In re Ah Ho

11 Haw. 654, 1899 Haw. LEXIS 58
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 18, 1899
StatusPublished

This text of 11 Haw. 654 (In re Ah Ho) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Ah Ho, 11 Haw. 654, 1899 Haw. LEXIS 58 (haw 1899).

Opinions

OPINION CP THE COURT BY

CIRCUIT JUDGE PERRY.

The petitioners in the above entitled cases are all Chinese and seek to enter the Hawaiian Islands under the same circumstances as did the petitioners in the cases of Wong Tuck and others, recently decided by this Court,' ante page 600. Upon the refusal of the respondent and of J.-N. Brown, Chinese Inspector sent here by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, to allow them to land, these petitions were filed and writs issued. The pleadings are all similar in form and substance to those in the Wong Tuck case, and present the same questions of law.

In the cases referred to, this Court held that by the terms of the Newlands Eesolution “the United States laws relating to the immigration and exclusion of Chinese were extended to and put in force in the Hawaiian Islands and are now in force in this country; and, further, that Chinese, whether residing in this country or not prior to July 1, 1898, to whom permits to enter the Hawaiian Islands were issued prior to said date by the Harvaiian Government, are not excepted by the Eesolution from the operation of said United States laws, but are also subject to the provisions thereof.” To the views expressed and conclusion reached on that branch of the decision in those cases, we adhere.

On the question of whether or not this Court has jurisdiction “in habeas corpus proceedings or otherwise to pass upon the validity of the appointment of a Federal officer or the extent of his powers under Federal laws or the legality of the detention by him under such laws of persons who claim to be illegally in such custody,” further argument was presented in the cases [658]*658at bar and tbe attention of tbe Court directed to controlling decisions of the Supreme Court of tbe United States. On a careful re-examination of tbe subject, with tbe additional light tbus given, we believe that tbe conclusion reached by tbe majority of tbe Court in tbe Wong Tuck case on this question of jurisdiction, was not founded on a correct view of. tbe law and that it should be reversed.

Tbe Hawaiian Islands are now a part of tbe territory of tbe United States. There are no two separate sovereignties here, such as exist in each of tbe States, within tbe meaning of tbe rules laid down in tbe Booth cases, 21 Howard 506. Tbe decision in those cases is not, therefore, in point.

Tbe Supreme Court of tbe United States lias held, moreover, that tbe provisions of Sections 1 and 2, Art. III. of tbe Constitution, that “tbe judicial power of tbe United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such inferior Courts as Congress may, from time to time, order and establish,” and that, “tbe judicial jiower shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under this Constitution, tbe laws of tbe United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority, • * * * to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction” do not prohibit Congress from itself establishing or from delegating to a territorial legislature tbe power to establish, Courts in such territories which are not “inferior” Courts such as are contemplated by Article III. but which nevertheless have tbe same jurisdiction in all cases arising under tbe Constitution and laws of tbe United States as is vested in tbe Circuit and District Courts of tbe United States, i. e., in tbe “inferior” Courts; and that tbe source of tbe power of Congress tbus to establish, either directly or indirectly, such tribunals, is Article IV., Section 3, of tbe Constitution, which provides that “tbe Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting tbe territory or other property belonging to tbe United States.” In other words, that Court has held that it is not inconsistent with tbe Constitution of tbe United States, or unconstitutional, for terri[659]*659torial Courts, when authorized so to do by Congress, either directly or indirectly, to exercise the judicial powers named in Art. III., even though such courts be not “inferior” Courts within the meaning of that Article. In this respect, Territorial Courts stand on a different basis from State Courts.

The following authorities abundantly sustain the foregoing propositions:"

In American Ins. Co. v. Canter, 1 Peters 511, 542, 546, decided in 1828, the question was “as to the validity of a decree passed by a Court, consisting of a notary and five jurors, created by a statute of the territorial legislature of Florida, whose powers, under certain Acts of Congress, extended to all rightful subjects of legislation, subject to the restriction that their laws should not be inconsistent with the laws and Constitution of the United States. On one side it was contended, that, under those acts, jurisdiction was vested exclusively in the superior Courts of the territory created by the Acts of Congress establishing a territorial government in Florida” (171 U. S. 180). The Court said: “In the meantime,” (i. e. until it shall become a state) “Florida continues to be a territory of the United States; governed by virtue of that clause in the Constitution which empowers Congress ‘to make all needful rules and regulations, respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States.’ * * *

“It has been contended, that by the Constitution the judicial power of the United States extends to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; and that the whole of this judicial power must be vested ‘in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as Congress shall from time to time ordain and establish.’ Hence it has been argued, that Congress cannot vest admiralty jurisdiction in Courts created by the territorial legislature.

“We have only to pursue this subject one step further, to perceive that this provision of the Constitution does not apply to it. The next sentence declares, that ‘the judges both of the [660]*660Supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior.’ The judges of the superior Courts of Florida hold their offices for four years. These Courts, then, are not constitutional Courts, in which the judicial power conferred by the Constitution on the general government, can be deposited. They are incapable of receiving it. They are legislative Courts, created in virtue of the general right of sovereignty which exists in the government, • or in virtue of that clause which enables Congress to make all needful rules and regulations, respecting the territory belonging to the United States. The jurisdiction with which they are invested, is not a part of that judicial power which is defined in the 3rd Article of the Constitution, but is conferred by Congress in the execution of those general powers which that body possesses over the territories of the United States. Although admiralty jurisdiction can be exercised in the States in those Courts, only, which are established in pursuance of the 3rd Article of the Constitution, the same limitation .does not extend to the territories. In legislating for them, Congress exercises the combined powers of the general, and of a state government.

“We think, then, that the Act of the territorial legislature, erecting the Court by whose decree the cargo of the Point a Petre was sold, is not ‘inconsistent with the laws and Constitution of the United States,’ and is valid.”

In 1849, after the admission of Florida as a State, further questions of jurisdiction arose there and were decided in Benner v. Porter, 9 Howard 235 (18 Curtis 121).

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American Insurance v. 356 Bales of Cotton
26 U.S. 511 (Supreme Court, 1828)
Benner v. Porter
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101 U.S. 129 (Supreme Court, 1880)
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11 Haw. 654, 1899 Haw. LEXIS 58, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-ah-ho-haw-1899.