"SEC. 27. A cedula or certificate shall be issued to each person paying the tax, which shall contain an acknowledgment by the Provincial Treasurer of the receipt of the peso, the name of the person paying, his age, residence, place of nativity, his status, whether married or single, and his business or occupation. Upon the delivery to him of the cedula or certificate he shall sign the same with his usual signature in the presence of the collecting officer, who shall witness the signature. In case the tax-payer is unable to sign his name, then he shall identify himsel. by his usual mark similarly witnessed.

"SEC. 28. The cedula or certificate of registration herein provided for may be used for purposes of identification, admitted in evidence and must be presented by any one liable to pay such tax whenever (1) he appears in any court of the Archipelago, either as a suitor or as a witness in his own behalf in any civil proceeding, (2) he transacts any business with any public office or officer, (3) he pays any taxes or receives money from any public funds, (4) he acknowledges any document before a notary public, (5) he assumes any public office, whether by appointment or by election, and (6) he receives any license, certificate or permit from any public authority. No contract, deed or other document acknowledged before a notary public shall be valid or be recognized by any court unless the notary shall have certified thereon that the thereto parties have presented their certificates of registration, or are exempt from the tax, and shall have entered in such certification the number, place of issue and date of each certificate of registration. Provided, that in all cases when the notary public has not certified as above provided on any deed, contract or other document acknowledged before him, any party having an interest therein may at any time appear before the Treasurer of the proper province, who shall, upon the payment of one peso for a cedula tax and of a penalty of twenty pesos, certify on such deed, contract or other document that said tax and penalty have been paid, with the date of such payment, and the same shall thereupon be deemed to be valid to all intents and purposes and receivable in evidence. A person liable to pay the cedula tax who has not paid it shall not be allowed to register as an elector or voter.

"SEC. 29. The Provincial Treasurer shall keep, in his office, open to the inspection of any person, a register of all certificates of registration issued in his province.

"SEC. 30. Any person failing to pay the cedula tax at the time fixed by the Provincial Treasurer, in accordance with law, shall be liable to the payment of a penalty of one hundred per cent. in addition thereto. The Provincial Treasurer shall enforce the collection of the cedula tax and penalty, after the same shall remain delinquent for fifteen days, by a seizure of any personal property of the tax-payer and a sale of the same, in accordance with the provisions for the sale of personal property in the collection of taxes under the Municipal Code, and no exemptions shall be allowed in favor of a person liable to pay such

tax.

"SEC. 31. By consent of the Municipal Council of the town where a person is resident, and the Provincial Treasurer or his deputy, a person otherwise liable to the payment of the cedula tax may be exempted on a proper showing that, through personal infirmity or otherwise, he is unable to earn a living, and is a pauper.

"SEC. 32. The cedula tax for the year 1901 shall be due and payable in each province on or before a date fixed by the Provincial Treasurer within five months prior to November 1, 1901, by notices posted

in four conspicuous places in each municipality of the province and at the door of the Provincial Building. In succeeding years, the cedula shall be due and payable as other taxes, within three months prior to May 31, as required by section 24 of the Municipal Code.

66

SEC. 33. One-half of the cedula or registration tax and penalties collected shall be paid into the Provincial Treasury of the province where collected, and one-half of the amount of such tax collected in each town shall be paid into the Municipal Treasury of the town.

"SEC. 34. For the year 1902, and succeeding years, no person who shall pay to the province and municipality together, as taxes on real estate, or as an industrial tax, an amount in excess of one peso, shall be required to pay the cedula tax. The receipt given for the land tax or the industrial tax shall contain the particulars required above for the cedula or registration tax, and shall be used for the same purpose of identification and to avoid disqualification, to testify, to execute an instrument, to vote or to hold office.

"SEC. 35. The form of the cedula or certificate shall be prescribed by the Insular Treasurer, and blank books containing the same, with proper stubs or duplicate receipts, shall be purchased by Provincial Treasurers from the Insular Treasurer at cost.

