Act No. 136 CHAPTER I.

Section 1

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.

Constitution of judiciary.

Section 2

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.

Qualifications of judges, and so forth.

Section 3

SEC. 3. Qualifications of judges, and so forth.—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: Be more than thirty years of age; 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; 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.

Hours of labor of court employees.

Section 4

SEC. 4. Hours of labor of court employees.—The hours of labor of all employees in and about the Supreme Court and the Courts of First Instance shall be regulated by section one of Act Numbered Eighty, entitled, "An Act regulating the hours of labor, leaves of absence, and transportation of appointees under the Philippine Civil Service," enacted January twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and one.

Leaves of absence.

Section 5

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 employees 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 employees in this Act named shall be governed by sections two and three of Act Numbered Eighty, above referred to.

Transportation of judges, and salary while traveling.

Section 6

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 Numbered Eighty.

Official oath of judicial officers.

Section 7

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 1 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 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.) "(Signature)____________________________ "Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me this ______________________ day of __________________, 19_____." 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.