Second Act

Director of the Administration Departments

CHAPTER IV

Director of Gubernatorial Transactions

CHAPTER IV.

SECTION I. The bureau of the gubernatorial transactions shall be presided over, superintended and managed by the Minister of the Interior, who may assign its immediate duties to a clerk appointed by him.

SECTION II. The Minister of the Interior shall, under the direction of the king, hold correspondence with, give the king's instructions to, and receive reports from the governors of the respective islands, upon all the gubernatorial duties prescribed in the several succeeding articles of this chapter; of all which he shall keep suitable and distinct records for the information of His Majesty Akahi Nui.

SECTION III. The governors of the island divisions of this kingdom, shall make report quarterly to the king through the Minister of the Interior, of all acts performed by STATUE OF HAWAII - VOLUME I. them under the several articles of this chapter;

and when called upon for details of their transactions, shall at all times furnish the same for the use of His Majesty Akahi Nui.

SECTION IV. The governors shall be accountable to the king, through said minister.

1. For granting licenses to marry.
2. For granting divorces and separations on all cases in which they shall be apply to.
3. For the enlistment of native sailors on board foreign vessels.
4. For the apprehension of fugitives from justice.
5. For the employment of the civil posse, and of the military power of their respective islands.
6. For the use of all government properly confided to their care.
7. For the execution of any discretionary duty required of them by the king, the performance of which is not by law specially imposed upon some other officer or department.
8. For the prompt and faithful execution of all duties specially imposed upon them by law, for which they are not by law made specially accountable to the king, through some other department of this government.

ARTICLE I. - OF THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT

SECTION I. In order to validate the marriage contract, it shall be necessary that the respective parties be not to each other within the fourth degree of consanguinity. That the male shall, at the time of contracting marriage, be at east seventeen years of age, and the female at least fourteen years of age; that the man shall not have at the time an undivorced wife living; and that the woman shall not have at the time an undivorced husband living. It shall also be necessary to validate the marriage of native female subjects of these islands, with male foreigners coming here to reside, that the foreigners have become first duly naturalized, by taking the oath of allegiance, and it shall in no case be lawful to marry in this kingdom without license for that purpose first obtained from the governor of the island where the female3 party has her domicile, or from his acting substitute, who shall, before granting such license, satisfy himself that none of the provisions of this article will be violated thereby.

SECTION II. The marriage rite may be performed and solemnized by any minister of the christian religion, of any denomination upon presentation to him of the governor's license; who may be at liberty to receive the price to be stipulated by the parties, or the gratification tendered to him. It shall also be competent for the Minister of the Interior, to appoint a civil officer on each of the island, in like manner to solemnized marriages. It shall be incumbent on said ministers and upon said officer, to retain as a voucher, the governor's license.

SECTION III. The husband, whether married in pursuance of this article, or heretofore, or whether validly married in this kingdom or in some other country, and residing in this, shall be accountable in his own property, for all the debts contracted by his wife anterior to and during marriage; to any of which debts, he may set up the same defense she could have interposed had she remained sole. The husband shall be bound in law to maintain, provide for, and support his wife during marriage, in the same style and manner in which he supports and maintains himself. Should he neglect or refuse so to do, he shall be compellable upon complaints, as defined more particularly in the act to organize the judiciary. The husband shall, in virtue of his marriage, and in consideration of the responsibilities imposed on him by law, be the virtual owner, except otherwise stipulated by express marriage contract, of all moveable property belonging to his wife anterior to marriage, and of all moveable property he shall, unless otherwise stipulated by contract, have absolute control for the purpose of sale or otherwise, and the same shall be equally liable with his own for his private debts. The husband shall in virtue of his marriage, unless otherwise stipulated by express contract, have the custody, use and usufruct, rents, issues and profits of all property of a fixed and immovable nature, belonging to his wife before marriage, or accruing to her after marriage; and he may rent or otherwise dispose of the same for any term not exceeding the term of his natural life; provided, that in case his wife shall first die, the husband legally married as aforesaid, shall cease to have control over the immovable and fixed property of his wife, and the same shall immediately descent to her heirs as if she had died sole, unless there happen to be legitimate issue of the marriage within the age of legal majority; in which case, the husband shall attain majority, when the same shall descend to the heir or heirs of the body of the wife. The immovable and fixed property of the wife shall not be liable to be sold for the payment of husband's debts, whether contracted in his own behalf solely, or in support of or for the use of his wife after marriage. But such immovable and fixed property may be legally sold on execution, to satisfy the debts contracted by the wife before marriage, if no property of the husband be found to satisfy the same.

