Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Role of Land Litigation in the Construction of The Northern Marianas as a Quasi-Nation-State

摘要*菲利普斯9613883这项研究对围绕土地诉讼的问题进行了民族志和民族史学分析，以研究多元化法律制度下的社区层面的谈判和解决。迄今为止，很少有研究侧重于后殖民国家公民的当地法律实践，以及这些法律谈判在国家认同问题上所起的作用。通过研究当代和历史上的土地案件，调查人员探索了风俗习惯的法律和社会定义随时间的变化。该项目探讨了土著居民和法律系统使用和定义习俗的不同方式。这项工作评估了这样一种理论，即不断演变的习俗定义与国家一级定义国家认同的过程直接相关。对密克罗尼西亚北马里亚纳群岛联邦土地案件的当地人、法官和律师的采访以及档案记录将提供解决这些问题的数据。这项工作有助于我们对法律规则发展的基本理解。

Abstract *** Phillips 9613883 This research undertakes ethnographic and ethnohistorical analyses focusing on issues surrounding land litigation to study community-level negotiation and resolution within a pluralist legal system. Little research has heretofore focused on local legal practices of the citizens in post-colonial states and the role these legal negotiations play in question of national identity. By studying contemporary and historical land cases, the investigators explore change in the legal and social definitions of custom over time. The project explores the differing ways the indigenous population and the legal system use and define customs. This work evaluates the theory that evolving definitions of custom are directly related to processes at the state level in defining national identity. Interviews with local people, judges, and attorneys involved in land cases in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia, and archival records will provide data to address these questions. This work contributes to our basic understanding of the development of legal rules.