State ex rel. Tanner v. Staeheli

Citations

• 112 Wash. 344
• 192 P. 991
• 1920 Wash. LEXIS 784

Syllabus

<p>Aliens (2)—Title to Real Estate—Citizenship—Declaration of Intention—Good Faith—Evidence—Sufficiency. An alien’s declaration of intention to become a citizen was not filed in'good faith, as required by Const., art. 2, § 33, so as to prevent the escheat of lands purchased by the alien, where the evidence shows that he claimed an alien’s right to military exemption, and later, on advice of his counsel, after the state had begun an action to escheat the lands held by him, he filed his declaration of intention to become a citizen.</p> <p>Same (3, 5)—Title to Real Estate—Constitutional Pkovisions —Effect of Teeaties. There is no conflict between Const., art. 2, § 33, prohibiting aliens from acquiring lands in this state by purchase, and the treaty of 1850 between the United States and Switzerland which provides that citizens shall be admitted and treated upon a footing of reciprocal equality in the two countries, where such admission and treatment shall not conflict with the constitutional or legal provisions of the contracting parties, and providing that citizens of each country shall have power to dispose of real property situated within the states of the Union or within the Cantons of the Swiss Confederation in which foreigners shall be entitled to hold real estate, or in case they acquire real property by inheritance which on account of being an alien they are not entitled to hold.</p>