TITLE 2: NATURAL RESOURCES
DIVISION 4: LAND RESOURCES
§ 4981. Legislative Declaration and Purpose. The legislature declares as public policy that: (a) Real property is a basic resource of the people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The purposes of the restrictions of the ownership of real property in the Commonwealth which are contained in N.M.I. Const. art. XII, as those purposes are set forth in the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union With the United States of America, are to protect the people of the Commonwealth against exploitation and to promote their economic advancement and self-sufficiency. The legislature finds that these purposes should be achieved by the least restrictive means possible, so as to disrupt the economic expectations of the parties to agreements relating to real property in the Commonwealth to the least extent consistent with the purposes of N.M.I. Const. art. XII. The legislature further finds that the punishment of persons who seek to enter into agreements to avoid the forfeiture provisions of N.M.I. Const. art. XII is not one of the stated purposes of N.M.I. Const. art. XII. (b) It is the purpose of the legislature in enacting this article to further public policy by providing for the enforcement of agreements relating to Commonwealth real property, except to the extent necessary to further the stated purposes of N.M.I. Const. art. XII, and specifically to provide for the enforcement of all provisions of such agreements which do not violate N.M.I. Const. art. XII. Source: PL 8-32, § 8 (§ 4951).