Wacker v. Wacker

The petition in this case is for the partition of a lot in St. Louis, which belonged to Francois Nicolas Matthieu, who died in 1853. The parties claim title by inheritance; and all of them are not only aliens but nonresidents of the United States. The land court dismissed the petition; and the only question is whether an alien residing in a foreign country can take land in this state by descent.

By the common law an alien can not acquire real property by descent, for he has no inheritable blood. (2 Black. Com. 249; 2 Kent Com. 54.) Our statute (R. C. 1845, p. -,) declares that “ all aliens,…