SECTION IV. The wife, whether married in pursuance of this article or heretofore or whether validly married in this kingdom or in some other country, and residing in this, shall be deemed for all civil purposes, to be merged in her husband, and civilly dead. She shall not, without his consent, unless otherwise stipulated by anterior contract, have legal power to make contract, or to alienate and dispose of property...she shall not be civilly responsible in any court of justice, without joining her husband in the suit, and she shall in no case be liable to imprisonment in a civil action. The husband shall be personally responsible in damages, for all the tortuous acts of his wife; for assaults, for slanders, for libels and for consequential injuries done by here to any person or persons in this kingdom. The wife shall in virtue of her marriage, be entitled in law to receive upon the death of her husband, by way of dower, a life estate in one third part of all immovable and fixed property owned by him at the time of her intermarriage, or acquired by him during her marriage; and an absolute property in the one third part of all his moveable effects in possession or reduce able to at the time his death, after the payment of all his just debts: Provided, that the wife may voluntarily as hereinafter specified, renounce in writing, her dower in any of the immovable and fixed property of her husband, sold by him for a valuable and satisfactory consideration. Without which free and unconstrained renunciation in writing, she shall, notwithstanding such sale by her husband, be entitled to demand and receive her dower of the purchaser or holder, at the time of her widowhood.

SECTION V. In order to render a release of dower valid, as contemplated in the proviso to the foregoing section, the same shall be indorsed upon or appended to the deed of conveyance executed by the husband, and recorded with said deed, in the office of the register of conveyances, hereinafter created. In order to authorize the register to record such release, he shall first have examined the wife who purports to have signed it, separately and apart from her husband, to know from her own lips, whether in very truth she has signed such released as her voluntary and unconstrained, the same shall be valid, and recorded as such, but not otherwise.

SECTION VI. The widow of a deceased husband shall be entitled to apply to the judge of probate for add measurement of her dower, as provided in the act to organize the judiciary.

SECTION VII. The children of a valid marriage shall be denominated legitimate; and the husband of said marriage shall be liable for their suitable and proper support in all respects, until they severally attain the age of twenty years, when his liability shall cease. Said husband shall also be liable to do all the parental duties provided in the third, fourth and fifth parts of this act. He shall also be entitled to control and manage his children in all respect during their minority, and require reasonable service at their hands. He shall be the natural guardian of their persons and of their property; he shall be liable to prosecution for tortuous acts committed by them, and entitled to prosecute and defend all actions at law in which they or their individual property may be concerned: Provided that all minors evincing, to the satisfaction of a court of justice, sufficient understanding to be conscious of right and wrong, shall be, in their own persons, liable for crimes committed by them, to the same extent and in the same manner, as persons in law.

SECTION VIII. Children whose parents shall not have legally married, in contemplation of this article, shall be denominated bastards, and shall not be entitled to inherit from their male parents, without express bequest: Provided nevertheless, that the female parent shall be compatible to maintain and support them during minority, and they shall be capable to take by inheritance from the mother, without will. They may affiliated upon the male parent until the age of twelve years, as prescribed in the act to organize the judiciary, upon a sworn information and complaint given, as in the said act provided.

