Although the Hawai'i Supreme Court has recognized that Native Hawaiians have a claim to former Hawaiian monarchy lands, the real effect of Thursday's ruling won't be felt until a credible Native Hawaiian government is formed, the plaintiffs' attorneys said yesterday.

The ruling bars the state from selling 1.4 million acres of ceded lands — former Hawaiian monarchy lands — until the issue of property rights has been settled by Hawaiians, the state and the federal government, who all have claims, according to the court's decision in the case known as Office of Hawaiian Affairs vs. the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawai'i.

While the ruling is a defeat for the state on paper, there are no pending land deals that would be affected, said William Meheula, an attorney for four of the plaintiffs who sued the state for trying to sell parcels on Maui and the Big Island in the 1980s for residential development.

"I think it's going to be business as usual, the status quo," Meheula said.

The ruling prevents the state from selling ceded land to a third party, but the state may still transfer it between departments as long as it retains ownership.

The lawsuit blocked the sale of 500 acres in Lahaina and 1,000 acres in Kona to private residential developers for public housing projects. The state was still able to address some of the housing issues it had been seeking to address by turning the land over to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

One of the plaintiffs in the case, Charles Ka'ai'ai, said there was no doubt in his mind that the state should not be selling the land once owned by Native Hawaiians. "It's the trust lands," he said. "It's the inheritance."

The lawsuit is not related to a $200 million ceded lands settlement between the state and OHA pending before the Legislature to address the issue of revenue generated from the ceded lands.

Still, Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona said she hopes Thursday's ruling will make lawmakers realize that the Supreme Court does recognize that Hawaiians have a claim to ceded land. The ruling could compel lawmakers to bring the issue "to a timely resolution so OHA can help its beneficiaries right now," Apoliona said.

As for the ceded lands issue addressed by the Supreme Court, an ultimate resolution will not come until Hawaiians form a government that can represent them in negotiations with the state and federal government, OHA said.

Until then, the state just has to hold on to the land to make sure it still exists if it is ever determined that the Native Hawaiians have a right to it, OHA said. In other states, Native Americans have been legally recognized only to discover that the land they might have had a right to had already been sold.

The state generally has about 90 days to decide whether to appeal a Supreme Court decision, and sometimes even longer.

In this particular case, Attorney General Mark Bennett said his office is still looking at the decision and has not yet decided whether to appeal. "All we're doing right now is trying to digest the opinion," Bennett said.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.