The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-12-16
Chinese Side Wins in the Hab5aS
Corpus Hearing.
D .CISi0N BY CHIEF JUSTICE
Review of the Law and the ArgU
mentS-U. 8. Statutes and the
Joint Resolution.

Inc petition OF AlOna, hOW sing anu
others to the Supreme Court, upon
which the writ of habeas corpus was
ganted, alleges that they were illegally
imprisoned by F. B. McStocker and
others, on the alleged ground that un-
der the laws now in force in the United
States, they cannot be permitted to
land and reside in the country.
The return made to this writ was
that the petitioners have not complied
with the provisions of the treaty ex-
listing between China and the United
States, and that they have not COM
piled with the laws of the United
States relating to the immigration of
Chinese into the country.
The reply to the return was the trea--
ty mentioned, and that the laws of the
United States were not applica Bile, and
that the laws of the Republic of Ha-
waii only governed the status of the
parties, and that under these laws, the
petitioners were entitled to land.
Following is the opinion of Chief
Justice Judd on questions presented:
This case presents questions of great
difficulty, and L am fully impressed
with the responsibility devolving upon
me in deciding them. / had no pre-
cedents to refer to, and 1 doubt wheth-
er any conditions exactly similar to
those surrounding this case have ex-
TO Of
July, 1898, the Government of the Ha-
waiian Islands was an Independent Re-
public. At that date (the Congress of
the United States having passed the
Joint Resolution of Annexation on the
9th of July), it became law by the ap-
proval of the President of the United
States. One of it's clauses reads:
There shall be no further immigra-
ton of Chinese into the Hawaiian ISL
ands, except upon such conditions as
are now or may hereafter be allowed
by the laws of the United States; and
no Chinese, by reason of anything
herein contained, shall be allowed to
enter the United States from the Ha-
waiian islands,
BY another clause of the same reso-
luton it is provided that Until Con-
gress shall provide for the government
of such Islands all the civil, judicial
and military powers exercised by the
officers of the existing government in
said Islands, shall be vested in such
person or persons, and shall be eXer-
cised in such manner as the President
of the United States shall direct; and
the President shall have power to re-
move said officers and fill the vacancies
so occasioned."
And by proclamation by the Presi
dent of the United States made on the
18th of August, 1898, the existing Off
GERS Of the Republic of Hawaii were
continued in office. 1t is contended by
the respondent in this case, that the
clause in the resolution forbidding the
further immigration of Chinese into
this country, is now a part of the
fundamental laws of these Islands. And
that thereafter no Chinese can be ad-
mitted into this country except as in
accordance with the laws of the United
States. The petitioners show bona fids
permits to enter these Islands issued to
them prior to the 7th day of July, 1898,
in accordance with the various statutes
of Hawaii, enacted before the passage
of the Joint Resolution of Annexation,
and while it was an independent sover-
eighty. These petitioners are now stop
ped on the threshold of this country
because they do not posses the qualifi-
cations required by the laws of the
United States to enter its domain
Since. by the following clause of the
Joint Resolution, '*The municipal legis-
lation of the Hawaiian Islands, not en-
acted for the fulfillment of the treaties
so extinguished, shall remain in force
until the Congress of the United States
shall otherwise determine, excepting
such legislation as is inconsistent with
this Joint Resolution
| feel constrained to hold that the
clause of the resolution forbidding fur
ther Chinese immigration has virtu-
ally repealed the Hawaiian statutes
which allowed a restricted Chinese i'm
migration and authorized the issue OF
permits to Chinese who have compiled
with certain requirement, to enter this
country. being inconsistent Herewith,
There permits are of various classes