"SEC. 36. Up to and including the thirtieth day of June, 1901, all internal revenue collections by the Provincial Treasurers as Collectors of Internal Revenue, under the General Provincial Act, shall be forwarded to the Insular Treasury, as required by Act No. 90. Thereafter such taxes cease to be a part of the revenue of the Central Government of the Islands and become provincial and municipal taxes, and Act No. 90 shall not apply thereto.

"SEC. 37. One-half of the internal revenue collections in any province organized under the General Provincial Act from January 1, 1901, until June 30, 1901, shall be due from the central government to the Treasury of the province where collected, and one-half of the internal collections in a municipality shall be due from the central government to the Treasury of the municipality where collected, and the Provincial Treasurer shall forward his estimate for the amounts due to the province and to the municipalities, through the Military Governor, to the Commission for proper appropriation. The collections under this section shall be held to include collections under the Forestry Regulations for timber cut and forest products obtained in the province and municipality, though the collections are made out of the province.

"SEC. 38. Hereafter no voucher or receipt covering a payment of money by any disbursing or other officer of the constituted government of the Philippine Archipelago, on account of an obligation of said government, shall be questioned or declared invalid by reason of the failure of the creditor to attach thereto the internal revenue stamp or stamps heretofore required by law; and hereafter no internal revenue stamp or stamps shall be required on any receipt or voucher covering the payment of money in discharge of an obligation of the government of the Philippine Archipelago."

SEC. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage.

[No. 134.]

AN ACT providing for the loan of twenty-five hundred dollars ($2,500) from the central treasury to the treasury of each province organized under the general provincial act, to be repaid on or before December 31, 1902.

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

SECTION 1. There is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, a sum sufficient to advance and pay twenty-five hundred dollars ($2,500), in money of the United States, to the Treasury of each province now or hereafter organized under the General Provincial Act.

SEC. 2. The money appropriated in the first section shall be paid to the Provincial Treasurer of each province, upon the production by him to the Military Governor of a certified copy of a resolution of its Provincial Board requesting such loan, and agreeing to repay the the money without interest on or before December 31, 1902. The Provincial Board shall have authority to request and receive any amount less than twenty-five hundred dollars, which it shall in its resolution fix, and the remainder of the appropriation for the province shall, after the presentation of such a resolution to the Military Governor, become unappropriated funds. If the Provincial Board of any province shall fail to request such a loan or a part thereof before October first, 1901, the amount herein appropriated for such province shall become unappropriated funds.

SEC. 3. The money loaned under this act shall be expended by the Provincial Board in the manner provided by law for provincial

purposes.

SEC. 4. This act shall take effect on its passage.
Enacted, May 22, 1901.

[No. 135.]

AN ACT authorizing the union of the towns of Tetuan and Zamboanga, Island of Mindanao.

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

SECTION 1. The municipalities of Tetuan and Zamboanga, Island of Mindanao, shall be organized into one municipality under the name of Zamboanga.

SEC. 2. The organization of such municipality shall be effected in accordance with the rules and regulations applying to the organization of new municipalities not before organized, as provided in sections 91, 92 and 93 of the Municipal Code.

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 29, 1901.

[No. 136.]

AN ACT providing for the organization of courts in the Philippine Islands.

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

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

SECTION 1. Courts of Justice to be maintained in every province.— Courts of justice shall be maintained in every province in the Philippine Islands in which civil government shall be established; which courts shall be open for the trial of all causes proper for their cognizance, and justice shall be therein impartially administered without corruption or unnecessary delay.

SEC. 2. Constitution of judiciary.-The judicial power of the Government of the Philippine Islands shall be vested in a Supreme Court, Courts of First Instance, and Courts of Justices of the Peace, together with such special jurisdictions of municipal courts, and other special tribunals as now are or hereafter may be authorized by law. The two courts first named shall be courts of record.

