The right of a state, in the absence of a treaty, to declare an alien capable of inher itance or taking property and holding the same within its borders, is not precluded by the constitution of the United States; Art. I, § 10, declaring that no state shall enter into any treaty, alliance or confederation: Blythe v. Hinckley, 180 U. S. 333, 21, Sup. Ct. 390, 45 L. Ed. 557.
An alien woman acquires citizenship by her marriage to an American, though she be an immigrant about to be deported; kins v. Fachant, 130 Fed. 839, 65 C. C. A. 1.
After the termination of the marital re lation, a woman who has acquired citizen ship by marriage may retain it by continu ing in the United States. She may renounce it before a court having jurisdiction to naturalize aliens. If she reside abroad she may retain her citizenship by registering with a United States consul within the year ; Act of March 2, '07.
The right to exclude or to expel aliens in war or in peace is an inherent and inaliena ble right of every independent nation ; Fong Yue Tiug v. U. S., 149 U. S. 698, 13 Sup. Ct. 1016, 37 L. Ed. 905 ; so in England ; [1891] A. C. 272. Congress may exclude aliens alto gether and prescribe the conditions upon which they may come to this country ; U. S. v. Bitty, 208 U. S. 393, 28 Sup. Ct. 396, 52 L. Ed. 543; and may have its policy in that respect enforced exclusively execu tive officers without judicial intervention ; The Chinese Exclusion Case, 130 U. S. 581, 9 Sup. Ct. 623, 32 L. Ed. 1068 ; Nishimura Ekin v. U. S., 142 U. S. 651, 12 Sup. Ct. 336, 35 L. Ed. 1146 ; Lem Moon Sing v. U. S., 158 U. S. 538, 15 Sup. Ct. 967, 39 L. Ed. 1082; Fok Ying Yo v. U. S., 185 U. S. 296, 22 Sup. Ct. 686, 46 L. Ed. 917; Kaoru Yamataya v. Fisher, 189 U. S. 86, 23 Sup. Ct. 611, 47 L. Ed. 721.
What classes are excluded: Alien anar chists ; U. S. v. Williams, 194 V. S. 279, 24 Sup. Ct. 719, 48 L. Ed. 979; all idiots, in sane persons, paupers, or persons likely to become a public charge, persons suffering from a loathsome disease, persons who have been convicted of a felony or other infamous crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpi tude, polygamists, and also any person whose ticket or passage is paid for with the money of another, or who is assisted by others to come, unless it is satisfactorily shown that such person does not belong to one of the foregoing excluded classes or to the class of contract laborers ; 26 Stat. L. 1084, U. S.
Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 1294; Kaoru Yamataya v. Fisher, 189 U. S. 86, 23 Sup. Ct. 611, 47 L. Ed. 721; alien women for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral pur pose are excluded; U. S. v. Bitty, 208 U. S. 393, 28 Sup. 396, 52 L. Ed. 543 ; and their importation is a crime against the United States ; Act Feb. 20, 1907, 34 Stat. L. 898.
As to the exclusion of Chinese and Japan ese, see those titles.
As to the nature of an alien's relation to the government, see ALLEGIANCE.
It is unlawful for any alien person or cor poration to acquire, hold or own real estate or any interest therein in any of the terri tories of the United States, or in the Dis trict of Columbia, except such as may be acquired by inheritance or in good faith in the ordinary course of justice in the collec tion of debts, except where the right to hold and dispose of lands in the United States is secured by existing treaties with such for eign countries. Corporations of which 'alive than twenty per cent. of the stock is held by aliens come within the same category ; I 24 U. S. Stat. L. 476 ; 1 R. S. Suppl. p. 556.
Foreign governments and their representa tives may own real estate for legations or residences in the District of Columbia ; 1 R. S. Suppl. 582.
An alien has a right to acquire personal estate, make and enforce contracts in rela tion to the same ; he is protected from in juries and wrongs to his person and prop erty; he may sue and be sued ; 7 Co. 17 ; Dyer 2 b; Judd v. LawrenCe, 1 Cush. (Mass.) 531; Slatter v. Carroll, 2 Sandf. Ch. (N. Y.) 582; Taylor v. Carpenter, 2 Woodb. & M. 1, Fed. Cas. No. 13,785; De Laveaga v. Wil liams, 5 Sawy. 573, Fed. Cas. No. 3,759 ; Air hart v. Massieu, 98 U. S. 491, 25 L. Ed. 213 ; Carlisle v. U. S., 16 Wall. (U. S.) 147, 21 L. Ed. 426 ; McNair v. Toler, 21 Minn. 175 ; Crashley v. Pub. Co., 179 N. Y. 27, 71 N. E. 258, 1 Ann. Cas. 196. A state may debar an alien from holding stock in its corporations or admit him to that privilege on such terms as it may prescribe ; State v. Ins. Co., 70 Conn. 590, 40 Atl. 465, 66 Am. St. Rep. 138.