Hanrick v. Hanrick

Citations

• 54 Tex. 101
• 1880 Tex. LEXIS 133

Syllabus

<p>1. Alienage — Statutes construed.—The act “to define the civil rights of aliens,” of February 13, 1854, did not in express terms repeal section 9 of the act of March 18, 1848, entitled “ An act to regulate descent and distribution of estates,” nor is the former act so directly and irreconcilably opposed to section' 9 of the act of 1848, as to repeal that section by implication.</p> <p>3. Alienage—Statutes construed.—The act of February 13,1854, was an affirmative and enlarging statute, which intended to give to aliens such rights and privileges, in addition to those granted by section 9 of the act of 1848, as had been or should be given by the government to which the alien belonged, to citizens of the United States.</p> <p>3. Alienage—Statutes construed.—When the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland passed the act of 1870, to the extent that it conferred benefits on citizens of the United States, it was, by virtue of the provisions of our statute of 1854, immediately engrafted upon it, and became the law defining the rights of alien citizens of Great Britain and Ireland to real estate in Texas; section 9 of the act of 1848 was, as to such aliens, so far modified as to change their previous defeasible estate thereby given, into an indefeasible estate.</p> <p>4. Alienage—Statutes construed.—The effect of the constitution of the republic, of the act of January 38, 1840, and the act of March 18,1848, upon the subject of alienage, was to vest a defeasible title to real estate in Texas, in the alien children and heirs of a citizen of the United States who may have died intestate, leaving such property; such title was valid against individuals as well as against the state, not only for the period of nine years, but for such further time as might elapse until the state should, by proper proceedings, declare a forfeiture.</p> <p>5. Cases approved.— Cryer v. Andrews, 11 Tex., 170; Wardrup v. Jones, 23 Tex., 489; Lee v. King, 21 Tex., 582; Osterman