1. Interests in lands in the Ryukyu Islands, acquired for the use of the United States, whether acquired by negotiation or condemnation, shall consist of the following:
a. Indefinite Leasehold: An estate extending to full, exclusive use, possession and enjoyment above, below, and upon the surface of the land and/or properties thereon as required for an indefinite or unspecified period of time, that is, for so long as the use may be desired by the United States without any time limitation whatsoever for which payments are made at specified intervals. The United States shall have the right to terminate the estate at any time by giving the Chief Executive, Government of the Ryukyu Islands (hereinafter called the GRI), notice in writing of such termination at least sixty (60) days prior to the effective date of said termination and by filing such notice of termination in the appropriate District Land Registry Office(s) and the appropriate Shi, Cho, or Son Office(s) whose responsibility it shall be to cause prompt notice of such termination to be publicly posted in a prominant place. Said notice of termination shall state that upon the landowners written notice to the GRI of his requirement for restoration at least thirty (30) days prior to the effective date of termination, the United States will enter into negotiation with the GRI, and the landowners, his agent or successor in interest, to determine what is required to be done to restore the leased premises or to determine the amount of damages, if any, to be paid in lieu thereof. Any and all properties placed on the leased premises by the United States or acquired from the lessor may be removed or disposed of by the United States. Following restoration, if any, or the payment of damages in lieu thereof, the United Status shall be deemed to have renounced its ownership in any properties then remaining on the leased premises. If the immediate requirement of the United Status and the best interests of the Ryukyuan economy permit, certain privileges of temporary use of the leased premises may be granted to the owner or others under the conditions specified by the United States, provided that the United States shall retain free discretion to revoke such privileges at any time. No law or ordinance shall be construed to diminish or adversely affect the leasehold estate above described.
b. Five Year Leasehold: An estate identical with the indefinite leasehold and conditions described in the preceding paragraph, except that its duration is for the definite term of 5 years, subject to the right of the United States to terminate as set forth above.
2. Acquisitions:
a. Under normal circumstances estates in lands and/or title to properties thereon will be acquired for the use of the United States the GRI through negotiation procedures. Condemnation by the United States will be utilized only after an unsuccessful attempt by the GRI to negotiate with the owners concerned to acquire the estate. However, in cases of exceptional circumstances necessity requires an order that right of entry or possession be delivered immediately and time does not permit, a prior attempt at negotiation shall not be a prerequisite to such order.
b. To initiate acquisition of the desired lands and/or properties for the use of the United States, the District Engineer, United States Army Engineer District, Okinawa (hereinafter called USAEDO), with the approval of the High Commissioner, shall cause a Notice of Requirement to acquire property to be delivered to the Chief Executive, GRI, and to be filed in the District Land Office(s) and Shi, Cho, or Son Office(s) having jurisdiction over the land and/or properties involved. Such Notice of Requirement shall state specifically the estate to be acquired and shall contain a description or deliniation of the perimeter boundary on a map attached thereto. A Notice of Requirement shall be publicly posted in a prominent place in and by the respective Shi, Cho, or Son Office(s), and it shall be the responsibility of said office(s) to cause prompt notification to be given to all registered owners and to persons known to be interested parties.
c. The GRI is authorized to negotiate to obtain basic leases for land and/or acquire properties thereon as listed in the Notice of Requirement for the sole purpose of subleasing or transferring the interest acquired therein to the United States.
d. The District Engineer, USAEDO, upon receipt of authorization from the high Commissioner, may file a Declaration of Taking with the appropriate District Land Registry Office(s) and Cho, or Son Office(s) having jurisdicticn over the lands and/or properties thereon not then acquired by negotiation and shall deliver a copy of this Declaration of Taking to the Chief Executive, GRI, in any of the following cases:
Not less than sixty (60) nor more than one hundred twenty (120) days after tile filing of the Notice of Requirement, or
Upon the advice from the GRI that negotiation for the voluntary acquisition of the estate to be acquired has failed; or In exceptional circumstances, upon express authorization of the High Commissioner.
