United States v. Schurr

• Decision Date: 04 August 1908
• Citation: 163 F. 648
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. SCHURR et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

163 F. 648

UNITED STATES v. SCHURR et al.

United States District Court, W.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

August 4, 1908

J Herbert Cole, Asst. U.S. Atty.

KNAPPEN District Judge.

Application is made on behalf of the United States, under section 15 of the immigration and naturalization act (Act June 29, 1906, c 3592, 34 Stat. 601 (U.S. Comp. St. Supp. 1907, p. 427)), to cancel the certificates of citizenship issued to the respondents, respectively, by the Michigan state courts hereafter mentioned, upon the ground that the respondents were not, when so admitted, resident within the naturalization jurisdiction of the court so admitting to citizenship.

The five cases above entitled present the same question. In the first case the respondent was admitted to citizenship by the circuit court for Osceola county.

At the time of his application and admission he was a resident of Mason county. In the four remaining cases the respondents were admitted to citizenship by the circuit court for Mecosta county. Each of them, at the time of application for and admission to citizenship, resided in Newaygo county. Mason and Osceola counties are parts of the Nineteenth judicial circuit. Newaygo and Mecosta counties comprise the Twenty-Seventh judicial circuit. Section 3 of the act in question 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.'

The question presented is whether an alien residing in a given county of a judicial circuit can be admitted to citizenship by the circuit court of another county in that circuit.

It is contended on behalf of the United States that, as applied to the courts of Michigan, jurisdiction under the section quoted extends only to aliens resident within the territorial jurisdiction of the court so admitting. In my opinion this is the correct construction of the statute. Section 6 of article 6 of the Constitution of Michigan provides for dividing the state into judicial circuits, and for the election of one circuit judge in each circuit. The circuit courts within that circuit, however, are not circuit courts for the circuit, but only for the respective counties within the circuit. As said in Turrill v. Walker, 4 Mich. 180:

'The circuit court for each county sits within and for the same, and is restricted to its local

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