Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

been so assigned, and shall be entitled to the compensation of a judge of the Court of First Instance of the district to which he is assigned instead of that appertaining to the district to which he was originally appointed.

SEC. 5. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section 2 of "An Act Prescribing the Order of Procedure by the Commission in the Enactment of Laws," passed September 26, 1900.

SEC. 6. This act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, May 9, 1902.

[No. 397.]

AN ACT to amend Act No. 190, entitled "An Act Providing a Code of Procedure in Civil Actions and Special Proceedings in the Philippine Islands," so as to provide a more certain method of procedure in the imprisonment of persons arrested and in the release of poor debtors.

By authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. Section 415, of Act No. 190, entitled "An Act Providing a Code of Procedure in Civil Actions and Special Proceedings in the Philippine Islands," is hereby amended by striking out the period at the end of said section and substituting in lieu thereof a semi-colon, and adding the following words: "and shall advance to the jailor, on commitment of the person arrested, sufficient money for the support of the prisoner for one week at the rate now or hereafter provided by law for such support, either before or after final judgment, and must make a like advance for each successive week of his imprisonment, and in case of failure to do so the jailor must forthwith discharge such prisoner from custody; and such discharge shall have the same effect as if made by order of the court or of the creditor. The costs of maintaining the defendant in jail shall be taxed as costs in the action."

SEC. 2. Said Act No. 190 is hereby further amended by the insertion of a new section immediately after section 423, to be numbered 423. reading as follows:

"SEC. 423. RELEASE OF POOR JUDGMENT DEBTOR. If judgment be recovered by the plaintiff and the case is one of those mentioned in section 412, execution may issue against the person of the judgment debtor, committing him to the jail in the province until he pay the judgment with interest and costs of commitment and support, or be discharged according to law: Provided, however, the judgment debtor may at any time after judgment apply to the judge or justice of the peace who made the order of commitment or issued the execution on which commitment was made, or to the court in which the judgment was rendered upon reasonable notice to the adverse party to discharge the judgment debtor from arrest. Upon such application, a judge, justice of the peace, or court, as the case may be, shall grant immediate hearing, after notice to the parties, and if it is made to appear that the judgment debtor has not any estate, real or personal, not exempt by law from being taken on execution, and has not any other estate or property conveyed, concealed or in any way disposed of with the design unlawfully to secure the same to his own use or that of his

family, or to defraud or delay the judgment creditor, the judgment debtor shall be discharged from further imprisonment upon subscribing the following oath, which shall be filed among the papers pertaining to the action:

“I, do solemnly swear that I have not any estate, real or personal, except such as is by law exempt from being taken in execution; and that I have not any other estate or property now conveyed, concealed or in any way disposed of with design to secure the same unlawfully to my use or that of my family, or to hinder, delay or defraud my creditors. So help me God.'

"The prisoner after being so discharged shall be forever exempted from arrest or imprisonment for the same debt, but the judgment against him shall remain in full force against any estate which may then or at any time afterwards belong to him, and the plaintiff may take out a new execution against the goods and estate of the prisoner in like manner as if he had never been committed. The plaintiff in the action may at any time order the prisoner to be discharged and he shall not thereafter be liable to imprisonment for the same cause of action."

SEC. 3. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section 2 of "An Act Prescribing the Order of Procedure by the Commission in the Enactment of Laws," passed September 26, 1900. SEC. 4. This act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, May 9, 1902.

[No. 398.]

AN ACT amending section 5 of Act No. 139 extending the provisions of "The Provincial Government Act" to the Province of Nueva Ecija.

By authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission that:

SECTION 1. Section 5 of Act No. 139, entitled "An Act Extending the Provisions of The Provincial Government Act' to the Province of Nueva Ecija," is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 5. The capital of the province shall be, as formerly, at the town of San Isidro; provided, however, that if at the semi-annual meeting of the presidentes to be held on the third Monday of May, 1902, under the preceding section, a majority of all the presidentes of the province shall vote to change the capital from San Isidro to some other town in the province, such town, after a certain date to be decided upon by the Provincial Board, which date shall not be later than the first of January, 1903, shall then become the capital."

SEC. 2. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section 2 of "An Act Prescribing the Order of Procedure by the Commission in the Enactment of Laws," passed September 26, 1900. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, May 9, 1902.

[No. 399.]

AN ACT amending Act No. 370 entitled “An Act Reducing the Thirty-three Exist ing Municipalities in the Province of Bohol to Fifteen."

By authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. Act No. 370, entitled "An Act Reducing the Thirty-three Existing Municipalities in the Province of Bohol to Fifteen," is hereby amended as follows:

(a) By striking out of the title and Section 1 the word "thirty-three" and substituting therefor the word "thirty-five" and by striking out the word "fifteen" and substituting therefor the word "sixteen."

(b) By amending sub-section 14 of Section 1 to read as follows:

14. The municipality of Antequera and the entire barrio of Tanopol, of the municipalities of Balilihan and Katigbiyan, are hereby consolidated with the municipality of Balilihan, under the name of Balilihan."

(c) By inserting the following new sub-section after sub-section 15 of Section 1:

"16. The municipality of Sevilla is hereby consolidated with that of Loboc, under the name of Loboc."

SEC. 2. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section 2 of "An Act Prescribing the Order of Procedure by the Commission in the Enactment of Laws," passed September 26, 1900. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, May 9, 1902.

[No. 400.]

