People v. Washington

36 Cal. 658
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 15, 1869
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 36 Cal. 658 (People v. Washington) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Washington, 36 Cal. 658 (Cal. 1869).

Opinions

By the Court, Rhodes, J.:

The defendant was indicted for the crime of robbery. The person alleged- to have been robbed was a Chinaman named Ah Wang. The indictment was found exclusively upon the testimony of Chinese witnesses, and for that reason counsel for the defendant moved to set it aside. Thereupon, for the purpose of disposing of the whole case, as well as the motion, it was stipulated between the District Attorney and counsel for the defendant, that the defendant was a mulatto, born within the United States, and not subject to any foreign power; that all the evidence in the case known to the District Attorney was the testimony of Chinese witnesses, who were born without the United States and within the Chinese Empire. In view of these facts the indictment was set aside, and the defendant discharged.

The case presents for our consideration the fourteenth section of the statute of this State in relation to crimes and [660]*660punishments, which provides that “no Indian or person having one half or more of Indian blood, or Mongolian, or Chinese, shall be permitted to give evidence in favor or against any white person,” as affected by the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, which provides that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction,” and that “ Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by appropriate legislation;” and the first section of the Act of Congress passed in pursuance thereof, entitled “An Act to protect all nersons in the United States in their civil rights, and furnish the means of their vindication,” which provides that “all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and such citizens, of every race and color, without regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall have the same right, in every State or Territory of the United States, to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold and convey real and personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person" and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains and penalties, and to none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.” (13 U. S. Stats, at Large, pp. 774, 775; 14 U. S. Stats, at Large, p. 27.)

In view of the foregoing constitutional and statutory provisions, we are asked to determine whether the Act of Congress of the 9th of April, 1866, commonly called the “ Civil Rights Bill,” so far as it bears upon the question before us, was repugnant to the Constitution of the United States as it read prior to the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment; [661]*661and if not, what has been its effect upon the fourteenth section of the statute of this State in relation to crimes and punishments ?

We regret that we are called upon to decide so important a question without any argument on the part of the defendant.

The nature and objects of the Act first claim our attention. The Attorney General claims “ that it at least only extended and only could extend to the political rights of white persons and negroes, and no further.” A slight examination of the Act would readily show this position to bo untenable. The title of the Act is, “An Act to protect all persons in the United States in their civil rights, and furnish the means of their vindication.” The first clause of the first section declares “ that all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States.” It is the general, and we think the better, opinion that this provision, in view of the abolition of slavery, is only declaratory. One of the most distinguished, and perhaps the leading opponent of the passage of the bill, entertained that view, but differed with the majority in respect to the extent of the operation of the rule; he holding that while it was true that by virtue of their birth the persons named became citizens of the United States, it did not follow that they became citizens of the State of their birth. If the latter position is tenable—if a person residing in one of the States can be a citizen of the United States and not, at the same time, a citizen of any particular State, it will make no difference in the result of the present inquiry.

Whether the clause of the section under consideration is merely declaratory, or whether it, in effect, makes citizens of those who before were not entitled to that appellation, it only declares or establishes the status of such persons. This does not directly confer political rights, or more accurately speaking, powers or privileges, nor do they necessarily result from such status. Native born infants and females are citizens of the State of their birth or residence, but possess no [662]*662political rights. Persons becoming citizens by naturalization do not, thereby, acquire political rights, but such-rights are derived from the Constitution and laws of the State of their residence. “ Civil rights,” as defined by JBouvier, “ are those which have no relation to the establishment, support or management of Government. These consist in the power of acquiring and enjoying property, of exercising the parental and marital power, and the like.” They are the absolute rights of persons, the right of personal security, the right of personal liberty, and the right to acquire and enjoy property, as regulated and protected by law. They are the rights which, according to the fundamental principles of American Government, are inalienable.

“ Political rights,” says the same author, “ consist in the power to participate directly or indirectly in the establishment or management of Government.” The elective franchise- and the right to hold public offices constitute the principal political rights of citizens of the several States.

The absolute rights of persons have no necessary connection with the establishment or management of Government. Pernales, infants, the Chinese and Indians are entitled to the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus, may sue, contract, hold properly, etc., but it is preposterous to assert that the possession of those rights implies the possession of the elective franchise, or the right to discharge the duties of a public office. Did the Act in fact confer political rights, all the other provisions of the Act were unnecessary and useless, for the ballot is the safeguard of civil as well as political rights.

In the same section certain rights are secured to those who are declared to be citizens of the United States. It is provided that they shall have “the same right in every State and Territory in the United States to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, to give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold and convey real and personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, [663]

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Bluebook (online)
36 Cal. 658, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-washington-cal-1869.