Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Processing Information
Biography / Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: California Superior Court (Sacramento County) Alien Land Law case files
Dates: 1920-1947
Collection number: CNTY0015
Creator:
California. Superior Court (Sacramento County)
Collection Size:
.75 linear feet (1 box)
Repository:
Center for Sacramento History
Sacramento, California 95811-0229
Abstract: The California Superior Court (Sacramento County) Alien Land Law case files include annual reports submitted to the California
Superior Court of Sacramento County by Japanese Americans certifying that they were the legal guardians of children in whose
name real estate and other property was transferred following passage of the California Alien Land Law of 1920. Each report
includes descriptions of real estate, expenditures, income, stocks, and other assets owned by Japanese American minors in
the name of their parental guardians. There are a few cases of family assets held by attorneys or others acting as trustees
of property such as the case of Leonard Monduran (L.M.) Landsborough who held property in trust for several Japanese American
families.
Physical location: 17L5
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection is open for research use.
Publication Rights
All requests to publish or quote from private collections held by the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) must be submitted
in writing to csh@cityofsacramento.org. Permission for publication is given on behalf of CSH as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the patron.
No permission is necessary to publish or quote from public records.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item and/or item number], [box and folder number], California Superior Court (Sacramento County) Alien
Land Law case files, CNTY0015, Center for Sacramento History.
Processing Information
Finding aid created by Sean Heyliger October 2019.
Biography / Administrative History
The California Alien Land Law of 1920 was a ballot initiative passed by California voters on November 2, 1920. The primary
purpose of the law was to close legal loopholes of the Webb–Haney Act (Alien Land Law Act of 1913) which severely restricted
the ability of residents of the United States who were ineligible at the time to become U.S. citizens (people of Asian ancestry)
from owning or leasing farm land in California. The law targeted Japanese American farmers who increasingly owned farm land
and were subject to the law.
The 1920 Alien Land Law closed loopholes in the 1913 law by banning all leasing or renting of agricultural land by ineligible
residents and banning the purchase or holding or stock in agricultural corporations. Japanese American farmers could still
transfer real estate and stock to their children, who were able to own land as legal citizens. The law required Japanese American
farmers to submit annual reports to the Superior Court identifying the minor in whose name the land was transferred. The 1920
Alien Land Law was supported by many of the fraternal and labor organizations across California including the Native Sons
of the Golden West, American Legion of California, Exclusion League, and California Grange. The argument in favor the law
that appeared on the ballot measure was written by Valentine Stuart (V.S.) McClatchy, who at the time was co-owner of the
Sacramento Bee newspaper with his brother C.K. McClatchy, while John Irish, publisher of the Oakland Times and outspoken opponent
to anti-Japanese and anti-Chinese racism, wrote the argument in opposition to the initiative. The Alien Land Law was upheld
by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1923 in the case of Porterfield vs. Webb and was not overturned until 1952 with the case of Sei
Fuji v. California which determined that the law was in violation of the 14th amendment of equal protection under the law.
Scope and Content of Collection
The California Superior Court (Sacramento County) Alien Land Law case files include annual reports submitted to the California
Superior Court of Sacramento County by Japanese Americans certifying that they were the legal guardians of children in whose
name real estate and other property was transferred following passage of the California Alien Land Law of 1920. Each report
includes descriptions of real estate, expenditures, income, stocks, and other assets owned by Japanese American minors in
the name of their parental guardians. There are a few cases of family assets held by attorneys or others acting as trustees
of property such as the case of Leonard Monduran (L.M.) Landsborough who held property in trust for several Japanese American
families. The case files are organized alphabetically by last name of parental guardian and includes the names of minors or
trustees in whose name property and assets were transferred.
Arrangement
Series 1. Alien Land Law case files
Series 2. Amendments to constitution and proposed statutes with arguments respecting the same [Alien Land Law initiative
on the 1920 California ballot]
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
California. Superior Court (Sacramento County)
Discrimination--California
Japanese American families--California
Japanese American farmers--California
Japanese Americans--California--Sacramento--History