Sullivan v. Kidd
| Decision Date | 27 April 1920 |
| Docket Number | No. 65,65 |
| Citation | 41 S.Ct. 158,65 L.Ed. 344,254 U.S. 433 |
| Parties | SULLIVAN et al. v. KIDD |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Messrs. George F. Beatty and B. I. Litowich, both of Salina, Kan., for appellants.
Messrs. H. M. Langworthy, O. H. Dean, and Roy B. Thomson, all of Kansas City, Mo., and J. H. Ralston, of Washington, D. C., for appellee.
[Argument of Counsel from page 434 intentionally omitted] Mr. Solicitor General Frierson, of Chattanooga, Tenn., for the United States (by special leave of court).
This is an appeal from a decree of the United States District for the District of Kansas. It involves the construction of the Treaty between Great Britain and the United States of March 2, 1899, relating to the tenure and disposition of real and personal property. Compilation of Treaties in Force 1904, 375 (Malloy); 31 Stats. U. S. 1939.
The case arises from the following facts:
Peter Martin died at Osawatomie, Kan., January 29, 1915, owing real estate situated in the county of Saline, Kan. He left surviving him certain relatives, among others a sister Margaret Ingoldsby, a resident of the township of Sheffield, county of Lennox Addington, Province of Ontario, Canada. After the death of Peter Martin, and on July 28, 1916, Margaret Ingoldsby died at her home in Canada, and by her last will and testament, duly probated, she named the appellee, Jane Kidd, her sole devisee and legatee. The real estate in Kansas has been sold in partition sale, and the question to be decided is whether Jane Kidd, thus holding by devise the interest of Margaret Ingoldsby, is entitled to succeed to the undivided one seventh of the estate of Peter Martin.
Primarily the devolution of the estate, it being situated in the state of Kansas, would be determined by the laws of that state. Blythe v. Hinckley, 180 U. S. 333, and previous cases in this court cited and quoted on page 341 et seq., 21 Sup. Ct. 390, on page 394 et seq. (45 L. Ed. 557). Under the Constitution and laws of Kansas, Margaret Ingoldsby, an alien, was incapable of inheriting, and the estate would pass to the brothers and sisters and their representatives who were native citizens. Johnson v. Olson, 92 Kan. 819, 142 Pac. 256, L. R. A. 1915E, 327.
The right of Jane Kidd to succeed to the interest of Margaret Ingoldsby is said to arise from the fact that the latter was, although a citizen and resident of Canada, a British subject, and entitled to the succession because of the Treaty of March 2, 1899. The District Court sustained this contention. Pertinent provisions of the treaty are:
'Where, on the death of any person holding real property (or property not personal), within the territories of one of the contracting parties, such real property would, by the laws of the land pass to a citizen or subject of the other, were he not disqualified by the laws of the country where such real property is situated, such citizen or subject shall be allowed a term of three years in which to sell the same, this term to be reasonably prolonged if circumstances render it necessary, and to withdraw the proceeds thereof, without restraint or interference, and exempt from any succession, probate or administrative duties or charges other than those which may be imposed in like cases upon the citizens or subjects of the country from which such proceeds may be drawn.
'The citizens or subjects of each of the contracting parties shall have full power to dispose of their personal property within the territories of the other, by testament, donation, or otherwise; and their heirs, legatees, and donees, being citizens or subjects of the other contracting party, whether resident or nonresident, shall succeed to their said personal property, and may take possession thereof either by themselves or by others acting for them, and dispose of the same at their pleasure, paying such duties only as the citizens or subjects of the country where the property lies shall be liable to pay in like cases.
* * *
'The stipulations of the present convention shall not be applicable to any of the colonies or foreign possessions of Her Britannic Majesty unless notice to that effect shall have been given, on behalf of any such colony or foreign possession by Her Britannic Majesty's representative at Washington to the United States Secretary of State, within one year from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of the present convention.
'It is understood that under the provisions of this article, Her Majesty can in the same manner give notice of adhesion on behalf of any British protectorate or sphere of influence, or on behalf of the island of Cyprus, in virtue of the convention of the 4th of June, 1878, between Great Britain and Turkey.
'The provisions of this convention shall extend and apply to any territory or territories pertaining to or occupied and governed by the United States beyond the seas, only upon notice to that effect being given by the representative of the United States at London, by direction of the treaty making power of the United States.
'In all that concerns the right of disposing of every kind of property, real or personal, citizens or subjects of each of the high contracting parties shall in the dominions of the other enjoy the rights which are or may be accorded to the citizens or subjects of the most favored nation.
'The United States or Her Britannic Majesty shall also have the right separately to terminate the present convention at any time on giving twelve months' notice to that effect in regard to any British colony, foreign possession, or dependency, as specified in article IV, which may have acceded thereto.'
The case was argued and submitted at the last term of this court. It was ordered reinstated with notice to the Attorneys General of the United States and of the state of Kansas. The case has been reargued. The Solicitor General presented the views of the State Department of the United States, and submitted a brief in behalf of the government.
There are opposing views of the treaty, one taken by the British, and the other by the American, government. The view of the former being that British subjects, resident of Canada, or elsewhere, are entitled to inherit property in any state of the United States, and citizens of the United States are entitled to inherit in Great Britain and its possessions and colonies, provided as to the latter, that notice has been given under article 4 of the treaty of adhesion to the terms of the convention as to such colonies and possession. The American contention is stated by the Solicitor General, and appears by a...
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