Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ And further, if my daughter shall die having borne children, then the property shall descend to her children and if she should die without having had any children the property shall descend to her own mother, and if she should be dead then the property shall descend to my brother J. Komoikehuehu.' It is obvious what hesitation an American court ought to feel in attempting to construe a Hawaiian will on the strength of this translation, and, still more, in disregarding the opinion of the court on the spot, familiar with Hawaiian habits, and not improbably with Hawaiian speech. ”

“ Was a trust created in the property devised to Irene Ii by the will of her father, John Ii? 5. Has Irene Ii Brown a fee-simple title in said property, or is her estate one for life only?' The supreme court entertained the case, and, as appears from the opinion, against the earnest contention of the counsel for the plaintiffs, decided on May 11, 1897, that Irene, after she bore a child, became the owner in fee simple of the estate. This decision is relied upon as an adjudication concluding the present case. ”

“ It is true that they do not appear to have had separate counsel, but it appears from the decision of the court that the counsel represented and pressed their interest against that of their mother, and it seems to us not permissible to declare that the highest court of what was then a foreign jurisdiction did not know its own powers, and was proceeding in a manner that the court of another country might pronounce wholly void. ”