Petition of Briese

• Citation: 267 F. 600
• Parties: Petition of BRIESE.
• Decision Date: 12 July 1920
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

267 F. 600

Petition of BRIESE.

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

July 12, 1920

Louis J. Castellano, of Brooklyn, N.Y., for petitioner.

Leroy W. Ross, U.S. Atty., of Brooklyn, N.Y., opposed.

CHATFIELD District Judge.

The applicant has been in the United States since 1891. He is 53 years old, and has four children born in the United States. He filed his first papers on March 28, 1917, in the Supreme Court of the state of New York, in the county of Kings. At that time he was living in Middle Village, Queens county, at No. 1487 Metropolitan avenue. This street begins in Brooklyn and runs for a considerable distance through Kings county before getting into the county of Queens. The clerk of Kings county, acting as clerk of the Supreme Court, allowed Briese to file his declaration of intention, stating that he lived at No. 1487 Metropolitan avenue. Apparently the clerk assumed that this was in Kings county, and Briese either did not know the difference or was ignorant of the requirement of the statute.

The law provides that any court of record of a state, 'having a seal, a clerk, and jurisdiction in actions at law or equity * * * in which the amount in controversy is unlimited,' shall have jurisdiction to naturalize aliens. The law then provides 'that the naturalization jurisdiction of all courts herein specified, state, territorial, and federal shall extend only to aliens resident within the respective judicial districts of such courts. ' Comp. St. Sec. 4351. Under section 4, par. 'First,' an alien must 'declare on oath before the clerk of any court authorized by this act to naturalize aliens, or his authorized deputy, in the district in which such alien resides. ' Comp. St. Sec. 4352.

The provisions of the Naturalization Law must be strictly and literally complied with in order to confer jurisdiction. Johannessen v. United States, 225 U.S. 227, 32 Sup.Ct. 613, 56 L.Ed. 1066; United States v. Ginsberg, 243 U.S. 472, 37 Sup.Ct. 422, 61 L.Ed. 853; United States v. Ness, 245 U.S. 319, 38 Sup.Ct. 118, 62 L.Ed. 321.

The declaration must state 'the present place of residence in the United States of said alien. ' This declaration has to remain on file at least two years. The declaration of the petitioner gave his residence as 1487 Metropolitan avenue. This was correct, but it added, 'Brooklyn, N.Y.,' which was incorrect. Nevertheless the petitioner did nothing for over two years and has now filed his application based upon this incorrect declaration. It has been held in the case of United States v.

Stoller (D.C.) 180 F. 910, that a petition filed in a district consisting of two counties in the state of Washington was valid in either county. The court there limited jurisdiction to the judicial district of that particular court.

The Supreme Court of the state of New York is an institution which has jurisdiction throughout the entire state, but this court is divided into departments and districts. The judges are elected from these districts. In each district there are several counties. The Supreme Court is held for each county and the county clerk of that county acts as clerk of the Supreme Court for that county. The seal of the county clerk is...