In 1957, Jon Chinen wrote, “The Great Mahele is still surrounded by confusion and misunderstanding.” In 2019, this sentiment still echoes true because of a continued misunderstanding of terminological definition and a miscontextualization of Hawaiian land law in the 19th Century. Recent attempts to address historical injustices related to Hawaiian land, and more specifically the Crown Lands, have been resurfacing in the news over the past couple of years. These arguments are focused on Hawaiian land terminology such as “allodial”, “freehold”, “fee-simple”, etc. This talk attempted to define these terms and will go on to explain how the Republic of Hawaii “transmuted” private property (the Crown Lands) into government property (the Public Lands) without compensation.