“ The subject with which the law deals, the rights which may have come into existence during the more than forty years in which the statute has been in force, admonish us that we may not overthrow the meaning given by the court of last resort of Hawaii, and which has prevailed for so many years. Indeed, as the construction affixed to the statute many years before the islands were acquired was final, in effect that construction had entered into the statute at the time of acquisition, and must by us be considered as if written in the law. ”

“ The assignments of error assailing the action of the supreme court of the territory propound two questions for our consideration:
1. Was it error to hold that, as the appellants were the issue of an adulterous relation between their father and mother at a time when the father was the lawful husband of another, they were not made legitimate by the marriage of their father and mother after the death of their father's first lawful wife, and by force of the statutes of Hawaii? ”

“ Even in the case of a law adopted by an organized territory of the United States at a time when it was subject to the control of Congress, the rule is that we will lean towards the interpretation of a local statute adopted by the local court, and that, where a statute of a territory had been in existence for a considerable time, and been construed by the highest court of the territory, even apart from its re-enactment, weight attaches to the construction given by the local court. ”