Kelly v. Owen Et Al

• Decision Date: 01 December 1868
• Citation: 19 L.Ed. 283,7 Wall. 496,74 U.S. 496
• Parties: KELLY v. OWEN ET AL
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

74 U.S. 496

19 L.Ed. 283

7 Wall. 496

KELLY v. OWEN ET AL.

December Term, 1868

APPEAL from the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.

The case was this:

In 1848, one Miles Kelly, a native of Ireland, emigrated to the United States, and settled in the District of Columbia. In January, 1853, he married Ellen Duffy, and in May, 1855, was naturalized. He subsequently acquired several lots in the city of Washington, and died in March, 1862, seized and possessed of them, intestate and without issue; but leaving to survive him, in the United States, the said Ellen, his widow, and two sisters, Ellen Owen and Margaret Kahoe. His widow claimed the residue of his estate, after the payment of debts, to the exclusion of his sisters, Mrs. Owen and Mrs. Kahoe. These set up that they were entitled to a share of the estate, as the heirs-at-law of the deceased, and brought the present suit on the equity side of the Supreme Court of the District, for the sale or partition of the estate. The court decided in favor of the widow, and by its decree gave her the entire estate.

From this decree the sisters appealed to the Supreme Court in banc, and by this latter court the decree was reversed. The widow then appealed to this court.

On the 10th of February, 1855, Congress passed an act,¹ entitled 'An act to secure the right of citizenship to children of citizens of the United States, born out of the limits thereof,' the second section of which provides, 'that any woman, who might lawfully be naturalized under the existing laws, married, or who shall be married to a citizen of the United States, shall be deemed and taken to be a citizen.'

All the parties, the widow and the two sisters, were aliens by birth, but they asserted that they became citizens by their respective marriages. Whether this was so or not, depended upon the construction given to the section of the act of 1855, above quoted.

Ellen, the widow, arrived in the United States in 1837, between the age of fourteen and fifteen, and had remained in the country ever since.

The sister, Ellen Owen, arrived in 1856, and was married to Edward Owen in 1861. He was naturalized in 1835. The sister, Margaret Kahoe, arrived in the United States in 1850, and was married to James Kahoe in 1852. He was naturalized in 1854.

The case was submitted by Messrs. Phillips and R. J. Brent, for the appellant, and by Mr. W. J. Miller, contra.

Mr. Justice FIELD delivered the opinion of the court.

This is a suit in equity, for the sale or partition of certain real estate, situated within the District of Columbia, of which Miles Kelly was seized at the time of his death, in March, 1862. The deceased died intestate, and without issue, leaving surviving him, in the United States, a widow, Ellen, and two sisters, Ellen Owen and Margaret Kahoe. The widow claimed the entire estate, after the payment of the debts of the deceased, to the exclusion of the sisters, who claimed that they were entitled, as his heirs-at-law, to a share of the same. The court rendered a decree in favor of the widow, and the sisters appealed to the Supreme Court of the District, where the decree was reversed, the latter court holding that the sisters were entitled to a share of the estate.

The case turns upon the construction given to the second section of the act of Congress of February 10th, 1855, which declares 'that any...