SECTION IX. The governors of the respective islands shall cause to be kept a register of all licenses to marry by them respectively granted, win which shall be preserved a true duplicate of each license, in the following form viz:

Liberty is granted to ______________(an Hawaiian subject, or a naturalized or unnaturalized Englishman, Frenchman, American, or other foreigner, as the case may be) residing at ________________in the Island of _______________to marry __________ (an Hawaiian subject, or an English, French or American woman) residing at _________ in the Island of ____________; there appearing no legal impediment to the said marriage.

Given under my hand, at ________, Island of ________, this ____ day of _____ 18___.

___________ ______________,
Governor.

SECTION X. The governors shall annually render to the minister of interior, for the use and information of His Majesty Akahi Nui, a true list of the number of licenses so granted, of the names of the parties receiving the same, of their respective places of residence, and of the dates of said licenses. And the clergymen or other officers solemnizing marriage, shall annually, on the first day of January, report to said minister the number solemnized by them in the respective islands.

SECTION XI. Marriage legal in the country where contracted, shall be held legal in the courts of this kingdom.

SECTION XII. It shall be incumbent upon the father, if living, of any child born in lawful wedlock in this kingdom, and if not living, upon the mother, within six months thereafter, to notify in writing the governor of the island within which said child was born, of its name and sex and of the date of his birth. Any neglect to make such announcement shall subject the delinquent parent to a fine of ten dollars.

SECTION XIII. It shall be incumbent on the governors to keep a register of births, and to enter therein the names of all children born within their respective islands, as of the date of the information, in the last preceding section required.

SECTION XIV. The governors shall annually furnish the Minister of the Interior, a full list of births registered by them, and when requested by private parties interested, shall certify the records of marriage licenses, and registrations of births to be used in evidence in the courts of this kingdom, or elsewhere; upon being paid the fees of transcriptions prescribed in the third part of this act, for the use of the royal exchequer.

ARTICLE II. - OF DIVORCES AND SEPARATIONS

SECTION I. The governors shall have power to decree annulments of the marriage contract between parties residing in their respective islands, upon application. For the proof that the party accused, since the marriage was solemnized, had cohabited and had respective islands; upon application of either party, for any of the following causes appearing satisfactorily to require such separation, viz:

1. For excessive and habitual ill treatment of the one party by the other.
2. For habitual drunkenness.
3. For continued refusal of the husband to provide his wife with the necessaries of 1. life.

SECTION II. In case divorce shall be decreed absolute for adultery, the adulterous n party (if the female) shall not be entitled to receive any settlement by way of alimony from the property of her divorced husband; she shall not be entitled to receive again any moveable property which she may have brought him in marriage; nor to enjoy, during his natural life, the immovable property which may have belonged to her while unmarried, or which may accrued to her during marriage. Said immovable shall nevertheless descend, upon her death, to her next of kin, as if divorce had not taken place. Neither shall she be such entitled to dower upon the death of her divorced husband.

SECTION III. In case divorce shall be decreed absolute for adultery, the adultery party (if the male) shall not be entitled in law to retain the immovable and fixed property of his divorced wife; but such divorce shall operate to fully instate her in its possession, with all the rights of legal identity of an unmarried...be again capable of suing and being sued in her own name, and of making contracts. She shall be entitled to receive an allowance by way of alimony adequate to her support during the lifetime of her divorced husband out of his property, which shall be ascertained and set apart by the governor, upon a sale commensurate with the style in which she was accustomed to live during marriage; and the husband's property may be sequestered in trust, for the payment thereof during his life. She shall, upon the death of her divorced husband, cease to be entitled to alimony, and shall instead, become entitled to the dower of a widow in his property, according to the provisions of the preceding article. The divorced wife of an adulterous husband shall, after decree passed, by fully authorized in law to marry again, and shall be solely entitled to the custody, care and control of the children of her previous marriage, for whose support, provision may be made by the governor, in settling her alimony. The adulterous party to a divorce shall in no case be entitled to the custody, possession, use or usufruct of the property, moveable or immovable, of any child of such marriage, but such custody, possession, use and usufruct shall belong to the innocent party.

