Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 5.djvu/27

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

liEONABD V. GBANT. 35 �woman who by previous laws -was capable of becoming nata- ralized. His citizenship conferred eitizenship on her." And in Kane v. McCarthy, 63 N. C. 299, it waa held, accordiug tô the U. S. Digest, vol, 3, p. 308, "that a white ■woman, a native of Ireland, and not an alien enemy, -who marries a citizen of the United States, is a citizen of the United States, although she always resided in Ireland." �While it may be admitted that none of these authorities expressly decide the point now made by the plaintiff, to-wit, that the citizenship imputed to the wife by that of the hus- band is a qualified one, and continues no longer than the reason of it — the marriage mth a citizen — still, it is also true that there is not even a hint or doubt in any of them that the citizenship of the wife thus acquired is a qualified or con- tingent one, while the language used in ail of them is only consistent with a citizenship as enduring and unqualified as if the wife had been actually naturalized upon her own formai application by the judgment of a competent court. �In Regina V. Manning it is said, "she should be considered exactly as if she had been naturalized by act of parliament, or as if she had been a natural-born subject ;" and in Kelly V. Owen, "his citizenship, whenever it exista, confera, undejr the act, citizenship upon her." Besides, in this case, one of the parties that was considered, apparently without question, to be a citizen, was the widow of Miles Kelly, who was hene- self an alien born, and married to her deceased husband before he was naturalized. So, in Burton v. Bwfton, the widow of the deceased naturalized citizen, althaugh never in the United States until after her husband's death, was heldto be a citizen without an intimation from court or^ counsel that such citizenship terminated with the existence of the mar- riage; and this decision is cited with approbation by the supreme court in Kelly v. Owen, supra. �It is also argued by counsel for the plaintiff that it is not to bô presumed that congress would naturalize an alien woman absolutely, without her consent, and therefore the act should be construed as only intended, as a matter of con- Tenience, to give her the status of a citizen during her mae- ����