e. The Declaration of Taking shall specify the estate acquired, shall individually identify each tract or portion of tract of land and/or properties thereon, shall state the sum of money estimated by the United States to be just compensation for the estate taken and shall describe the manner in which said compensation is to be paid. Upon the filing of the Declaration of Taking, the estate specified therein shall thereupon become absolutely vested in the United States, its agencies or instrumentalities as stated in said Declaration of Taking. Immediately after the filing of the Declaration of Taking, the District Engineer, USAEDO, shall cause to be deposited with the GRI the sum of money specified in said Declaration of Taking as just compensation to be held IN TRUST for the persons entitled thereto. After a basic leasehold interest is executed between the GRI and the landowner, and a Master Lease subsequently executed between the GRI and the United States, or a Declaration of Taking is filed for lands and/or properties thereon in which the United States already holds an estate, then the estate specified in the Master Lease or Declaration of Taking shall supersede any estate previously held by. the United States effective on and after the date specified in the Master Lease or Declaration of Taking, except that where properties were previously purchased by the United Status no further acquisition action in regard to such properties will be necessary either in the leases or the Declaration of Taking. All lands and/or properties thereon acquired in the name of the United States through the filing of a Declaration of Taking shall be considered as of the acquisition date specified in the Declaration of Taking, as if a part of the lands and/or properties in the Master Lease between the GRI and the United States for the area, list or installation concerned.
f. The Declaration of Taking shall be publicly posted in a prominent place in and by the respective Shi, Cho, or Son Office(s), and it shall be the responsibility of said office(s) to cause prompt notification to be given to all registered owners and to persons known to be interested parties.
g. Upon the filing of a Declaration of Taking, any person claiming a real right or lease in or upon any lands and/or properties thereon who is dissatisfied with the amount shown therein as the compensation to be paid him, shall have sixty (60) days from the date of filing of said Declaration of Taking in which to petition for review of the determination of just compensation. Such petitions must be in writing and shall be filed with The United States Land Tribunal for the Ryukyu Islands. If no petition is filed within said sixty (60) days, the amount shown in the Declaration of Taking shall be deemed to be just compensation and all persons claiming real rights or leases for which no petitions were submitted within the specified time shall be barred from any further review upon the issue of just compensation. Pending review and final determination of just compensation the petitioner shall be entitled to withdraw 75% of the amount deposited for him on the filing of the Declaration of Taking provided he qualifies for disbursement and provided further, if said petitioner withdraws more than 75% of the amount deposited IN TRUST for him, the withdrawal shall automatically waive and be considered a dismissal of any petition then or thereafter filed by said person to review the issue of just compensation.
h. Having once acquired lands and/or properties thereon by the filing of a Declaration of Taking in the manner specified, the United States may subsequently acquire any properties within or upon said lands not listed in the original or amended Declaration of Taking by the filing of an Amendment to the Declaration of Taking and forthwith depositing its estimate of just compensation in the same manner and with the same remedies of petition and provisions for withdrawal as pertain to the original Declaration of Taking.
i. Should the High Commissioner determine that exceptional circumstances exist and that use and possession of certain lands and/or properties thereon be taken immediately he may issue an Order of Immediate Possession at any time after the filing of a Notice of Requirement and before filing of a Declaration of Taking. Copies of such order shall be filed and posted in the same manner as a Notice of Requirement. Any resulting damages may be compensated for upon application to the United States Land Tribunal for the Ryukyu Islands or under appropriate United States Forces claims procedures, depending upon the circumstances. Where premises which are the subject of an Order of Immediate Possession are later included in a Declaration of Taking and/or negotiated basic and Master Leases, the date of taking or acquisition shall be not later than the date specified in the Order of Immediate Possession.
j. The words “and/or properties thereon" as used herein shall be construed as including buildings, tombs, structures and all other types of appurtenances and fixtures attached to or located upon land.
k. Landowners may return in full, prior to the execution of a basic lease with the GRI, the payments for Determinable Estate interests in land previously voluntarily 'tccf,,pt,..d. by them and receive annual rental m and af ter 1 July 1958 at the rates specif ied in leases to be executed with the GRI.
l. For those landowners who do not return the payments for Determinable Estate interests in land in full which were previously voluntarily accepted by them, prior to the execution of a basic lease with the GRI, those payments will be considered prepaid rentals for a stated period, beginning on 1 July 1958, at the rates specified in leases to be executed with the GRI without any provisions for re-appraisal for the stated period.
m. Those landowners who do not execute a basic lease with the GRI, may return the payments for Determinable Estate interests in land, which were previously voluntarily accepted by them, in full, prior to the filing of a Declaration of Taking. Effective with the date of such filing, their right to return the payments for Determinable Estate interests in land is terminated and the payments shall be considered as prepaid rentals at the rates specified in the Declaration of Taking for a stated period beginning on 1 July 1958, without any provisions for reappraisal for the stated period.
3. Persons claiming damage to or substantial interference with real rights or leases in or upon lands and/or properties thereon which have not been the subject of formal acquisition by negotiation or by condemnation under paragraph 2 above, but for which compensation is due, either under commonly accepted principles of due process in the law of eminent domain or under United States Forces claims procedures, may institute action for redress by filing their petitions with The United States Land Tribunal for the Ryukyu Islands.