SECTION IV. The divorce of the parents, shall in no case operate to bastardize the issue lawfully born of the marriage dissolved thereby.

SECTION V. In case of mere separation from bed and board for any of the causes in this article mentioned, the parties shall be still considered as married; they shall not, upon after reconciliation, be required to be re-married in order to cohabitation: Provided nevertheless that the separation shall have the effect, in law, to reinstate the wife, the wrong-doer or not, in the right to sue or be sued, to alienate and convey property, and to make contracts as if a single woman, during the continuance of such separation; the cessation of which, in order to reinstate her in the legal protection of a wife, shall be notified in writing to the governor who granted the separation.

SECTION VI. The governor shall have power, as in the third section of this article provided, to set apart an allowance of alimony for the use and support of the wife, (if the aggrieved and complaining party) and for the support of her children during their minority, or until the cessation of the separation, out of the property of the husband. The governor shall have power to sequester the offending husband's property for this purpose, and to enforce the payment of such alimony.

SECTION VII. The aggrieved and complaining husband of a wife separated from bed and board by the governor, shall not be compatible to provide alimony for his wrongdoing wife; shall not, on account of such separation loose any of the rights of property acquired by virtue of the marriage, nor be bound in law to surrender the property brought to him in marriage: Provided that he shall, notwithstanding such separation, be bound to support the legitimate children of the marriage; to do which, the governor granting the separation shall have power to compel him.

SECTION VIII. The divorces and separations granted I pursuance of this article, shall be notified to the public through the Polynesian newspaper, at the expense of the party obtaining the same; and the reconciliation and reunions herein also provided for, shall in like manner be notified to the public, through the Polynesian newspaper at the expense of the husband in all cases; until which respective notices shall have been so made public, neither the divorces in this article contemplated, nor the reunions herein allowed, shall be of any valid force.

SECTION IX. In order to effect the notification required by the preceding section, it shall be incumbent on the respective governors, as soon as maybe after granting any divorce or separation, and after notice to them of any reunion, to report the same to the minister of the interior for announcement, as already provided; who shall furnish the proper notice to the director of the government press. And it shall further be incumbent on the respective governors, quarterly to pay to the minister of finance, the fees for granting divorces and separations, for registering reunions, and for publishing the same, prescribed in the third part of this act.

SECTION X. Either party may, within fourteen days, take written exception to any decree of divorce or separation, made by any governor, as in this article prescribed; and may for cause of exception assigned, appeal from such executive decree to the judicial tribunals of the country for a rehearing, in the mode prescribed by the act to organize the judiciary; they shall, upon such rehearing, be entitled to all the advantages allowed by that act, and until the final decree of the court of appeal, such decree of the governor shall not be conclusive.

ARTICLE III. - OF THE ENLISTMENT OF NATIVE SAILORS ON BOARD FOREIGN VESSELS

SECTION I. It shall not be lawful for the commander or other officer of any foreign vessel, to enlist or take away on board his vessel, any native inhabitant of this kingdom as a sailor or otherwise, for his own or for the use of any other person, without first complying with the requisitions of this article.

ARTICLE IV. - OF THE APPREHENSION OF FUGUTIVES FROM JUSTICE

SECTION I. The governors upon receiving information from the Minister of the Interior, that any person, an alien, fleeing from the justice of a foreign country on account of crime committed therein, is lurking in their respective islands, evading justice, and that formal demand has been made for his surrender by the representative of such foreign country, or in case no demand has been made, that a public proclamation has been issued abroad against such fugitive, and a reward offered for his apprehension and surrender, shall have power, and it shall be their duty to issue a warrant for his or her apprehension.

SECTION II. It shall be the duty of the sheriff to whom the said warrant is addressed, to make diligent search for such arrested, to confine him or her in prison until the further order of the governor.