AN ACT so amending Act No. 136, entitled "An Act Providing for the Organization of Courts in the Philippine Islands," as to extend to the courts of first instance jurisdiction over maritime offences committed on the high seas or beyond the jurisdiction of any country or within any of the navigable waters of the Philipine Archipelago, and further defining the jurisdiction of courts of first instance in the provinces or districts exclusively under military control.

By authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. Section 56 of Act No. 136 entitled "An Act Providing for the Organization of Courts in the Philippine Islands," is hereby amended by adding at the end of said section the following words:

"8. Of all crimes and offences committed on the high seas or beyond the jurisdiction of any country, or within any of the navigable waters of the Philippine Archipelago, on board a ship or watercraft of any kind registered or licensed in the Philippine Islands in accordance with the laws thereof. The jurisdiction herein conferred may be exercised by the Court of First Instance in any province into which the ship or watercraft upon which the crime or offence was committed shall come after the commission thereof: Provided, nevertheless, that the court first lawfully taking cognizance thereof shall have jurisdiction of the same to the exclusion of all other courts in the Philippine Islands."

SEC. 2. Section 78 of said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 78. JURISDICTION OF PROVOST COURTS OVER CIVIL AND CRIMINAL ACTIONS REPEALED, WITH CERTAIN EXCEPTIONS, AND ACTIONS PENDING THEREIN TO BE TRANSFERRED. All military orders, and all acts conferring upon Provost Courts in the Philippine Islands jurisdiction over civil actions and criminal actions, including criminal actions in admiralty, are hereby repealed, except as in this section hereinafter provided. All civil actions now pending in the Provost Courts are hereby transferred to the proper tribunal in which they would have been brought under the provisions of this act, had this act been in force at the time such actions were commenced, and the Supreme Court and Courts of First Instance and Courts of Justices of the Peace established by this act are authorized to try and determine the actions so transferred to them respectively from the Provost Courts, in the same manner and with the same legal effect as though such actions had originally been commenced in the courts created by virtue of this act: Provided, however, that the criminal jurisdiction of Provost Courts in any province or district exclusively under military control shall not be affected by this act, and Provost Courts in such provinces and districts shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the Courts of First Instance over criminal actions in admiralty."

SEC. 3. All orders and laws, and parts thereof, inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, are hereby repealed.

SEC. 4. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section 2 of "An Act Prescribing the Order of Procedure by the Commission in the Enactment of Laws," passed September 26, 1900. SEC. 5. This act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, May 16, 1902.

[No. 401.]

AN ACT so amending Act No. 140, entitled "An Act Defining the Judicial Districts of the Philippine Islands, Prescribing the Salaries of the Judges Thereof, and the Times When and the Places Where Terms of Court of First Instance shall be Held in the Several Districts" as to authorize actions pending in certain provinces to be tried at another place in the province than the one required by said act.

By authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. Section 5 of Act No. 140, entitled "An Act Defining the Judicial Districts of the Philippine Islands, Prescribing the Salaries of the Judges Thereof, and the Times When and the Places Where Terms of Court of First Instance shall be Held in the Several Districts," is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following words:

"Any action, civil or criminal, now or hereafter pending in any province where two or more places are fixed by law for holding sessions of the Court of First Instance within the province may be heard and tried at either place provided by law for holding regular terms of court within the province, whenever the judge of the district within which the province is situated shall, because the public good in his judgment so requires, so order; but this provision shall not authorize

a judge to discontinue the regular terms at places provided by law, nor to make such transfer of the place of trial of any particular action or proceeding except in special instances when the public good in his judgment so requires."

SEC. 2. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section 2 of "An Act Prescribing the Order of Procedure by the Commission in the Enactment of Laws," passed September 26, 1900. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, May 16, 1902.

[No. 402.]

AN ACT consolidating the municipalities of Tiaon, Dolores, Candelaria and Sariaya in the province of Tayabas into two municipalities.

By authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. The four municipalities of Tiaon, Dolores, Candelaria and Sariaya of the province of Tayabas are hereby consolidated into two municipalities, as follows:

1. The municipality of Dolores is hereby consolidated with the municipality of Tiaon under the name of Tiaon.

2. The municipality of Candelaria is hereby consolidated with the municipality of Sariaya, under the name of Sariaya.

SEC. 2. The present organization of the municipalities of Dolores, Tiaon and Candelaria are hereby abolished, and all offices existing by virtue of the present organization of such municipalities are hereby declared vacant and such offices are abolished.

The Provincial Governor of Tayabas is hereby authorized to appoint, for the new municipality of Tiaon, with the approval of the Provincial Board, a President, Vice-President, eight Councillors and Municipal Treasurer, all of said appointees to hold office until relieved by new officials to be elected at general election in December of the present year.

All of the present town officials of the municipality of Sariaya shall retain their positions in the new municipality and two additional Councillors be appointed from Candelaria by the Provincial Governor subject to confirmation by the Provincial Board.

SEC. 3. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section 2 of "An Act Prescribing the Order of Procedure by the Commission in the Enactment of Laws," passed September 26, 1900. SEC. 4. This act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, May 17, 1902.

[No. 403.]

AN ACT providing that English shall be the official language of the Court of Customs Appeals, created by Act No. 355.

By authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that :

SECTION 1. The official language of the Court of Customs Appeals, created by virtue of Act No. 355, entitled "An Act to Constitute the Customs Service of the Philippine Archipelago and to Provide for the

« ForrigeFortsett »