Estate of Stixrud v. State

Citations

• 58 Wash. 339
• 109 P. 343
• 1910 Wash. LEXIS 939

Syllabus

<p>Treaties—State Laws-—Conflict of Laws. State laws in conflict with, treaties between the United States and foreign countries are held in abeyance during the existence of the treaty.</p> <p>Treaties—Aliens—Disabilities. The removal of disabilities of aliens as to the acquisition of property in the several states is a proper subject of treaty between the United States and foreign countries.</p> <p>Treaties—Construction—“Respective.” A treaty providing that the subjects of the contracting parties “in the respective states” may freely dispose of their property, means that the subject may freely dispose of his property within the country of his citizenship; “respective” meaning “pertaining or relating severally to each of those under consideration.”</p> <p>Same—Aliens—Descent and Distribution—Succession Under Treaty—Construction. The treaty between Norway and Sweden and the United States, providing that the subjects of the contracting parties in the respective states may freely dispose of their goods and effects by testament or otherwise and that their heirs in whatever place they shall reside shall receive the succession, etc., entitles aliens residing in Sweden to take property devised to them by a naturalized citizen of the United States; especially in view of the rule of liberal construction applicable to treaty rights.</p> <p>Same—Inheritance Tax—Rights of Aliens—Statutes—Validity. Rem & Bal. Code, § 9183, providing for an inheritance tax of twenty-ñve per cent on all sums passing to collateral relatives who are aliens not residing in the United States, which exceeds the tax upon relatives who are citizens of the United States, violates the treaty between Norway and Sweden and the United States, which provides that the subjects of the contracting parties may freely dispose of their goods and effects by testament and that their heirs in whatever place they shall reside shall receive the succession, exempt from all duty called “droit de detraction” on the part of t