Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1899-10-14
Opinion oisAttOrney General GriSSS
: =. :, .sl on Registry Law.
LocaliSupreme Court 0Verruled- Opinion on
Which Presidents Proclamation
Was Based.

alton stopping registry I we i
under the Hawaiian flag:
Depa. tmert 1T justice, Washing
ton, d. g., Sept. IL, 1899.
The Secretary of the Treasury.
Sir: Your letters of August 5
and 9, with their enclosures, rela-
tive to the issuance of Hawaiian
registers to vessels, aresat band.
The decision of the Supreme
Court of the Hawaiian Islands,
copy OF which you send, deter
mines. in relation to applications
for writ OF mandamus to compel
the issuance of Hawaiian regis
ters to certain vessels, that the
Hawaiian registry laws are part
of the municipal legislation of
those Islands remaining in force
by the terms of the resolution of
annexation, and that Congress
manifested no particular intention
to abrogste the Hawaiian regis-
tration laws Immediately upon
annexation, but manifested a
general intention to continue
those laws. The said applica
tons were, howe er, by this opin-
ion denied upon other grounds
but the cases have reopened for
the determination of a certain
question of fact not material to
the present inquiry. Neverthe
less, the question of law now be
fore us was definitely ruled by
that opinion, and since the Treas
ury Department has taken the
ground that vessels should not be
authorized to receive Hawaiian
registers and fly the Hawaiian
flag after July 7, 1898, you sug.
cest that the only remedy for the
situation is an Executive order
suspending the issuance OF Ha
waiian registers, as recent Elk
ecutive order suspended the hold.
ing of general election in the
Islands provided for under the
Hawaiian Constitution; and you
request my opinion as to the legal.
ity Of such an order of the Presi.
dent to be procured and the issued
at your instance, under the reso.
luton OF Congress for the annex
elton of Hawaii.
| Under these circumstances,
therefore, the question is fairly a
legal question and one arising in
The administration of your depart
ment. 1t is obviously question
of high importance and demands
careful consideration from the
legal standpoint as we'll as from
the standpoint Of wise govern
mental policy.
The decision OF the Supreme
Court of Hawaii is based upon
the view OF Chancellor Kent {;
CON-, page 149), who says, "The
registry is not document requir-
ed by the law of nations as ex
pressive Of a ships national char
scter. The registry acts are to b,
construed as forms of local O.
municipal institutions for pur
poses Of public policy" But it il
evident that while Chancello
Kent finds the source of registra
ton in munipal law and not il
the law of nations, the character
of registration as government
act is national, and expresses SOY
ereignty. The issuance of regis
try to vessels emitting them t.
carry national colors is an act o
sovereignty, although the registe
itself is not a document required
by the law of nations as ind ca
tive of a ships national character
for this can be shown in othe
ways, as, for instance, by con
sular certificate attached to tn
bill of sale of vessel to an Amen
lean citizen. This is evide. ce c
national character and enIitle
the vessel under the consular re
gulatlons TO the protection or IN
flag. Sea letters are also at time
evidence of the national characte
of vessel, and a bill of sale ais
is such evidence. Chancello
Kent himself says, as Chief JUS
tice of the Supreme Court of Me-
York, in the case of Barker Va
Phoenix Insurance Company {
Johns, 307, 3l9), referring to tw
kinds of American vessels, th
one registered and the other IN
registered and carrying a sea lei
ter or an official certificate {
ownership, "But in reference t
the law of nations and to securit
upon the high seas, both specie