Pae

In an action brought by Raymond Pae under the provisions of the modified Torrens law, adopted by the legislature, to recover for the conveyance by fraud, during his minority, of real property owned by him, the Supreme Court of Hawaii affirmed the finding of the trial court “that the failure to register the age of plaintiff upon the certificate was due to the negligence of plaintiff himself.” 1 Appeal was taken to this Court by Pae under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1293 .

Raymond Pae, also known as Kealohakalani Liu, was born on February 12, 1920. About September 1, 1925, plaintiff assumed the name of Raymond Pae, taking the surname of his uncle, with whom he was then living and by whom he was then nurtured. Soon after, he abandoned the use of the name of Kealohakalani Liu, and has not been so known since. Plaintiff was graduated from the public schools in Honolulu, having completed the twelfth grade. In 1940, plaintiff was married under the name of Joseph Liu. In 1938, his uncle died, leaving a will by which he gave his property “to my two nephews, Joe Pae and Raymond Pae, equally.” The estate' consisted of two parcels of real property located on the Island of Oahu. During the probate of the…

(dissenting).

My associates hold that the decision of the territorial Supreme Court is manifestly erroneous. Nevertheless, instead of reversing, they propose to remand the cause, apparently in order that the court below may have opportunity of correcting its error. This seems to me an odd procedure, the probable consequence of which will be no more than expense and delay. The appellees in the normal course of litigation would have the right at this juncture of seeking certiorari, but in the equivocal posture of the litigation they can hardly hope to get the ear of the Supreme Court.

The negligence of Pae, as found below, was, first, his not speaking up in the probate proceeding when it was stated in his presence that he was an adult, and, second, in not making it known to the Land Court that he was incompetent to convey land. My associates declare that “it may be flatly said here that there was no such duty upon the infant.” One of the reasons they give for this fiat holding appears to be that Pae was not present at the Land Court proceeding. A fair answer to this would seem to be that Pae had knowledge of the application and that he assented to it. It is said that there is no…