Oyama v. State of California

• Citation: 92 L.Ed. 249,68 S.Ct. 269,332 U.S. 633
• Decision Date: 19 January 1948
• Docket Number: No. 44,44
• Parties: OYAMA et al. v. STATE OF CALIFORNIA
• Court: United States Supreme Court

332 U.S. 633

68 S.Ct. 269

92 L.Ed. 249

OYAMA et al.

v STATE OF CALIFORNIA.

No. 44.

Argued Oct. 22, 1947.

Decided Jan. 19, 1948.

Messrs. A. L. Wirin, of Los Angeles, Cal., and Dean G. Acheson, of Washington, D.C., for petitioners.

Messrs. Everett W. Mattoon, of Los Angeles, Cal., and Duane J. Carnes, of San Diego, Cal., for respondents.

[Argument of Counsel from page 634 intentionally omitted] Mr. Chief Justice VINSON delivered the opinion of the Court.

Petitioners challenge the constitutionality of California's Alien Land Law¹ as it has been applied in this case to effect an escheat of two small parcels of agricultural land.² One of the petitioners is Fred Oyama, a minor American citizen in whose name title was taken. The other is his father and guardian, Kajiro Oyama, a Japanese citizen not eligible for naturalization, ³ who paid the purchase price.

Petitioners press three attacks on the Alien Land Law as it has been applied in this case: first, that it deprives Fred Oyama of the equal protection of the laws and of his privileges as an American citizen; secondly, that it denies Kajiro Oyama equal protection of the laws; and, thirdly, that it contravenes the due process clause by sanctioning a taking of property after expiration of the applicable limitations period. Proper foundation for these claims has been laid in the proceedings below.

In approaching cases, such as this one, in which federal constitutional rights are asserted, it is incumbent on us to inquire not merely whether those rights have been denied in express terms, but also whether they have been denied in substance and effect. We must review independently both the legal issues and those factual matters with which they are commingled.⁴

In broad outline, the Alien Land Law forbids aliens ineligible for American citizenship to acquire, own, occupy, lease, or transfer agricultural land.⁵ It also provides that any property acquired in violation of the statute shall escheat as of the date of acquisition⁶ and that the same result shall follow any transfer made with 'intent to prevent, evade or avoid' escheat.⁷ In addition, that intent is presumed, prima facie, whenever an ineligible alien pays the consideration for a transfer to a citizen or eligible alien.⁸

The first of the two parcels in question, consisting of six acres of agricultural land in southern California, was purchased in 1934, when Fred Oyama was six years old. Kajiro Oyama paid the $4,000 consideration, and the seller executed a deed to Fred. The deed was duly recorded.

Some six months later, the father petitioned the Superior Court for San Diego County to be appointed Fred's guardian, stating that Fred owned the six acres. After a hearing, the court found the allegations of the petition true and Kajiro Oyama 'a competent an proper person' to be appointed Fred's guardian. The appointment was then ordered, and the father posted the necessary bond.

In 1936 and again in 1937, the father as guardian sought permission to borrow $4,000, payable in six months, for the purpose of financing the next season's crops and to mortgage the six-acre parcel as security. In each case notice of the petition and date for hearing was published in a newspaper, the court then approved the borrowing as advantageous to Fred Oyama's estate, and the father posted a bond for $8,000. So far as appears from the record, both loans were obtained, used for the benefit of the estate, and repaid on maturity.

The second parcel, an adjoining two acres, was acquired in 1937, when Fred was nine years old. It was sold by the guardian of another minor, and the court supervising that guardianship confirmed the sale 'to Fred Oyama' as highest bidder at a publicly advertised sale. A copy of the court's order was recorded. Fred's father again paid the purchase price, $1,500.

From the time of the two transfers until the date of trial, however, Kajiro Oyama did not file the annual reports which the Alien Land Law requires of all guardians of agricultural land belonging to minor children of ineligible aliens.⁹

In 1942, Fred and his family were evacuated from the Pacific Coast along with all other persons of Japanese descent. And in 1944, when Fred was sixteen and still forbidden to return home, the State filed a petition to declare an escheat of the two parcels on the ground that the conveyances in 1934 and 1937 had been with intent to violate and evade the Alien Land Law.

