Well, the fact is, however unhappy it might make many, is that all the land and all the surrounding and interconnecting waters  in and of the Hawaiian islands, prior to colonization by settlers, was land owned by and occupied by the native Hawaiians who Cookie discovered when he landed in 1778. This is acknowledged by congress. The state laws noted in the story are versions of the federal laws that rule this issue in the rest of the states and are tailor made to reflect the history of the islands starting after 1778. In this way these laws are a good deal for Hawaii. Would the federal laws be operational instead, there would be way more of a legal mess involved.