Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1885-12-31
STATE ~CITIZENaHIP.

What Constitutes It-An Extract n
Interest from the Recent Decisio,
OF the United states Circuit Courl
in h Sharon Case.
In San Francisco the other day tn,
United States Circuit Court in bauk ren
dered its decision In the case OF William
Sharon vs.. Sarah Althea Hill, q suit t.
declare the famous marriage contract and
: dear wife letters forgeries, and to stor
Sarah Althea from making any further use
OF them. 1t appears that during the triaI
OF the case an endeavor was made to prove
that Mr.. Sharon was a citizen "a we'll ss
Q resident OF California. The Court
seemed TO think otherwise. In the de.
cision these statements are made: Blu,
when we consider that the plaintiff sweare
positively that he never intended to be.
come q citizen Of this State, and that no
act OF his while here ia inconsistent with
such purpose, n n n and the mere
fact of the plaintiffs bodily presence here.
for n or ten years, under the circum.
stances, Is Of very little moment in deter.
mining his citizenship. n n Nor.
In my judgment, ia this we'll established
rule materially modified by section one of
the Fourteenth Amendment, the first
clause OF which declares: Gan persons
born or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,
are citizens Of the United States, and of
the State wherein they reside"
Prior to the adoption Of this amend.
ment. strictly speaking. there were no citi.
e n of the United States, but only Of
some one of them. Congress had the
power to establish "an uniform rule of
naturalization" but not the power to
make 0 naturalized alien a citizen OF any
State. But the STATES generally provided
that such persons might, on sufficient resi-.
dence therein, become citizens thereof,
and then the courts held, alb convenient
rather than otherwise, that they became
ipso facto citizens OF the United States.
Story on Con. SEQ. 1893; Prentiss VS.. Bar
ton, / Brook, 391.
But the amendment declares the law pos
itively on this subject, aud reverses this
order Of procedure, by making citizenship
OF a State consequent on citizenship Of the
United States. For. having declared what
persons are citizens Of the United States,
it does not stop there, and leave ii In the
power OF o State TO exclude any such per-
son who may reside therein from Its citi-
zenship. but adds. "and such persons
shall also be citizens Of the State wherein
they reside"
But certainly il was not the intention Of
the amendment to make any citizen OF the
United States a citizen OF any particular
State against his will, in which the ext
gences OF his business. his sociol relations
- NLl,-a a. ~. 1aha~ a.,a a ors
his presence for a greater or less length OF
time, without any intention on his part to
become such citizen.
The better opinion seems to be that q
citizen OF the United States ia, under the
amendment prima facie. a citizen OF the
State wherein he resides, and cannot al
bitrarily be excluded therefrom by such
State, but that he does not become q
citizen Of the State against his will and
contrary to his purpose and intention to
retain an already acquired citizenship.
The amendment is q restraint on the
power Of the State. but not on the right
OF the person 10 choose and maintain his
citizenship or domicile; but il protects
him 10 the exercise OF that right, by
making him a citizen Of that State In
which he may choose TO reside with such
intention.
In Robertson VS.. Cease, 81 U. s., GAS.
the court held that for she purpose OF
giving jurisdiction to the Circuit Court,
an allegation that a party Is q resident
of q particular State is not equivalent TO
an allegation that he is q citizen thereof.
for the reason, as suggested by Mr.. JUS
tice Harlan, tina. even under the amend
meps, mere residence in o State does not
necessarily or conclusively prove n to
be q citizen thereof. And if an allega'
ton OF residence in q State is not, neces'
sarily, even under the amendment, the
oil an allegation OF citizenship.
then the mere fact Of residence in al
State is not necessarily the equivalent OF
tizenship.