Webb haney land law act

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 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.

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