Olsson v Savage

• Docket Number: Case No. 272
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court
• Date: 01 January 1925

Supreme Court of Kansas.

Case No. 272

Olsson (plaintiff)

and

Savage (defendant).

Position of Aliens — Treaty Rights of Inheritance — Construction in Harmony with Obvious Purpose of Contracting Parties.

Interpretation of Treaties — Liberal Interpretation.

Interpretation — Construction in Harmony with Obvious Purpose of Contracting Parties — Construction Favouring Rights Claimed under a Treaty.

The Facts.—The question involved in this case is whether under existing treaties a citizen of Sweden may inherit personal property in the United States from a citizen of the United States. A Treaty of 1911 between Sweden and the United States (Art. 14) provides that the citizens of the contracting parties shall have power to dispose of their personal goods within the jurisdiction of the other, by sale, testament, etc., and that their representatives, being citizens of the other party, shall succeed to their personal goods, whether by testament or ab intcstato, and may take possession thereof and dispose of the same at will.

Held: The treaty means that Swedish heirs or devisees shall be entitled to inherit personal property or receive it by...