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Whipps v Morris [1975] TTLawRp 27; 7 TTR 269 (14 November 1975)

7 TTR 269

SURANGEL WHIPPS, Plaintiff

v.

NEIL MORRIS, CHAIRMAN, PALAU DISTRICT LOAN REVIEW BOARD: THE PALAU DISTRICT LOAN REVIEW BOARD and TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS, Defendants

Civil Action No. 57-75

Trial Division of the High Court

Palau District

November 14, 1975

Challenge to law under which territorial citizen married to a non-citizen must obtain a Foreign Investor Business Permit before being eligible for a Marine Resources Development Fund loan. The Trial Division of the High Court, Hefner, Associate Justice, held that the law was in violation of equal protection and due process and invalid.

1. Statutes—Construction

Trust Territory Bill of Rights is to be construed and interpreted as in the United States Courts.

2. Constitutional Law—Equal Protection

Statute providing that one who is a Trust Territory citizen married to a non-citizen must have a Foreign Investor Business Permit to obtain a Marine Resources Development Fund loan is in violation of equal protection of the laws in that it penalizes all territorial citizens who marry non-citizens for any reason whatever, and is therefore invalid; and that it was designed to eliminate use of a territorial citizen as a "front" for a non-citizen who wishes to do business in the territory does not make the statute valid. (33 TTC § 2(2))

3. Constitutional Law—Due Process

Statute providing that one who is a Trust Territory citizen married to a non-citizen must have a Foreign Investor Business Permit to obtain a Marine Resources Development Fund loan is in violation of due process of law, and thus invalid, in that the right of citizenship is a vested property right protected by due process and the statute attempts to deny a very important incident of citizenship and in doing so operates to deny the totality of citizenship and reduces one to a second class citizen. (33 TTC § 2(2))

4. Citizens—Nature of Citizenship

A citizen of the territory is a citizen for all purposes, not just for some purposes at the whim of the congress; citizenship is neither divisible nor separable and is not capable of subclassification.

5. Constitutional Law—Basic Rights—Going into Business

The privilege of going into business is a basic right when the everyday problem of supporting oneself or family is concerned.

6. Constitutional Law—Equal Protection—Classifications

Authority of congress to make classifications is not absolute, and a classification must be reasonable to comport with equal protection of the law.

7. Constitutional Law—Equal Protection—Classifications

Arbitrary or capricious classifications by congress conflict with equal protection of the law.

8. Constitutional Law—Equal Protection—Classifications