[Hawaii]:

$5,000 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

THE LAWS AND RESOLUTIONS PASSED AT THE ANNUAL COUNCIL OF THE HAWAIIAN NOBLES AND REPRESENTATIVES CONVENED ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITUTION, AT LAHAINA, APRIL, ... An exceedingly rare early Hawaiian imprint. The work is a supplement to the English translation of Ke Kumu Kanawai, a Me Na Kanawai o Ko Hawaii Pae Aina (Forbes 1337). It contains ten laws and resolutions approved by Hawaiian King Kamehameha III and the premier, Kekauluohi, "at the council house at Luaehu, Lahaina, Maui, Sandwich Islands." The laws and resolutions themselves deal with land leases, taxes on land and pets, the timing of the evening guns, divorce, whaling, public auctions, tonnage dues, ship clearances, the removal of duties on gold and silver exports, and the payment of jurors. The laws had to be submitted for approval to the British commission that exercised temporary control over Hawaii, between February and July 1843, and it is noted in the penultimate paragraph, "All the foregoing laws...will take effect after being communicated to the British Commission, and proclaimed at each of the principal islands...."The resolution on "Respecting Divorced Persons" is especially interesting. This resolution allowed, among other things, all "divorced persons" (not just men) to remarry if their divorce was granted before the 1840 Constitution was adopted. The 1840 Hawaiian Constitution had placed certain restrictions on remarriage for both divorced men and women. For instance, in cases of adultery, the guilty part

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