United States v. Ness

Citations

• 245 U.S. 319
• 38 S. Ct. 118
• 62 L. Ed. 321
• 1917 U.S. LEXIS 1743

Syllabus

<p>The filing of a certificate of arrival, as provided in § 4, subdivision 2, of the Naturalization Act, is an essential prerequisite to a valid order of naturalization.</p> <p>The court of naturalization having assumed to dispense with this requirement upon proof of reasons why the certificate of arrival could not be obtained, held, that the certificate of naturalization was subject to be set'aside, in a suit by the United States under § 15 of the act, as a certificate “illegally procured.”</p> <p>Sections 11 and 15 of the Naturalization Act afford cumulative protection against fraudulent or illegal naturalization. In a suit under the latter to set aside a certificate granted in disregard of an essential requirement of the statute, the United States is not estopped by the order of naturalization, although, pursuant to the former section, it entered its appearance in the naturalization proceedings and there unsuccessfully raised the same objection.</p>