Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States

Ah How v. United States

Ah How v. United States, 193 U.S. 65 (1904)

Type
Opinion
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1904-02-23
Topic
general

Me. Justice Holmes delivered, the opinion .of the court. These are appeals from judgments óf the United States District Court confirming decisions of a commissioner, and adjudging that the appellants be removed from the United States to China. Chin Bak Kan v. United States, 186 U.

Citator

UpLaw has not yet analyzed Ah How v. United States. The absence of a flag is not a finding that it is good law.

Cited by
30 opinions

Headnotes

  1. Immigration — Repeal by Implication The Act of April 29, 1902, which continued all then-existing Chinese exclusion laws "so far as the same are not inconsistent with treaty obligations," did not repeal by implication section 3 of the Act of May 5, 1892, which places the burden on a Chinese person arrested under the Act to establish by affirmative proof his right to remain in the United States; the treaty provision guaranteeing Chinese residents the rights accorded to citizens of the most favored nation had a different object and did not promise that measures for ascertaining whether laborers were lawfully resident would be discontinued.
  2. Immigration — Registration Requirements Section 6 of the Act of May 5, 1892, as amended in 1893, which requires Chinese laborers entitled to remain in the United States to obtain a certificate of residence or be deported, remains in force; Article 5 of the treaty of 1894 expressly refers to the registration requirements of the Acts of 1892 and 1893 and states that the Chinese government will not object to their enforcement.
  3. Immigration — Sufficiency of Pleadings No formal complaint or pleadings are required in Chinese exclusion proceedings; an objection that a complaint alleges that the arrested person came unlawfully into the United States without a certificate, thereby implying that an unlawful entry could be legalized by obtaining a certificate, does not render the complaint insufficient.
  4. Immigration — Minors and Certificates of Residence The statutory requirement that Chinese laborers obtain a certificate of residence is broad enough to include the minor children of laborers who are old enough to work, and the principle permitting the wife and children of a certificated merchant to be admitted into the country does not exempt such minors from the certificate requirement.
  5. Evidence — Judgment Records A United States Commissioner's written statement that a person of a certain name was brought before him on the usual charge and was adjudged entitled to remain in the United States by reason of citizenship is not the certificate of evidence required by the Act of 1892 and is not evidence of a judgment.