Jewish refugees from Germany may purchase, hold and sell real property in New York State, according to official information given here by Attorney General Bennett to Gabriel Davidson, managing director of the Jewish Agricultural Society, located in New York City.
“In respect of refugees from Germany,” the Attorney General wrote, “the conclusion is subject to one contingency–the title, while in the refugee, may be subject to divestment by the State itself as sovereign. Only the State itself could question such title even if such refugees be regarded as ‘alien enemies’. That eventuality, I feel, is highly improbable and, so far as these refugees are concerned, so remote that it should provide no difficulty. There is further consideration of no little weight which operates in favor of these refugees from Germany. An enemy alien is ‘a person who owes allegiance to an enemy nationality.’
“There would appear to be no sound reason why New York courts would not recognize that these refugees have lost their citizenship in enemy countries. The Federal statute furnishes no definition of ‘enemy aliens.’ It deals with a matter of war-time regulation. Title to real property is governed by the law of the State.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