4. Interests in land and/or properties acquired by the United States through a negotiated Master Lease with the GRI shall be presumed to have been originally vested in the owners of record who shall have transferred by a negotiated basic lease to the GRI an interest identical to that transferred by the GRI to the United States.
5. Only and for the sole purposes of ascertaining the proper persons to whom just compensation is due, for lands and/or properties acquired by a Declaration of Taking the following system is effective immediately to validate real rights or leases in or upon lands and/or properties thereon, for which the United States has incurred an obligation to make just compensation.
a. Lands currently under United States control:
(1) Where on the effective date of this Ordinance a person is duly registered in the appropriate Registry Book as the holder of a real right or lease in or upon lands and/or properties thereon, then such person shall be conclusively presumed to be the legal and proper holder as to all the world of such real right or lease, unless within ninety (90) days hence from the effective date of this Ordinance, any other person makes claim to the same real right or lease by notifying the appropriate District Land Registry Office that he has instituted in the Circuit Court a suit contesting the registration. If such a suit terminates in favor of the defendant, the plaintiff’s notification of institution of suit shall be considered of no effect, thereby leaving uncontested the registration occasioning the suit. If such a suit terminates in favor of the plaintiff, then following application of said person, the appropriate District Land Registry Office shall forthwith, upon presentation of the decree of the Court, permit him to register the real right or lease in his own name, from which date a new period of ninety (90) days shall commence with respect to the new registration.
(2) Where on the effective date of this Ordinance, a person is duly registered as holding ownership of the land and/or properties thereon, and another person claims a lesser real right or a lease in or upon the same land and/or properties, then such latter person may protect his lesser real right or lease by causing, within ninety (90) days from the effective date of this Ordinance, a registration thereof in the appropriate Registry Book, in which case his lesser real right or lease ninety (90) days thereafter becomes validated unless contested in the manner provided in subparagraph 5a(1), above. However, nothing herein shall be construed to prejudice any registered real right or lease which was not adversely affected by the suit.
(3) Where on the effective date of this Ordinance, no person is duly registered in the appropriate Registry Book as holding ownership of the land and/or properties thereon, and a person is desirous of effecting registration of a real right or lease in or upon the land and/or properties thereon, then such person may effect a registration, in which case his real right or lease ninety (90) days thereafter becomes validated unless contested in the manner provided above.
b. Lands to be acquired by the United States:
In all such cases the validation system shall be identical to that provided in subparagraph 5a(1), except that in the place if the effective date of this Ordinance, shall be the date the United States files in the appropriate District Land Registry Office(s) a Notice of Requirement, as described in paragraph 2b above.
6. Notwithstanding the above provisions, all real rights and leases heretofore validated under previously authorized United States land acquisition provisions shall remain validated without further action or proceedings.
7. In accordance with the procedures established under paragraphs 5 and 6 above, the following rules shall pertain to disbursement of just compensation owing by the United States as a result of negotiation or condemnation, and it is hereby decreed that upon proper payment in pursuance of the following rules, the United States shall be relieved of any and all liability resulting from an allegedly erroneous distribution:
a. Any person holding a current and substantial right or lease in or upon lands and/or properties thereon, acquired by the United States, shall be entitled to share pro rata in the distribution of just compensation; provided such person has established his real right or lease either through the validation system of paragraphs 5 or 6, above, or through successful prosecution of litigation in the courts finally and as to all the world quieting said real right or lease.
b. Pending the validation or judicial quieting of any real right or lease, the United States shall, at the time a Declaration of Taking is filed pursuant to paragraph 2 above, deposit with the GRI funds equal to its appraisal of just compensation for the estate recquired. Said funds shall be kept in special accounts in the Bank of the Ryukyus IN TRUST for the benefit of any persons ultimately validating or judicially quieting their real right or lease. Upon appropriate certification from the District Engineer, USAEDO, the TRUSTEE shall release the funds to said persons; provided, nothing in the foregoing subparagraph shall be inter-preted to increase or incur any liability of the United States to make any further payments following release of full payment to a person who validated or judicially quieted his ownership prior to registration of any real right or lease in or upon the same lands and/or properties.
c. The funds kept in special accounts as recited in subparagraph 7b hereof may be disbursed during a period of five (5) years from the date such funds wore deposited with the TRUSTEE thereof, except as hereinafter provided. The only exceptions to this provision are:
(1) Any funds held by the TRUSTEE pending determinations on petitions to The United States Land Tribunal may be disbursed by the TRUSTEE during a five (5) year period beginning with the date of the filing in the appropriate District Land Registry Office(s) by the United States of an amendment in compliance with a determination of the United States Land Tribunal or final decision on any appeal therefrom, to the document upon which the petition was based. In the event the determination of the Tribunal or final decision thereon is of such nature as not to require an amendment to the document on which the petition to the Tribunal was based, then the beginning of the five (5) year period in which the disbursement by the TRUSTEE may be made will be the date of the determination of the Tribunal or final decision on any appeal therefrom, the dates of which the TRUSTEE will be formally advised by the United States.
