## Facts

- Seattle enacted a 1921 ordinance requiring pawnbrokers to obtain a city license and restricting licenses to U.S. citizens.
- Rihachi Asakura, a Japanese subject lawfully residing in Seattle since 1904, operated a pawnbroking business and had substantial capital invested in it.
- Because he was not eligible for U.S. citizenship, the ordinance effectively barred him from continuing his business.
- Asakura challenged the ordinance under the 1911 Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between the United States and Japan, which guaranteed Japanese subjects the right to reside and “carry on trade” in the United States on the same terms as native citizens, with protection for their property.
- A Washington trial court enjoined enforcement of the ordinance against Asakura; the Washington Supreme Court reversed; the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court on writ of error.

## Issues

1. Whether the 1911 U.S.–Japan treaty guaranteeing Japanese subjects the right to “carry on trade” on the same terms as native citizens preempted Seattle’s citizen-only pawnbroker licensing ordinance as applied to Asakura.
2. Whether pawnbroking qualifies as “trade” within the meaning of the treaty.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court unanimously reversed the Washington Supreme Court.
- The Court held that pawnbroking, as a licensed and recognized business under Washington law, is “trade” within the treaty’s coverage.
- The ordinance’s citizenship limitation conflicted with the treaty’s rule of equal commercial treatment and was void as applied to a Japanese subject lawfully admitted to the United States.
- The Court treated the treaty as operating domestically without need for implementing legislation, requiring courts to give it controlling effect over contrary local law.

## Legal Principles

- Treaties made under federal authority are supreme domestic law and preempt conflicting state or municipal measures.
- The treaty power extends to proper subjects of negotiation, including establishing rules of equality between foreign nationals lawfully present and citizens in commercial matters.
- Treaties are construed liberally; where multiple constructions are possible, courts prefer the interpretation favoring the rights the treaty confers.
- A treaty that is self-executing may be enforced by courts directly, without additional legislative action.

## Conclusion

Seattle could not enforce a citizen-only licensing rule for pawnbrokers against a Japanese national lawfully residing in the United States because the 1911 U.S.–Japan treaty guaranteed Japanese subjects the right to carry on “trade,” including pawnbroking, on the same terms as native citizens, and that treaty preempted conflicting local law.


Asakura v. City of Seattle, 265 U.S. 332 (1924)