415
Lung.
on
habeas
corpus.
The petition sets forth that he is unlawfully
restrained
of
his liberty and detained
2
on board
of
the
ship "Oceanic" by its Captain in the harbor
of San Francisco; that the alleged ground of
his detention
is that he comes within the Act of Congress of May 6
1882 to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to
the Chinese. The petitioner is a Chinese by race,
language,
and
color and has all the peculiarities of the subjects of China.
He is also
a laborer, but he
was born on
Hong Kong after it was ceded to
Great Britain. He claims, therefore, to be a British subject
and
as such exempt
from the provisions of the Act to which the petitioner
owes
allegiance. Undoubtedly the Courts will always construe legislation in harmony
with treaty stipulations, where its sole purpose is to
carry those stipulations into effect. It will not be
presumed,
in the absence
of
clear
language,
that Congress intended to
disregard
or
abrogate any
of the clauses of a treaty with a foreign Government.
At the same time,
an Act
of Congress must be construed according to its manifest
intent, and so far
as
the Courts are concerned must
be enforced. A treaty is in its nature a contract between
two nations, and by writers
on the subject is generally
treated as having by itself the force of
public law.
The Constitution
of
the United States, however, places
both treaties and laws made in pursuance thereof
on the same footing.
But for this
fact of birth
in the British dominions it is conceded that he would
be within the provisions of the Act. Does this fact
take him out of them? The answer to this question depends
upon
the meaning of the Act and not
upon