Judge Hanford Reverses Deportation of Chinese Merchant
In a landmark interpretation of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the court rules that a merchant's 'commercial domicile' in Seattle survives years of absence.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Judge Hanford, of the United States court, yesterday filed an important opinion in the case of Chin Quong Look, charged with being illegally in this country. In which he reversed the decision of Commissioner Kiefer, deporting the defendant, and ordered the Chinaman's discharge. The opinion holds that a Chinese merchant who has gained a commercial domicile in this country, may be absent for several years in China or elsewhere and still be entitled to return here. The defendant formerly lived in Seattle, and while here he acquired one-fifth interest as a member of a firm called the Gee Lee Company; said firm has maintained a mercantile establishment in Seattle continuously for nearly eighteen years. The defendant returned to China six or seven years ago, but retained his interest in the Gee Lee Company. Evidently the phrase 'commercial domicile' was selected and used intentionally by Chief Justice Fuller for the purpose of conveying the idea that the rule which that decision affirms is broader than would be necessary to merely open a way for the ingress and egress of those Chinese merchants who personally dwell continuously within the country.
“We are of the opinion that it was not intended that commercial domicile should be forfeited by temporary absence at the domicile of origin.”
This ruling represents a rare moment of judicial pushback against the era's exclusionary laws, affirming that local economic ties created rights that the state could not arbitrarily erase. Today, this case echoes in ongoing debates about the precarious rights of non-citizens whose lives and labor are deeply embedded in our local economy.
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