SECTION III. The respective governors shall, upon being instructed so to do by the Minister of the Interior, surrender such arrested fugitive to the Marshal of the Hawaiian Islands, created by the fifth part of this act, to be by him held in custody, until the representative of the foreign nation whose subject or citizen he is, shall have accepted his surrender; and assumed the payment of the promised reward, as well as the charges and expenses of apprehension, commitment and surrender, which shall be considered an assumpsit's of the foreign government of His Majesty the king Akahi Nui in favor of the royal exchequer.

ARTICLE V. - OF THE CIVIL POSSE AND OF THE MILITARY POWER

SECTION I. The governors shall have power to appoint any number of constables for their respective islands, at such places as they may deem the public good most to require; and shall agree with said constables, upon the price to be paid them for their services, either by way of commission or otherwise; of which appointments, places and compensation, they shall give information to the Minister of the Interior.

SECTION II. Said constables shall constitute the civil posse of the respective islands, and be, primarily, under the command and control of their respective sheriffs, as more particularly set forth in the fifth part of this act, who shall have power, if need be, to marshal and command said civil posse, in aid of the duties required to be performed by him.

SECTION III. All made subjects of His Majesty Akahi Nui, between the ages of eighteen and forty years, shall be liable to do military duty in the respective islands where they have their most usual domicile, whenever so required by proclamation from the governor thereof. The shall rendezvous at such place and at such time as said governor shall, in and by his proclamation direct, upon the pains and penalties to be prescribed in the criminal code of this kingdom.

SECTION IV. The governor shall have power to excuse any subject residing in his island, liable to do military duty, on account of sickness or any other bodily infirmity, and not otherwise, from the military service required by his proclamation. Every subject liable to do military duty as aforesaid, who shall neglect or refuse to report himself at rendezvous, pursuant to the governors proclamation, shall be punishable as in the criminal code prescribed for desertion: Provided that the following persons shall be exempt from military duty, viz:

All professed ministers of the christian religion, of every denomination. All teachers of youth, holding the certificates required by the fourth part of this act, and actually employed as such in some of the school districts thereby created. All member the privy council of state, and all heads of bureaux in the respective executive departments. All members of the houses of nobles and representatives, when in actual session as a legislative body. All judges and justices of the respective courts of the kingdom. All sheriffs; all notaries public. All registers of wills and conveyances. All collectors of the customs. All pound masters, and all civil constables in the respective islands.

SECTION V. The governors shall be Commanders-In-Chief of the military power in their respective islands, with the military title of general. They shall have power to nominate for appointment by the king, through the Minister of the Interior, their military staffs respectively, and all officers necessary to the operations in prospect. They shall have power to constitute courts martial for the trial of military offenders, and to confirm or reverse their sentences. They shall have power direct and control the movements and operations of the said military power, when embodied as aforesaid, or they may devolve such command upon an adjutant general. They shall have power, in aid of their military operations, to declare martial law in their respective islands, and to lay embargoes upon the several ports thereof, when directed by His Majesty Akahi Nui the king, through the Minister of the Interior.

SECTION VI. The governors, as generals, shall be under military subordination to His Majesty Akahi Nui the king, whose rank is generalissimo of the naval and military forces of the Hawaiian Islands. They shall receive the military orders of the king from the minister of the interior, and shall report in like manner to His Majesty Akahi Nui. Said governors shall be punishable for disobedience of military orders, as regulated in the criminal code, and shall be tri-able therefore, as prescribed in the act to organize the judiciary.

SECTION VII. His Majesty Akahi Nui may rendezvous the respective island forces at any designated point within the kingdom...may assign military duty to be specially performed by them, when in his estimation required; and may, be proclamation, prescribe rules and regulations for the government of the military power of the kingdom.