(2) Funds held by the TRUSTEE pending final judgment on a suit in a GRI Circuit Court as set out in subparagraph 5a(1) and 5b hereof may be disbursed by the TRUSTEE during a five (5) year period after a final decree in said suit has been .ntered of record in that Court.
d. Upon expiration of the appropriate five (5) year periods as herein described, all funds held by the TRUSTEE shall be returned to the United States on demand. Any party in interest entitled to said funds may submit a claim therefor to the United States.
e. The authorization for disbursment of funds deposited for such properties on land under Declarations of Taking, shall be within the complete discretion of the District Engineer, USAEDO, who shall be empowered to authorize any such disbursement or payment thereunder wherever he is satisfied that proper safeguards have been made for the protection of the United States, regardless of whether or not the person receiving such payment has "validated" his real right or lease in said properties under the procedure of paragraph 5 or 6 above.
8. In regard to registration of acquisition documents and/or real rights or leases the following provisions shall apply:
a. For the purposes of this Ordinance, the effective date of registration of any real right or lease shall be the date when the official entry approving the registration is made in the appropriate Registry Book.
b. Registration of title to privately owned lands and/or properties required for use by the United States will be accomplished without payment to any governmental agency of fees and taxes by the landowners or by the United States.
c. All documents authorized by the preceding paragraphs to be filed in the appropriate District Lend Registry Office(s) shall be registered by such office(s).
d. Registration of basic and Master Leases in the appropriate District Land Registry Office(s) will be accomplished by such office(s) and, upon registration of the Master Lease, the entry in the Registry Book recording the previous United States interest may be removed.
9. The following limitations of time shall apply to petitions and appeals filed with and determinations of The United States Land Tribunal for the Ryukyu Islands:
a. Petitions for review of just compensation upon a Declaration of Taking filed with the appropriate District Land Registry Office(s): Sixty (60) days from the date of said filing.
b. Petitions or applications for determinction of any other matter cognizable by the Tribunal: One (1) year from the date the matter complained of occurs.
c. Appeals to the Secretary of Defense, United States of America, or his designees: Thirty (30) days from the date the determination of the Tribunal becomes effective.
d. Where extraordinary circumstances of equity compel, the High Commissioner may, at his sole discretion, waive any procedural defect or barrier to jurisdiction of the Tribunal, or appellate review therefrom.
10. For lands and/or properties acquired under a Declaration of Taking., the GRI is designated as TRUSTEE for the purpose of receiving, disbursing and accounting for funds deposited by the United States to be held IN TRUST for payment to the persons ultimately qualifying for payment under the provisions of this Ordinance. All such funds received and disbursed by the TRUSTEE must be accounted for and the undisbursed balances are subject to the withdrawal. and recovery provisions of this Ordinance. Records of said account maintained by the TRUSTEE shall be open to inspec-tion at all reasonable times by representatives designated by the District Engineer., USAEDO.
11.The Chief Executive of the GRI is hereby authorized, empowered and directed, in the name of the GRI, to perform all acts and functions required as said TRUSTEE, and is authorized and empowered to enter into and execute, in the name of the GRI, any Service Contracts, or modifica-tions required thereto, with the United States of America to provide such services of the GRI as may be determined necessary to implement the procedures specified herein. The Chief Executive may designate a competent official. or officials, who shall be responsible to, and have authority to act for the Chief Executive of the GRI in all matters pertaining to the performance of such services, to devote his or their full time and attention toward their accomplishment.
12. Recissions:
a. CA Ordinance No. 91, "Authority to Contract,” 1 November 1952,
b. CA Ordinance No. 170, "United States Land Acquisition Program," 18 June 1957.
c. CA Ordinance No. 110. "Procedure for Payment of Compensation for Land Acquisition," 10 April 1953, as amended, provided however:
(1) That the provisions governing funds deposited and the procedure for payment contained in said Ordinance shall remain in force and effect.
d. CA Ordinance No. 164, "United States Land Acquisition Program," 23 February 1957, as amended, except paragraphs 2b, 3d and 5c, provided however:
(1) That all estates, interests and rights, other than Determinable Estate interests, acquired pursuant to and by virtue of said Ordinance shall remain in force and effect until otherwise relinquished or otherwise determined.