Re Naka's Licence

• Docket Number: Case No. 131
• Date: 05 November 1934
• Court: District Court of Alaska

United States, District Court of Alaska, Third Division.

(Hellenthal, District Judge.)

Case No. 131

In re Naka's License.

Treaties — Interpretation of — Liberal Interpretation — Meaning of the Term “Trade”— License to Sell Beer and Wine.

The Facts.—This was a proceeding for the revocation of the beer and wine license of R. Naka, a Japanese subject. Petitioner alleged, by the United States District Attorney, that a restaurant beer and wine license issued to R. Naka under the laws of Alaska was issued in violation of Sec. 1 of Ch. 71, Alaska Session Laws of 1933, which stipulates in part that such licenses shall be issued only to citizens of the United States, and applied for the revocation of said license. Respondent alleged, in part, that he was a subject of the Empire of Japan and that the license granted was now a vested right of respondent's under the treaty of February 21, 1911, between the United States and Japan, 37 Stat. 1504, and prayed that the application for the revocation of the license be dismissed.

Held: that the application for the revocation of the license must be dismissed.

“It is maintained that a Japanese subject has the same right to have a beer and wine license issued to him as a citizen of the United States has, by virtue of that certain treaty entered into between the United States and the Empire of Japan hereinbefore referred to, which said treaty, as far as the same relates to the matter under consideration, is as follows:

‘Article I. The citizens or subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties shall have liberty to enter, travel and reside in the territories of the other, to carry on trade, wholesale and retail, to own or lease and occupy houses, manufactories, warehouses and shops, to employ agents of their choice, to lease land for residential and commercial purposes, and generally to do anything incident to or necessary for trade upon the same terms as native citizens or subjects, submitting themselves to the laws and regulations there established. …

‘The citizens or subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties shall receive, in the territories of the other, the most constant protection and security for their persons and property, and shall enjoy in this respect the same rights and privileges as are or may be granted to native citizens or subjects, on their submitting themselves to the conditions imposed upon the native citizens or subjects. …

“Since the selling of beer or wine by a Japanese subject under the act of the Territorial...