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CHAPTER II.

REPORT OF THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL,

San Juan, April 1, 1901.

SIR: Your communication requesting a formal report of the acts and doings of this department during the past year reached my hands on the second day after I had assumed charge of this office. On the same day the acting attorney-general who, with the exception of a period of about four months, had conducted the affairs of this department during the past year took his departure for the Philippines. Of necessity, therefore, this report must be of an informal character.

ROUTINE WORK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.

The work of this office is laborious and involves much detail, for the reason that it comes into close contact with the entire judicial system of the island, the fiscals or prosecuting attorneys of all the municipal and district courts being directly under the authority of the attorney-general, and in criminal matters against public officials acting under his personal supervision.

In the performance of its duties in connection with the courts, this department, during the past year, has received and answered nearly 4,300 communications, many of these communications consisting of formal denunciations or indictments of public officials, and containing not only the formulation of the charges but the testimony in support of them. All of these matters, I am informed, have had careful consideration. The number of criminal matters against public officials thus considered and disposed of was 121. In a number of cases convictions were secured, but in the majority of cases the defendants were acquitted. I am advised that this result was due in some cases to a failure of proof, and in others to the weak character of the charges.. In addition to these duties, the attorney-general is the legal adviser of the governor, the executive council, and of the several departments. In that capacity during the past year this department has received and answered a large number of communications and has rendered 207 opinions on legal matters submitted to the office in which interpretations of laws, etc., were required for the guidance of the several departments.

This department has also considered and acted upon 328 applications for pardons during the past year. It seems that upon the American occupation the general in command; in establishing a provisional government under military authority, found the jails filled with pris21400-01-9

oners, many of whom had been in confinement without trial for long periods of time, in some instances covering a period of many years. Indeed, I am informed that in some cases prisoners had been in jail for so long a time that all record of the charge under which they had been imprisoned had disappeared. Under these circumstances the officer in command felt it his duty to issue a large number of pardons. This action seems to have left the impression upon the men who have since been convicted that the new government would exercise the same clemency upon slight provocation.

Petitions for pardon have as a result been numerous and the reasons assigned in many cases frivolous. In one instance the wife of a prisoner who had escaped from prison and was still at large requested his pardon on the ground that by escaping her husband had thus relieved the insular government of the expense of supporting him. It is also apparent that the real theory of criminal punishment is not always understood. Some of the petitions for pardon are signed by the injured person, and this in several instances was assigned as a sufficient ground for clemency, the fact that the offense may have been against the public peace and order being entirely overlooked. I find, however, that few pardons have been granted during the past year, although each petition has been carefully considered, and the department, in addition, has made efforts to, advise itself thoroughly of the nature of the crime and the evidence upon which conviction was had.

INSULAR JUDICIAL SYSTEM.

Heretofore all persons arrested for petty offenses have been tried before the alcaldes or mayors of the respective municipalities. As the alcaldes were elected by the residents of each municipality, and as political feeling in some quarters is very intense, this system is said not to have proved thoroughly satisfactory. It is said. that political considerations have entered into the performance of the duties of the alcaldes as police magistrates. However that may be, the legislature abolished the entire system at the first opportunity and created instead separate police magistrates.

These officials are compensated for their services not under a fee system, but by a definite salary established under the law. It was thought wise by the legislature absolutely to remove these police. magistrates from connection with local politics, and instead of providing for their election by the people of the several municipalities the law provides that they shall be appointed by the governor. This law goes into effect on this date (April 1), and, the appointments having been made, the judges will enter upon the performance of their duties at once. It is believed that the separation of police magistrates from local political influences, making them responsible directly to the governor, by whom they may be summarily removed, will prove more satisfactory than the former system.

There are 67 of these courts, each municipality having a municipal judge, being entitled also to a police magistrate. The greatest imprisonment that may be inflicted by police courts is six months, and the highest fine $15. The offenses of which the police magistrates may take cognizance are of a petty nature, such as the throwing of stones, staining of public statues or fronts of buildings or doors, and general offenses of a malicious nature or which partake of the character of a nuisance, such as riding a bicycle without a bell or whistle, the forming of groups upon the sidewalks, obstructing public roads, reckless driving or riding, the use of foul words or language, putting a heavier burden upon carts than can be well drawn by one horse or one yoke of oxen, as the case may be, firing arms without authority, making noises with horns or bells, holding tumultuous meetings, disturbing the order of theaters, and other such offenses that come within the general term of disorderly conduct, including offenses against general municipal ordinances relating to cleanliness and to decency and propriety of conduct on the public highways.

MUNICIPAL COURTS.

