Case of The Unused Tag

Field, Justice.

The petitioner is a Chinese laborer and a subject of the emperor of China. He resided in the United States on the seventeenth of November, 1880, a.nd until September 3, 1883. He then went back to China without the certificatehrequired under the restriction act of 1882, which would have enabled him to return to this country. Previous to his departure he applied to the collector of customs at the port of San Francisco for such certificate, and, as he alleges, the provisions of the law for the registration of a description of his occupation, residence, and age, and of the physical…