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I'm curious about the legal status of this land that was acquired prior to Hawaii even being a state. Are the native inhabitants considered US citizens? Does

I'm curious about the legal status of this land that was acquired prior to Hawaii even being a state. Are the native inhabitants considered US citizens? Does the Sinclair family have to pay property taxes on this land? I would think not. It's kinda of cool to imagine truly owning land that no one else can lay claim to, even historically. EDIT: The native inhabitants may have originally claimed the land but does any government claim jurisdiction over it?

205guy 13y ago
Ni'ihau is part of the County of Kaua'i, State of Hawaii, USA. Just because the king sold the land doesn't mean the king reliquished sovereingty over it. Then the sovereignty of Hawaii passed to the Republic, then to the Territory and State of Hawaii. So yes, this is incorporated territory of the USA, and the inhabitants are full US citizens--as opposed to the various statuses in unincorporated insular territories[1]. Oddly, I was recently reading about Liechenstein[2] where this was not the case. It was formerly part of the Holy Roman Empire (titular to the Emporer of such), but no one claimed it during the breakup (that's the short version, it's actually more complicated). So the princes of the territory found themselves to be sovereign--and then were able to somehow maintain sovereignty continuing today. PS: Amazingly, there is still some unclaimed territory[3] in this world, or you could join seasteaders[4] out in international waters[5]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_area http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_area [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liechtenstein http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liechtenstein [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unclaimed_Territory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unclaimed_Territory [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasteading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasteading [5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_waters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_waters

205guy 13y ago

Ni'ihau is part of the County of Kaua'i, State of Hawaii, USA. Just because the king sold the land doesn't mean the king reliquished sovereingty over it. Then the sovereignty of Hawaii passed to the Republic, then to the Territory and State of Hawaii. So yes, this is incorporated territory of the USA, and the inhabitants are full US citizens--as opposed to the various statuses in unincorporated insular territories[1]. Oddly, I was recently reading about Liechenstein[2] where this was not the case. It was formerly part of the Holy Roman Empire (titular to the Emporer of such), but no one claimed it during the breakup (that's the short version, it's actually more complicated). So the princes of the territory found themselves to be sovereign--and then were able to somehow maintain sovereignty continuing today. PS: Amazingly, there is still some unclaimed territory[3] in this world, or you could join seasteaders[4] out in international waters[5]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_area http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_area [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liechtenstein http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liechtenstein [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unclaimed_Territory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unclaimed_Territory [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasteading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasteading [5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_waters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_waters