The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-04-23
{, K, Al
AN ALIEN
Attorney Peters Thinks
He Is Not Entitled
to a Passport.

C. K. All, manager and treasurer Of
the city Mill Co. and a leader in Chi
nese benevolent circles. is the subject
of an unfavorable opinion by Deputy
Attorney General Peters. rendered tc
the Governor, regarding his right to re.
ceive a passport as an American citi-
zen for leaving the Territory. The
opinion, with the omission of a citation
of laws, is as follows:
Honolulu, T. H.. April Is. 1904
In re application OF c. K. Al. native
of the Empire of China, for pass
port.
To His Excellency the Governor of the
Territory of Hawaii.
Sir: In reply to your request for an
opinion as to whether or not the above
named applicant is entitled to a pass
port, have the honor to say:
Facts: The applicant, C. K All, son
of one Ako, was born at Heong San,
Province of Canton. Empire of China,
on the 18th day of November 1866. In
the year 1879, at the age OF thirteen
years, he emigrated to the Hawaiian
now is a resident thereof.
On the 10Th day of August, 1867, Ako.
the father of said applicant, a native
of the Empire of China. became a citi-
zen of the Kingdom OF Hawaii.
That on or about the Both day of
August, 1892, said applicant, then at the
age of &c years. duly made application
for naturalization to the Minister of
the Interior of the Kingdom of Ha-
wall, which application was thereafter,
to wit: on the 18th day of August, 1892,
duly approved, as provided by law.
That said applicant never took the
oath of naturalization and no action
was ever thereafter taken by him in
respect thereto. That shortly after the
approval of such application an order
was made by the then Minister of the
Interior, refusing to further naturalfze
natives of the Empire of China. No
law to the same effect was ever passed.
IThe opinion here quotes all of the
naturalization laws of Hawaii up to
1850
Application should be denied: The
applicants present status depends en-
tirely upon solution of the question of
whether or not he was a citizen of the
Kingdom of Hawaii.
The relation between parent and
child is complex; their rights. the one
to the other. are inseparable: they are
so considered by the positive law and
by custom. Their inseparable nature
renders the rule necessary that the
child follow the citizenship of the par
ent, until he reaches the age at which
he may elect to remain of the same cit
izenship as the parent or abandon the
parents citizenship. The applicant
primarily was a citizen of the Empire
of China, secondarily a citizen of the
Kingdom of Hawaii, should he, upon
attaining his majority, see fit to avail
himself of the privilege of election
which the naturalization of his father
conferred upon him.
An act is the result of prior consis-
tent conditions. And the manifest
status of the action is presumed to
have had a prior existence, unless the
contrary appears. On the Goth day of
July, 1902, the applicant considered
himself an alien, and we have 10 choice
but to accept the status he manifested.
Had the occasion demanded he could
have claimed. and rightfully so, citi-
zenship of ana the protection of the
country of his birth. And that status
is presumed to have existed prior there
to and at the time of the attainment of
his majority. In other words, the APP
piicant at that time saw fit to abandon
the citizenship of his father and elect
to, retain that citizenship with which
birth had endowed him. His subse-
quent acts are consistent withs reten-
ton of Chinese citizenship; what cir
cumstances influenced him to abandon
the application for naturalization are
immaterial. But the fact certainly
points to the conclusion of personal in
difference, if not positive reversal Of
intention. am of the opinion that the
request for a passport should be de-
MED.
I am pleased to note by your COM
that this matter was and is
again to be referred to the Department !
of the Interior at Washington. The
viii naturally recur. And I
the policy of Federal Leg
Islation respecting Chinese. it is prefer
able that the matter be decided by the
Department of Justice. Copies of all
pertinent laws are hereunto attached. |
for that purpose.
l have the honor to be. Sir. very re-
spectfully yours,
E. c. PETERS,
Deputy Attorney General