At the trial the only witness, other than a court official testifying to records showing the facts set forth above, was one John Kurfurst, who had been left in charge of the land at the time of the evacuation. He testified that the Oyama family once lived on the land but had not occupied it for several years before the evacuation. After the evacuation, Kurfurst and those to whom he rented the property drew checks to Fred Oyama for the rentals (less expenses), and Kurfurst transmitted them to Fred Oyama through the War Relocation Authority. The canceled checks were returned endorsed 'Fred Oyama,' and no evidence was offered to prove that the signatures were not by the son. Moreover, the receipts issued by the War Relocation Authority for the funds transmitted by Kurfurst were for the account of Fred Oyama, and Kurfurst identified a letter signed 'Fred Oyama' directing him to turn the property over to a local bank for management.

On direct examination by the State's Attorney, however, Kurfurst also testified that he knew the father as 'Fred,' but he added that he had never heard the father refer to himself by that name. In addition, he testified on cross-examination that he had once heard the father say, 'Some day the boy will have a good piece of property because that is going to be valuable.' He also admitted that he knew 'the father was running the boy's business' and that 'the property belonged to the boy and to June Kushino' (Fred's cousin, an American citizen). Kurfurst further acknowledged that in a letter he had written about the property and had headed 'Re: Fred Yoshihiro Oyama and June Kushino' he meant by 'Fred Yoshihiro Oyama' the boy, not the father. He also understood a letter written to him by the War Relocation Authority 'Re: Fred Oyama' to refer to the boy.

From this evidence the trial court found as facts that the father had had the beneficial use of the land and that the transfers were subterfuges effected with intent to prevent, evade or avoid escheat. Accordingly, the court entered its conclusion of law that the parcels had vested in the State as of the date of the attempted transfers in 1934 and 1937.

The trial court filed no written p inion but indicated orally that its findings were based primarily on four inferences: (1) the statutory presumption that any conveyance is with 'intent to prevent, evade or avoid' escheat if an ineligible alien pays the consideration;¹⁰ (2) an inference of similar intent from the mere fact that the conveyances ran to a minor child;¹¹ (3) an inference of lack of bona fides at the time of the original transactions from the fact that the father thereafter failed to file annual guardianship reports; and (4) an inference from the father's failure to testify that his testimony would have been adverse to his son's cause. No countervailing inference was warranted by the exhibits in Fred's name, the judge said, 'because there are many instances where there is little in a name.'

In holding the trial court's findings of intent fully justified by the evidence, the Supreme Court of California pointed to the same four inferences. It also ruled that California could constitutionally exclude ineligible aliens from any interest in agricultural land,¹² and that Fred Oyama was deprived of no constitutional guarantees since the land had passed to the State without ever vesting in him.

We agree with petitioners' first contention, that the Alien Land Law, as applied in this case, deprives Fred Oyama of the equal protection of California's laws and of his privileges as an American citizen. In our view of the case, the State has discriminated against Fred Oyama; the discrimination is based solely on his parents' country of origin; and there is absent the compelling justification which would be needed to sustain discrimination of that nature.

By federal statute, enacted before the Fourteenth Amendment but vindicated by it, the states must accord to all citizens the right to take and hold real property.¹³ California, of course, recognizes both this right and the fact that infancy does not incapacitate a minor from holding realty.¹⁴ It is also established under California law that ineligible aliens may arrange gifts of agricultural land to their citizen children.¹⁵ Likewise, when a minor citizen does become the owner of agricultural land, by gift or otherwise, his father may be appointed guardian of the estate, whether the father be a citizen, an eligible alien, or an ineligible alien.¹⁶ And, once appointed, a guardian is entitled to have custody of the estate and to manage and husband it for the ward's benefit.¹⁷ To that extent Fred Oyama is ostensibly on a par with minors of different lineage.

At this point, however, the road forks. The California law points in one direction for minor citizens like Fred Oyama, whose parents cannot be naturalized, and in another for all other children—for minor citizens whose parents are either citizens or eligible aliens, and even for minors who are themselves aliens though eligible for naturalization.

In the first place, for most minors California has the customary rule that where a parent pays for a conveyance to his child there is a presumption that a gift is intended; there is no presumption of a resulting trust, no presumption that the minor takes the land for the benefit of his parent.¹⁸ When a gift is thus presumed and the deed is recorded in the child's name, the recording suffices for delivery,¹⁹ and, absent evidence that the gift is disadvantageous, acceptance is...