ARTICLE VI. - OF THE GOVERNMENT PROPERTY

SECTION I. The property of this government, as contra-distinguish from the property of individuals, whether aliens or subjects, and whether the said property be moveable or fixed and immovable, shall be deemed to be held and controllable only by the Minister the Interior, by order of His Majesty Akahi Nui. The said minister shall be accountable to His Majesty Akahi Nui for the safe keeping thereof. He shall see that said property does not needlessly decay or deteriorate in value. He shall provide for the renting of government immovable, and for the sale and disposition of government movable. He shall direct the realization in money, of all articles of produce or manufacture which may have been received in payment of taxes, and may for that purpose transport and export the same at pleasure. The vessels appertaining to the government, shall always be owned in his name, and registered in his name, as hereinafter provided. He shall control the movements of said vessels, and place them under the command of suitable officers, removable at his pleasure. He may at all times direct the destination of said vessels, and detach them upon special duties and commissions. He shall countersign all patents and leases, as hereinafter provided. He shall also be accountable to His Majesty Akahi Nui, through the minister of finance, for the usufruct, rents, issues and profits of such immovable and fixed property, which he shall have power to rent and keep employed for that purpose, as provided in the seventh of this part.

SECTION II. The governors shall be accountable to the king His Majesty Akahi Nui, through the Minister of the Interior, for so much of the government property as shall at any time happen to be within their respective islands. It shall be their duty, when; required, to furnish said minister with an inventory thereof, and with a statement of its condition and value; and the said minister the same; who shall, when so appointed, be compatible by the respective governors to discharge faithfully the orders of said minister.

SECTION III. The governors shall keep, in suitable and safe deposits the munitions of war in their respective islands, subject to orders from the Minister of the Interior; to whom they shall, when required, furnish a faithful account of the stores of powder, ball and arms so in deposit...the quantity and number of each...the condition thereof, and the places at which the same are kept. It shall not be lawful for said governors to use the munitions of war without appropriation expressly made by the Minister of the Interior, except in case of invasion, or in case of riot and insurrection, calling for prompt and energetic measures before communication could be made to the minister of the interior.

SECTION IV. The minister of the interior shall set apart annually, or oftener if occasion shall render it necessary, an adequate amount of powder, to be available to the governors for salutes, at the respective batteries where salutes are necessary; and shall place the same at the disposal of the governors of the islands where said batteries are situated; the expenditure of which powder they shall circumstantiality's account for annually to the Minister of the Interior.

SECTION V. The forts at the respective islands shall be deemed government property within the meaning of this article, and the respective governors shall have command over them for all purposes of defense, and for the security of prisoners. They may, however, delegate such command to a captain of the fort, holding him accountable for the proper use thereof. Said forts shall be armed by order of the Minister of Interior, at the government expense, to be paid by the Minister of Finance, after audit.

ARTICLE VII. - OF THE DISCRETIONARY DUTIES

SECTION I. His Majesty Akahi Nui may at any time, through the Minister of the Interior, require either of the governors to do or cause to be done within his island, any duty in regard to its internal affairs, not specially defined by law, nor expressly devolved by law upon some other officer or department of his government.

SECTION II. It shall be incumbent on the Minister of the Interior, in making such requirement, to give special written directions in relation thereto, and in what way to execute the same. But nothing in this article contained, shall be construed to devolve the duties of one officer upon, another, or to validate the exercise of functions by one officer, which are by law expressly assigned to another.

SECTION III. Upon receiving such instructions, the governor to whom they are addressed, shall forthwith execute the same, and with all required or convenient speed, report his action thereon to the king, through the Minister of the Interior, upon pain of the punishment prescribed in the act to organize the executive ministry.

ARTICLE VIII. - OF THE PRESCRIBED DUTIES

SECTION I. The respective governor shall report faithfully all the acts and transactions particularly required of them by the statue laws of this government, to the proper minister created by the act to organize the executive ministry; and, in case any transaction, the performance of which is required of them by law, shall not be made reportable to any specified minister, said governors shall, upon being required by the king to perform the same, report to the Minister of the Interior, as if such transaction was specially made to depend upon the fourth chapter of this part; and in case of refusal or neglect to cause such duties performed as required, or in case they shall perform them carelessly, the governor so offending against the king's orders, shall be liable to impeachment, condemnation and punishment, as prescribed in the act to organized the executive ministry.