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PART V

TITLES

 

  1. Definition of rightful holder - In this Part, where not inconsistent with the context, "rightful holder" means a person who

 

  1. Has been appointed the holder of a matai name or title by and in accordance with the customs and usages of the Samoan people, including appointment thereto in pursuance of a judgment of the Court, or of an interim order made under the provisions of this Act; and

    2.  

  2. Has had the traditional ceremony of appointment in the village to which that name or title belongs; and

    3.  

  3. Has been recognised as the rightful holder of the matai name or title in question, by the Registrar under subsection (5) of section 23 or by the Court under subsection (6) or (7) of that section 23.

 

  1. Wrongful user an offence - Any person other than the rightful holder who uses a matai name or title, or permits himself to be addressed by a matai name or title, or otherwise acts as the holder of a matai or title, commits an offence for which, on conviction, he is liable to imprisonment for 12 months.
  2. Register of Matais - (1) There shall be kept in the Court by the Registrar a register to be called the Register of Matais, and no entry shall be made or deleted from the Register except by the Registrar, or by his direction. (2) There shall be entered in the Register, in accordance with the provisions of this Part, the names and titles of such persons as are from time to time the rightful holders of Samoan names or titles, together with such other particulars as may from time to time be prescribed by any rules, and if none, by the Registrar. (3) The Registrar shall cause the name or names of any person to be deleted from the Register if:
  1. It is proved to the satisfaction of the Registrar that that person has died, or has vacated the matai name or title in question, or that the entry was made pursuant to an incomplete or defective folio forwarded by a Pulenuu under the provisions of subsection (2) of section 23, or that the entry was otherwise made in error; or

    2.  

  2. The deletion is directed by an order of the Court.

 

  1. Where the Registrar is satisfied that the appointment to a matai name or title has not been made in accordance with the customs and usages of the Samoan people he shall prepare sign and file a petition for the Court to determine whether or not the matai name or title in question should be deleted from the Register, and each such petition shall be treated, with any necessary modification, as if it were a petition filed under section 42:

 

PROVIDED THAT no name or title entered on the Register on or before the first day of January 1977 shall be subject to petition pursuant to this subsection.

 

  1. Notwithstanding anything in this or any other Act, any matai name or title registered on or before the first day of January 1977 that has been deleted since that date from the Register pursuant to section 30(4) of the Samoa Land and Titles Protection Ordinance 1934 (as that provision had existed prior to its repeal on the 14th day of November 1978) shall be restored to the Register and deemed for all purposes not to have been deleted. (6) Notwithstanding anything in this or any other Act, any matai name or title registered since the first day of January 1977 that has been deleted from the Register but in respect of which a petition filed pursuant to the provisions of section 30(4).

    2.  

  2. Notwithstanding anything in this or any other Act, any matai name or title registered since the first day of January 1977 that has been deleted from the Register but in respect of which a petition filed pursuant to the provisions of section 30(4) of the Samoan Land and Titles Protection Ordinance 1934 (as that provision had existed prior to its repeal on the 14th day of November 1978) has not been determined by the Court, shall be restored to the Register and deemed for all purposes not to have been deleted.
  3. Subsection (3) shall apply whether the name or names were entered in the Register before or after the coming into force of this Act.

    4.  

  4. Where the Registrar causes the name or names of any person to be deleted from the Register under subsection (3), and that person is still alive, the Registrar shall notify that person in writing of the deletion and of the reason for the deletion.

    5.  

  5. Any person may, within one month after receiving a notice in writing under subsection (8), petition the Court against the deletion of his name or names by signing and filing with the Registrar a petition stating reasons, and each such petition shall be treated, with any necessary modifications, as if it were a petition filed under section 42, and any petition under this subsection shall be heard and determined by the President sitting alone.

    6.  

  6. The Registrar shall obey and give effect to any order of the Court made under this section.

 

  1. Duties of appointee, Pulenu’u and Registrar - (1) Every Samoan who shall, after the coming in to force of this Act, be appointed to be the holder of a matai name or title (in this section referred to as "the new appointee"), shall, within 7 days of the holding of the traditional ceremony of appointment, give notice in writing thereof to the Pulenuu of the village in which that ceremony was held, and to the Registrar. (2) Within 14 days after the Pulenuu of any village learns that a traditional ceremony of appointment to a Samoan name or title has been held in his village (whether by receipt of a notice in writing pursuant to subsection (1) or otherwise), he shall take the following action:

 

  1. Ascertain whether or not that village is the village to which that name or title belongs;

    2.  

  2. Enter and sign in triplicate in a book to be kept by him for the purpose, in such form as the Registrar shall prescribe, the particulars of the traditional ceremony of appointment to the name or title, including whether or not the village in which it has been held is the village to which that name or title belongs;

    3.  

  3. Forward to the Registrar from the book the original folio containing those particulars;

    4.  

  4. Hand or forward to the new appointee from the book the duplicate folio containing those particulars; and

    5.  

  5. Retain in the book the triplicate folio containing those particulars for at least 10 years from the date of the entry.

 

  1. The Registrar may at any time or times, by notice in writing to the new appointee requisition for any further information he may deem necessary.

    2.  

  2. The Registrar on receiving a notice in writing pursuant to subsection (1), or on receiving an original folio containing particulars in bona fide, shall publish in 2 consecutive issues of the Savali particulars thereof as are sufficient to identify the matai name or title and the new appointee, as if the notice or folio were notice of a claim to a pulefaamau, and as if section 16 were applicable.

    3.  

  3. If no objection is lodged within the time limited in the notice as required by section 16, then, if the Registrar is satisfied both that the traditional ceremony of appointment of the new appointee has been held in the village to which the name or title belongs, and that the appointment complies with the other customs and usages of the Samoan people, the Registrar shall, by issuing to the new appointee a certificate in a form prescribed by the Registrar, recognised the new appointee as the rightful holder of the matai name or title to which he has been appointed, and enter his name or names in the Register of matais accordingly.

    4.  

  4. If the Registrar is not satisfied as to the matters specified in subsection (5), he shall, by notice in writing to the new appointee, refuse to organise him as the rightful holder, and shall direct and ensure that name or names of that appointee be not entered in the Register of Matais.

    5.  

  5. The new appointee may, within one month after receiving a notice in writing from the Registrar declining to recognise him as the rightful holder, petition the Court, by signing and filing with the Registrar a petition in writing stating reasons, and each such petition shall be treated, with any necessary modifications, as if it were a petition filed under section 42.

    6.  

  6. The Registrar, on receiving any objection lodged within the time limited in the notice as required by section 16, shall require the objector, as soon as praticable, to prepare, sign and file his petition to the Court for determining the objection and deciding the rightful holder of the matai name or title in question.

    7.  

  7. The Registrar shall make no entry in the Register of Matais in respect of any matter submitted to the Court under subsection (7) or (8) except by order or direction of the Court

    8.  

  8. "No objection under this Part shall be made, or be accepted by the Court, in respect of any appointment to a matai name or title which has been confirmed by the Court under section 19"

 

  1. Offences - Any person

 

  1. Who wilfully gives false information to the Registrar or any Pulenuu; or
  2. Who intentionally misleads the Registrar or Pulenuu; and
  3. Including any Pulenuu, who, without lawful excuse, makes default in the performance of any

duty imposed on him by section 23, - commits an offence for which, on conviction, he is liable to a fine not exceeding $100 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months.