. Ct. Tr. 1997).

Property
In Kosrae, land ownership determinations are conducted using different procedures and resources than those in the United States. It is not appropriate to adopt the same legal reasoning employed in U.S. jurisdictions. Heirs of Mongkeya v. Heirs of Mackwelung, 8 FSM Intrm. 31, 37 n.6 (Kos. S. Ct. Tr. 1997).