In re Marques

37 Haw. 260
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 30, 1945
DocketNo. 2596
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 37 Haw. 260 (In re Marques) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Marques, 37 Haw. 260 (haw 1945).

Opinion

[261]*261OPINION OF THE COURT BY

PETERS, J.

This is a motion to set aside two subdivision orders affecting registered land, the latter of which is amendatory of the former, entered by the judge of the land court on June 6, 1940, and September 16, 1940, respectively, and received for recordation in the office of the assistant registrar of the land court. The subdivisions were of land of which Clarence Y. Shimamura was the registered owner in fee and involved a 5-foot strip included therein which, with a 5-foot strip immediately adjoining, of which movants were the registered owners in fee, together constituted a perpetual light of way for use in common by movants, Shimamura and others named. Demurrers to the motion were sustained and the motion dismissed. From the order of dismissal the movants prosecuted error.

Plaintiffs in error specify the follovráig errors:

1. That the subdivision orders were improperly entered and should not have been received for recordation by the assistant registrar of the land court for the reasons: (a) that the subdivision orders were secured ex parte and without notice to movants; (b) that the movants as co-users with Shimamura (at whose instance the subdivision orders Avere entered) of the right of way Avere entitled to notice and an. opportunity to be heard upon the subdivision orders under the provisions of Revised LaAVS of Hawaii 1935, section 5070 (R. L. H. 1945, § 12670), and Revised Laws of HaAvaii 1935, section 5097 (R. L. H. 1945, § 12697) ; (c) failure of the registered OAvner Shimamura to comply Avith the provisions of the existing ordinances of the City and County of Honolulu, vis., ordinance num[262]*262her 306, as amended by ordinances numbers 375 and 404, requiring the approval by the board of supervisors of the City and County of Honolulu of a plan for a subdivision of land within the City and County of Honolulu for the purpose of the sale of lots therein and/or to comply with the succeeding ordinance of the City and County of Honolulu, vis., ordinance number 865, which became effective November 27, 1940, upon the repeal of ordinance number 306, with its amendments, requiring the approval of the city planning commission of the City and County of Honolulu of plans of subdivisions of land within the city and county for the purposes of sale, lease or rent for all except agricultural purposes;

2. That the orders of subdivision did not conform to the requirements of Laws of 1939, Act 242, section 4 (69), § 3133.5, for the reasons (a) that although no master plan had been adopted by the city planning commission prior to September 16, 1940, the date of entry by the land court of the second subdivision order, the subdivision affected land “situated in the city of Honolulu” (the district of Honolulu) and, pursuant to the provisions of Revised Laws of Hawaii 1935, section 5120, as amended by Laws of 1939, Act 242, section 11 (1) and Revised Laws of Hawaii 1935, section 5040, section 3133.5 applies; (b) that plans of the orders of subdivision did not have the approval of the city planning commission as required by section 3133.5, supra, and therefore were not entitled to be received for recordation or filing in the office of the assistant registrar of the land court;

3. That the respondents-assignees of Shimamura who had bought lots in the subdivision and had constructed improvements thereon were not “subsequent purchasers” “for value and in good faith” within the meaning of those terms as employed in Revised Laws of Hawaii 1935, section 5041, for the reason that by section 3133.8, in the [263]*263absence of an approved plan, sales of lots in the subdivision were prohibited, and under the provisions of section 3133.7 building permits for improvements tvere illegally issued;

4. That by reason of the foregoing recited defects, indicated by the records of the land court, the respondent-mortgagee at the time it acquired its security interest in the lots subject to the subdivision of September 16, 1940, was not a “subsequent purchaser” “for value and in good faith” within the meaning of those terms employed in section 5041, supra.

The issue of the litigable interest of the movants in the subject matter of the motion was not passed upon by the judge of the land court; in fact, he expressly refrained from so doing and the question is therefore not before us in this case.

Assuming but not deciding that specifications of error 1-a and 1-b are well-taken, if, as we hold, the two subdivision orders were properly entered and were entitled to be received for recordation in the office of the assistant registrar of the land court, the alleged irregularities in the proceedings before the land court resulting in the entry and recordation of the subdivision orders complained of become immaterial. We shall therefore proceed to the consideration of specifications of error 1-c and 2.

1-c. Before the passage by the 1939 legislature of Act 242, the only provisions of law expressly applicable to the land court of the Territory upon the subject of private subdivisions, and which were in effect at the time the subdivision orders were entered, were those contained in Revised Laws of Hawaii 1935, section 5044, the full text of which is quoted in the margin.1 The only require[264]*264ments of section 5044 in respect to subdivisions were that the owner proposing to subdivide registered land file with the court an application therefor, together with a map or-plan showing the proposed subdivision, and accurately delineating thereon all boundaries, streets, passageways and other easements connected therewith, and requiring the court, before approving the same and authorizing the issuance of any new certificate or certificates thereon, to cause the same to be verified by the territorial surveyor and be satisfied that the same were accurately represented. Obviously, compliance with these provisions accomplished the dual purpose of identification of the lots included in the subdivision according to their boundaries and existing [265]*265streets, passageways and other easements connected therewith, and furnished the data necessary for the issuance of new certificate or certificates accordingly as the owner exercised the option afforded him by the other provisions of the section to receive, with the approval of the court, separate certificates of individual portions of the subdivision.

At the same time a municipal ordinance existed upon the subject of the subdivision of land within the City and County of Honolulu for the purpose of the sale of lots therein, viz., ordinance number 306, as amended by ordinances numbers 375 and 404. We do not deem it necessary to set forth the several provisions of ordinance number 306 as finally amended by ordinance number 404. Briefly stated, it is a municipal police measure regulating the subdivision of land for the purposes of sale within the City and County of Honolulu. It requires, as a condition precedent to disposing or offering to sell lots in any proposed subdivision, the approval by the board of supervisors of the city and county of a plan of such subdivision, including among other requirements, specifications of the streets, curbs and sidewalks to be constructed and the utilities and street survey monuments to be installed, all of which such specifications must comply with the standards of construction and installation respectively prescribed by the ordinance.

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Bluebook (online)
37 Haw. 260, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-marques-haw-1945.