American Samoa § 37.0102 - Survey.

§ 37.0102. Survey.

(a) When land is offered for registration, the offer shall be accompanied by a survey of land to which the title is proposed to be registered. The survey shall conform to regulations of the Governor. (b) Unless otherwise provided by regulation, the point of departure in such survey shall be either tied in with an established coordinate or be a concrete monument procured from or poured in place by an authorized representative of the Governor for that purpose and set at least 3 feet in the ground at a corner of that land. (c) The survey shall be accompanied by a certificate of the surveyor and the pulenuu of the village in which or nearest to which the land is located, to the effect that the pulenuu gave public oral notice in the village at a meeting of the chiefs thereof of the time and place of the intended survey in order that other interested landowners might have an opportunity to be present thereat. (d) Any person who claims to be the owner of land which is not communal property may ask that the land be surveyed by a government surveyor, at the owner’s expense, and the Governor may provide for such survey to be made by a government surveyor if private surveying services are not available. Only the senior matai of a Samoan family has the authority to request a survey of communal property of that family. Case Notes: Absent evidence regarding monument that meets statutory requirements. survey is not proper and cannot be registered. Fanene v. Taito, ASR (1977). The senior matai may delegate certain specific tasks to members of his family. Galea’i P Poumele v. Ta’ei Ma’ae. ASR (1980). The purposes of thc statute are also served if thc senior matai is allowed to delegate expressly such authority to another family member, for ultimate control still remains in thc senior matai. Galea’i P. Poumele v. Ta’ei Ma’ae, ASR (1980). Only the senior Matai of a Samoan family has the authority to request a survey of communal property of that family. Poumele v. Ma’ae. 2 ASR 2d 4 (1983). Land offered for registration must be accompanied by a survey which conforms to the regulations of the Governor. Poumele v. Ma’ae, 2 ASR 2d 4 (1983). In an action attacking the validity of a concluded land registration proceeding to which a presumption of conclusiveness had attached, the court would not surmise from a variance in dates between the survey and the offer of registration that the required notice of the survey had not been given, since the original commissioning of a survey in 1933 did not preclude the possibility of a physical retrace in 1945 when the registration process was undertaken. A.S.C.A. § 37.0102. Ifopo v. Siatu’u, 10 A.S.R.2d 66 (1989). Complaints asserting ownership of land did not fail to state a claim because of plaintiff’s failure to comply with statutory requirement of timely objection to defendant’s prior registration of land, where pleadings did not establish that defendant had complied with statutory notice requirements for registration of land. T.C.R.C.P. Rule 12(b) (6); A.S.C.A. §§ 37.0102, 37.0103. Moeisogi v. Faleafine, 5 A.S.R.2d 131 (1987). Registration of land not performed in accordance with statutory procedure is void. A.S.C.A. §§ 37.0102, 37.0201 et seq. Faleafine v. Suapilimai, 7 A.S.R.2d 108 (1988). Offer of registration for communal land must be accompanied by survey requested by senior matai of the family; a family with a vacant senior matai title must select a senior matai before it can offer land for registration. A.S.C.A. § 37.0102. Faleafine v. Suapilimai, 7 A.S.R.2d 108 (1988). Whether a lapse of time between the making of a land survey, with the attendant notice required by statute, and offer of survey for registration was so great as to prevent rival claimants from receiving fair notice is a question of fact to be resolved on a case-by-case basis. A.S.C.A. § 37.0102 (c). Lualemaga v. Sosene, 9 A.S.R.2d 85 (1988).