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245 U.S. 176

Duus v. Brown

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued November 23, 1917.

Decided December 10, 1917.

Supreme Court of the United States · decided 1917-12-10

Held: following Petersen v. Iowa, ante, 170, that such discrimination was not violative of either Article VI, or Article II (the favored nation clause), of the treaty with Sweden of April 3,1783, 8 Stat. 60 , renewed and revived by later treaties. 168 Iowa, 511 , affirmed. The caséis stated in the opinion. Mr. Nelson Miller, with whom Mr. G. T. Struble was on the bi ef, for plaintiff in error.

2 counsel of record

Relies on Petersen v. State of Iowa State Treasurer · In re Estate of Peterson

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Affirmed · 9–0 · Decided 1917-12-10

How this case has been cited

Cited by 17 later decisions (12 by the Supreme Court) — most recently January 1968

5 state decisions

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Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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¶1ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OP THE STATE OP IOWA.

¶2A naturalized citizen of the United States, residing in Iowa, died there intestate, leaving property which passed under its laws to collaterals, some of whom were naturalized citizens residing in other States of the Union, and others natives and subjects of Sweden, residing there. Under the Iowa law, the inheritance taxes upon the portion of the estate accruing to the nonresidents were higher in rate than those upon the portions accruing to the residents. Held, following Petersen v. Iowa, ante, 170, that such discrimination was not violative of either Article VI, or Article II (the favored nation clause), of the treaty with Sweden of April 3,1783,8 Stat. 60, renewed and revived by later treaties.

¶3168 Iowa, 511, affirmed.

¶4The caséis stated in the opinion.

¶5Mr. Nelson Miller, with whom Mr. G. T. Struble was on the bi ef, for plaintiff in error.

¶6Mr. Freeman C. Davidson, with whom Mr. H. M. Hamer, Attorney General of the State of Iowa, and Mr. C. A. Robbins, Assistant Attorney General of the State of Iowa, were on the brief, for defendant in error.

¶7Mr. Chief Justice White

¶8delivered the opinion of the court.

¶9John Peterson, a native of Sweden, but a naturalized citizen of the United States and a resident of Iowa, there died unmarried and intestate. His property in the State passed under the laws of Iowa to his heirs who were his *177nephews and nieces or their representatives, some of whom were naturalized citizens of the United States residing in States other than Iowa and the remainder were natives and citizens of the Kingdom of Sweden and there resided. The property in Iowa was administered under the laws of that State and the administrator paid upon the portion of the estate accruing to the nonresident alien heirs the death duties provided by the law of Iowa which were higher than those provided by that law upon the portion accruing to the resident heirs. (§ 1467, 1907 Supplement to the Code of Iowa.) This controversy arose from a contest over the right of the State to make that charge and the duty of the. administrator to pay it, the contention being that the duties in so far as they discriminated against the nonresident alien heirs were void because in conflict with a treaty between the United States and the King of Sweden (Treaty of April 3, 1783, 8 Stat. 60, renewed by Article 12 of the Treaty of September .4, 1816, 8 Stat. 232, and revived by Article XYII of the Treaty of July 4, 1827, 8 Stat. 346). The case is here to review the judgment of the court below holding that contention to be unsound. .168 Iowa, 511.

¶10Two clauses of the treaty are relied upon: Article VI, which it, is asserted directly prohibited the discriminating charge, and Article II, which by the favored nation clause accomplished a like result. Article VI is in the margin,1*178and from its text it plainly appears that it embraces only citizens' or subjects of Sweden and their property in Iowa and therefore as we have just pointed out in Petersen v. Iowa, ante, 170, has no relation whatever to the right of the State to deal by death duties -with its own citizens and their property within the State. And from the same case it also appears that the favored nation clause has also no application, since that clause in the treaty relied upon, as was the case in the Treaty with Denmark which came under consideration in the previous case, is applicable only “in respect to commerce and navigation.”

¶11For the reasons stated in the Petersen Case and in this, it follows that the judgment must be and it is

¶12Affirmed.

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