Comes the sad news that retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jon J. Chinen has died. The Star-Advertiser obit noted that he served as Bankruptcy Judge and referee from 1976 to 1993 (I learned bankruptcy law from Judge Chinen, serving for a short time as a judicial extern in his chambers during law school).
There will be a private service, and in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Judge Jon J. Chinen Fund at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii. The address is 2515 Dole St., Honolulu, HI 96822-2350.
To Hawaii land users, Judge Chinen was best known for his seminal publication The Great Mahele: Hawaii's Land Division of 1848 (U. Haw. Press 1958), which is available on the shelf of nearly every bookstore in Hawaii (and on-line here). It is a quick but detailed summary of the pre-contact system and the Mahele itself ("[T]he reformation of the land system in Hawaii ... the separation and identification of the relative rights of the king, the chiefs, and the konohikis, in the lands within the Islands.").
I give a copy of The Great Mahele to new associates in our office who will be practicing land use law to read on their first day, because it explains how Hawaii transformed from a culture-based feudal system of land tenure to the western system of land titles. More than fifty years after its initial publication, it remains the essential summary of Hawaii's unique system of land ownership and title.
It's a quick read which I revisit every year as a refresher course to remember how we got to where we are. I think I'll give it my annual reading in the next few days.
But this time I will do so with a touch of sadness.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
May 3 update - this just received from the USDC notification system:
A public memorial service honoring retired Bankruptcy Judge Jon Chinen will be held on May 20, 2011, 2pm, at the Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Federal Courthouse (300 Ala Moana Blvd). The service will be on the 4th floor of the courthouse - friends and colleagues of Judge Chinen are welcomed to attend. There will be a reception following.
Judge Chinen was a World War II veteran, earned his law degree at the University of Michigan, and served as a Deputy Attorney General, then as a state district judge. After spending time in private practice, he was appointed to the Bankruptcy Court. He served this court from 1976 until he retired in 2000. For decades, he was the face of the Bankruptcy Court in Hawaii.
