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Guide to the California Superior Court (Sacramento County) Alien Land Law case files
CNTY0015  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • 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