The municipal courts of the island correspond in some respects to the office of justice of the peace as established in most of the United States. Their jurisdiction in civil matters is limited to the sum of $400. In criminal matters they have jurisdiction over criminal offenses or misdemeanors established by the penal code, such as petty thefts, in which the loss does not exceed $5, and offenses against property, etc. An unusual provision in respect to criminal cases is one giving the municipal courts jurisdiction in cases of assault which result in wounds; if the wound shall have completely healed within fifteen days the municipal courts have jurisdiction, but if the wound shall not have completely healed within fifteen days the offense is considered one of more gravity and cognizant only by the district court, which is a court of much greater dignity.

DISTRICT COURTS.

There are five district courts in the island, their jurisdiction being limited in civil and criminal matters by certain territorial lines substantially equivalent to county lines in the United States.

In civil matters the district courts are courts of general jurisdiction, all cases in which the amount involved exceeds $400 coming within their cognizance. In criminal matters they have cognizance of offenses of greater gravity then the offenses heretofore enumerated in connection with the jurisdiction of police magistrates and the municipal courts.

In each of these five district courts three judges sit, one being designated as "presidente" or presiding judge.

These courts are also charged with the functions usually performed in the United States by probate courts and have jurisdiction over all

matters connected with bequests and legacies and the inheritance of property, both real and personal.

The district court of San Juan, besides the duties performed by the other district courts, has also cognizance of what are called "contentious administrative cases." In other words, it is a court of claims in which all matters in dispute between citizens and the insular government may be heard and disposed of.

The dockets of all of these district courts are very crowded and consequently they hold daily sessions, and under the law have no right to a vacation except on Sundays and official and religious holidays. About two-thirds of the cases now pending before them are of a criminal character.

Up to the day on which this report is dated a trial by jury has been unknown in Porto Rico. Hence, in important criminal matters and especially in those involving the death penalty, the responsibility resting upon the judges of these courts has been very great.

This responsibility was fully appreciated by the Spanish Government, as is shown by an old Spanish law not now in force, because superseded by the general orders of the provisional military government established by the United States, that in any criminal case, whether involving the death penalty or not, where two only of the judges agreed and the other dissented, the penalty next inferior to the penalty voted for by the two concurring judges was the penalty enforced; and therefore where two judges voted for the penalty of death in a murder case and one dissented, a life sentence was the necessary result. The responsibility of the three judges was not so great, however, as to prevent Spanish judges from frequently decreeing the penalty of death. I understand that this penalty was often inflicted. Since the American occupation, however, it seems that while the judges of the district courts have not hesitated to decree the death penalty in cases involving malicious or atrocious features, such sentences have been less numerous; but as the jury law goes into effect on this date the responsibility heretofore resting upon the judges of this court will, to a large extent, be transferred to a jury of twelve men. As an illustration of the work done in the district courts, I call your attention to the following schedule furnished me by the clerk of the district court of San Juan covering a period from May 1, 1900, the date of the establishment of the present civil government, to the date of this report:

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It will be observed that a large percentage of the cases heard by the district court of San Juan were of a criminal nature. This is true of all of the district courts. While this indicates that much crime exists

in Porto Rico I have reached the conclusion, from all the inquiries that I have been able in this short time to make, that the excessive percentage of criminal cases is due to the special conditions that have prevailed here during the last few years rather than to a permanent condition of criminality among the people. The Spanish-American war and the hope of the people of Porto Rico to be released from the dominion of the Spanish Government undoubtedly led to some cases of aggression by the Porto Ricans against the Spaniards then resident in the island. Many cases of that nature were before the military courts, and some are still pending before the courts of the present civil government. The unrest following the change of sovereignty, which is doubtless one of the results of all military activities, has led to other acts of crime, and probably a few cases of that nature will continue to arise until the population is adjusted more fully to the new order of affairs. The great destruction of property and loss of life following the hurricane of August 8, 1899, and the lack of employment, resulting from the destruction of coffee and sugar plantations, that prevailed for a few months after this occurrence, were also undoubtedly responsible for a number of offenses against law and order and against persons and property.

It is believed, however, that such breaches of law will grow less frequent so soon as conditions improve and the criminal classes will be given to understand that the laws will be enforced with a firm hand. In fact, the improvement in general conditions is already manifest, as will clearly appear from a schedule of the work done by the same court from August 10, 1899, when that court was created by military authority, to May 1, 1900, when the present civil government assumed charge of the island, a period of only eight months, commencing just two days after the great hurricane.

District court of San Juan—August 10, 1899, to May 1, 1900.

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A comparison of the above schedule, covering only eight months, with the schedule of the same court heretofore given, covering a period of eleven months, will give very satisfactory evidence of the great improvement in the condition of the people and the marked decrease in the number of offenses against law and order. There are but five female prisoners on the whole island.

An unusual feature of the procedure in criminal cases is that the evidence is not preserved in a bill of exceptions, but is set forth in substance and minutely in the judgment itself. The judgment is therefore a lengthy document, and, though this feature of the procedure here has been much criticised, so long as the evidence is not otherwise preserved the judgment can not well be condensed.

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