Preface		v
Acknowledgements		vi
Abbreviations		x
Glossary and Conventions		xii
Chapter 1	Introduction	1
	Part One: The Pre-Contact Land Tenure System of Rarotonga
Chapter 2	Historical background - c. 875 to 1823 A.D.	12
	Early settlement	13
	Takitumu: the tribe of Tangiia	17
	Karika's tribe: Te Au o Tonga or Avarua	20
	Arorangi: the tribe that broke away	26
	Relations between the tribes	27
Chapter 3	Social organization	31
	The tribe (vaka)	31
	The major lineage (ngati)	35
	The minor lineage (ngati)	40
	The extended family (uanga)	42
	The nuclear family (puna) and the young unmarrieds (mapu)	42
	The commoner (unga or tangata rikiriki)	42
	Demographic composition	45
	Specialists	47
	Marriage	48
	Transmission of titles	51
Chapter 4	The distribution of rights to land	60
	The role of the titleholder	61
	Rights of the tribe	64
	Rights of the lineage	66
	Rights of the extended family	71
	Rights of the individual	73
Chapter 5	The acquisition and loss of rights to land	84
	By discovery and settlement	84
	By conquests	85
	By allocation and occupation within the landholding group	88

	By inheritance	89
	By reversion	92
	By marriage	93
	By gift and permissive occupation	96
	By adoption	98
	The pattern of acquisition	102
	The loss of rights to land	104
Chapter 6	The utilization and role of land in Rarotonga	107
	The economic exploitation of land	107
	The role of land in social relations	114
	The state of land rights in 1823	120
	Part Two: THE IMPACT OF EUROPEAN CULTURE ON LAND TENURE 1823–98
Chapter 7	Changes in the distribution of land and land rights	124
	New patterns of settlement	124
	The effects of social and demographic upheaval	133
	Foreign settlement	145
Chapter 8	The form and function of introduced laws	155
	The Mission role	155
	The functioning of the laws	159
	Protection and Federation 1888–98	165
Chapter 9	The new role of land	172
	The production of surpluses	172
	Changes in production patterns	175
	The leasing and lending of land	179
	The status of women	180
	Differentiation of the social classes	181
	Part Three: THE LAND COURT: ITS FORM, FUNCTION AND EFFECTS
Chapter 10	The establishment of the Land Court	190
	A shift in the balance of power	190
	Annexation and the creation of a Land Court	196
	The Court established	198
	Foreign settlement	200
	The act of 1915	205
	Appeals and rehearings	209
Chapter 11	The Land Court in action	211
	Determining ownership	211
	Title to village lands	217
	The progress of Court investigations	222

Chapter 12	Court practice and native custom	225
	Rights of women (and through women)	226
	The rights of absentees (contingent and secondary right-holders)	233
	The effects of erroneous Court interpretations	238
Chapter 13	Tenure reform and productivity	247
	Early experiments in increasing productivity	247
	Productivity changes since annexation	250
	The causes of productivity decline	263
Chapter 14	Recent developments	272
	The Occupation Rights scheme	272
	Later experiments	278
	New patterns of work organization	283
Chapter 15	Future possibilities	286
	The demographic context	286
	Advantages of the existing system	288
	Future possibilities: the range of feasibility	290
	Fragmentation of title	293
	Facilitating transfer	298
	The constitution and functions of the Court	304
	Incorporation: a possible tenure innovation	309
	Appendices
A	Schedule of laws and other provisions relating to land in the Cook Islands	315
B	The Ngati Te Ora case: an illustration of the effects of Court practice	330
C	Price index for the Cook Islands 1891–1959	349
Bibliography		350
	List of maps, tables and diagrams
	Maps
	The Cook Islands in relation to neighbouring territories	xv
	Rarotonga: major cultural and physical features	14
	The pattern of land division: Turangi and adjacent tapere, Rarotonga	68

	The changing pattern of settlement: Turangi ma Nga Mataiapo	130
	Ngati te Ora lands, Takuvaine valley, Rarotonga	331
	Tables
1A	Exports of Agricultural Produce from the Cook Islands 1895–1905	252
1B	Exports of Agricultural Produce from the Cook Islands 1906–15	253
2A	Exports of Agricultural Produce from Mauke 1906–15	256
2B	Exports of Agricultural Produce from Mangaia 1906–15	256
3	Exports of Agricultural Produce from the Cook Islands 1921–30	257
4A	Exports of Agricultural Produce from Mauke 1930–40	259
4B	Exports of Agricultural Produce from Mangaia 1930–40	259
5	Exports of Agricultural Produce from the Cook Islands 1950–9	261
6A	Exports of Agricultural Produce from Mauke 1950–9	262
6B	Exports of Agricultural Produce from Mangaia 1950–9	262
	Diagrams
	Ideal structure of a Rarotongan tribe	32
	A pre-contact example illustrating the pattern of transmission of rank titles	59
	A hypothetical pre-contact household in Rarotonga	75
	Genealogy of the Ngati Te Ora	342–8

Land Tenure in the Cook Islands

Table of Contents