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The 'Great Mahele' (lit., "division") was the Hawaiian land redistribution act proposed by King Kamehameha III in the 1830s and enacted in 1848. This was part of a sweeping set of modernizing social changes following the death of Kamehameha the Great, including the drafting of a constitution and a bill of rights. Although not directly redistributing land, it allowed chiefs and commoners to claim private title to land and called for the establishment of an arbitration committee to iron out disputes.
The Mahele abolished the previous semi-feudal system. Under this, rule over an ahupuaa was given by the king to a chief, who received taxes and tribute from the people who worked the land collectively. Private land ownership did not exist, as a commoner could be expelled from his land by the chief, or the chief removed by the king.
Nearly all of the land went to chiefs, the government, or the crown. Eventually most of this land was sold or leased to foreigners.^[1] The large amount of land that went to the government resulted in Hawaii having a very high proportion of state-owned land: about 32% is owned by the state, while another 4.8% is Hawaiian Homelands.^[2]
One of the notable provisions of the Great Mahele was the 'Kuleana Act (1850)'. Under this provision, commoners were allowed to petition for title to land that they cultivated and lived on (''kuleana''), equivalent to a homestead. However, it also abolished the right of cultivation and pasturage on the larger, common lands of the ahupuaa, title of which went to the chief, the crown, or the government. In addition, lack of knowledge about the provisions led to relatively few kuleana being claimed. As a result, common native Hawaiians were often restricted to small pieces of land, while members of higher classes and alii obtained most of the land.

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References

References

1. Native Hawaiians Study Commission Report - 1983, p. 334
2. Hawaii Statewide GIS Program