08-20-2009, 04:38 AM
I'm not in real estate but I am in development and know there are 2 sources with regard to the legal aspects of this subject.
One is the land court records where you can find the legal descriptions on the given plat/plats. The other is the plat maps drawn by the survey department who is responsible for establishing the details of the legal descriptions as well as the parcel maps.
I see no exceptions entered on the plat maps with regard to ownership of the plats. So... unless there is a text based description indicating an exception to ownership or a binding agreement to make the roadways public I see no merit in the findings of a once upon a time record that indicates a road back in the 1880's. There may be no remaining record that describes the road... who it belonged to or what they did with it regarding ownership. The present records indicate no public interest and it would be very unusual for a survey department not to show a public roadway on a parcel map if it existed legally.
As an example... you can apply just the opposite to the Shipmans plat were there are clear and evident records of exception to ownership of their plat regarding the 10' beach road.
If one want's to get technical about this matter... the whole of the Hawaiian islands was owned by the Monarchy at one time... so what? Now it's the state of Hawaii and uses normal State and County departments to record and manage the lands.
E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.
One is the land court records where you can find the legal descriptions on the given plat/plats. The other is the plat maps drawn by the survey department who is responsible for establishing the details of the legal descriptions as well as the parcel maps.
I see no exceptions entered on the plat maps with regard to ownership of the plats. So... unless there is a text based description indicating an exception to ownership or a binding agreement to make the roadways public I see no merit in the findings of a once upon a time record that indicates a road back in the 1880's. There may be no remaining record that describes the road... who it belonged to or what they did with it regarding ownership. The present records indicate no public interest and it would be very unusual for a survey department not to show a public roadway on a parcel map if it existed legally.
As an example... you can apply just the opposite to the Shipmans plat were there are clear and evident records of exception to ownership of their plat regarding the 10' beach road.
If one want's to get technical about this matter... the whole of the Hawaiian islands was owned by the Monarchy at one time... so what? Now it's the state of Hawaii and uses normal State and County departments to record and manage the lands.
E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.