SEC. 3. Qualifications of judges, etc.-In order to be eligible to the Office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, or Judge of the Supreme Court, or Judge of a Court of First Instance, or Attorney General, a person must:

1. Be more than thirty years of age;

2. Be a citizen of the United States or a native of the Philippine Islands, or have acquired, by virtue of the Treaty of Paris, the political rights of a native of the Islands;

3. He must have practiced law, or have been a judge of a court of record, in the United States or the Philippine Islands, or in Spain or, previous to the date of the ratification of the Treaty of Paris, in any Spanish territory, for a period of five years, or must for a like period have filled any office which requires a legal degree as an indispensable qualification in the Philippine Islands or, previous to the date of the ratification of the Treaty of Paris, in any Spanish territory.

SEC. 4. Hours of labor of court employés.-The hours of labor of all court employés in and about the Supreme Court and the Courts of First Instance shall be regulated by section 1 of Act No. 80, entitled, "An Act Regulating the Hours of Labor, Leaves of Absence, and Transportation of Appointees under the Philippine Civil Service," enacted January 26, 1901.

SEC. 5. Leaves of absence.-All leaves of absence of the judges of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General, Solicitor General, and Assistant Attorney General, Clerk and other subordinates of the Supreme Court, and judges of Courts of First Instance, shall be granted by the Chief Justice.

Leaves of absence of clerks and other subordinates, officials or employés of Courts of First Instance shall be granted by the Judge of the Court of First Instance, for each province within his judicial district. The Chief Justice shall determine his own leave of absence, but his leave of absence and that of all the other officials and employés in this Act named shall be governed by sections 2 and 3 of Act No. 80, above referred to.

10890-01-19

SEC. 6. Transportation of judges, and salary while traveling.-A person residing in the United States who is appointed Judge of the Supreme Court, or Judge of the Court of First Instance of the Philippine Islands, shall be paid the traveling expenses of himself and family from his place of residence to Manila, if he shall come by the steamer and route directed by the Chief Executive of the Islands. He shall be allowed one-half salary from the date of leaving home to come to Manila, and full salary from the date of his arrival in the Islands, provided that he proceeds directly to the Islands. Otherwise, he shall be allowed half salary for such time only as is ordinarily required to perform the journey from his place of residence to Manila. If he has been employed as judge in the Philippine Islands for three years or more he shall, if he so requests, upon his retirement from the service, be furnished with transportation for himself and family from Manila to his place of residence, and be allowed half salary for thirty days, in addition to full salary for the period for which he may be entitled as leave of absence, under the provisions of this Act, and of said Act No. 80.

SEC. 7. Official oath of judicial officers.-The judges and justices of the several courts shall, before they proceed to execute the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe to the following oath or affirmation, to wit:

“I, . . . . . ........, solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as according to the best of my ability and understanding, agreeably to the laws of the Philippine Islands. And that I recognize and accept the supreme authority of the United States of America in these Islands, and will maintain true faith and allegiance thereto; that I impose upon myself this obligation voluntarily, without mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God." (The last four words to be stricken out in case of affirmation.)

of

(Signature)

"Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me this . . . . . . day

The oath may be administered by any member of the Philippine Commission, or by any Judge or Justice of the Peace duly qualified to act, and shall be filed with the Clerk of the Court in which the official taking the oath presides, and be by him recorded in the records of the Court.

CHAPTER II.

SUPREME COURT.

SEC. 8. Supreme Court.-The Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Justice and six Associate Judges, any five of whom when convened shall form a quorum, and may transact any of the business of the court; but in the absence of a quorum the member or members present may adjourn the court from time to time with the same effect as if all were present. The concurrence of at least four members of the court shall be necessary to pronounce a judgment. They shall be appointed by the Commission, and shall hold office during its pleasure. The word "Judges" or "Judges of the Supreme Court," when used in this Act, shall include the Chief Justice.