Posted on: Thursday, March 15, 2001
World Court rejects case of Big Island man
By Yasmin Anwar
Advertiser Staff Writer
A World Court tribunal in the Netherlands has politely bowed out of the case of a Big Island man who claims his rights as a citizen of the Hawaiian kingdom were violated when U.S. law penalized him for driving his pickup without a license and plates.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague did not venture into considerations of Hawaiian sovereignty, instead deciding that it could not proceed in the case because the United States had not agreed to be a party.
Lance P. Larsen was arrested in 1998 for driving an unregistered vehicle without license plates, a driver's license or a safety sticker. He filed a complaint for injunctive relief in U.S. District Court, saying the United States and the Hawaiian kingdom violated their 1849 Treaty of Commerce, Friendship and Navigation by allowing him to be penalized under U.S. domestic law.
Larsen later dismissed the United States from the lawsuit and reached a settlement with the Hawaiian kingdom. The settlement stipulated that the case be submitted to the World Court for binding arbitration.
Oral arguments were held in December; Larsen reportedly testified to the World Court by telephone. Immigration authorities in the Netherlands had denied him entry for traveling on a homemade "World" passport.
Though the tribunal recognized historical facts that called the legality of Hawai'i's annexation into question, the panel ultimately found that the tribunal could not consider the issues because the United States had not consented to the proceedings. It also found that no dispute between the parties was appropriate for arbitration.
The outcome in the World Court has dampened expectations of some that the United States will be forced out of Hawai'i, but is unlikely to stop a quest for secession.
Yesterday, Ninia Parks, attorney for Larsen, said representatives for the Hawaiian kingdom may pursue other legal avenues to push its claim.
