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 "Judge's of the Supreme Court," when used in this Act, shall include the Chief Justice.
Salaries of the judges of the Supreme Court.
SEC. 9. Salaries of the judges of the Supreme Court.—The annual salary of the Chief Justice shall be seven thousand five hundred dollars, and of the associate judges seven thousand dollars, all payable monthly.
The Supreme Court to sit in banc.
SEC. 10. The Supreme Court to sit in banc.—The Supreme Court shall sit in bane as a body composed of all its members, and the Chief Justice shall be the presiding officer thereof. In case of his absence at a session of the court, the judge present next in seniority to the Chief Justice shall preside. The seniority of the associate judges shall be determined by the dates of their respective commissions.
Sessions of the Supreme Court.
SEC. 11. Sessions of the Supreme Court.—The Supreme Court shall always be open for the transaction of business. It shall hold regular terms for the hearing of causes at Manila, commencing on the second Monday of January and July, and at Iloilo, commencing on the first Monday of November and at Cebu on the first Monday of December of each year, and special sessions at either of the above-named places at such other times as may be prescribed by the judges thereof. The regular terms at Manila shall each continue for at least four successive months unless all the business of the sessions has been sooner completed. The rooms at other times occupied by the Courts of First Instance at Cebu and Iloilo shall be available for the use of the Supreme Court in its sessions at those cities. Sessions of the court for hearing causes shall be held on five days in each week, when there is business to be transacted, and the sessions shall continue not less than four hours on each day.
Allowance for traveling expenses.
SEC. 12. Allowance for traveling expenses.—The judges and officers of the Supreme Court, the Attorney-General, the Solicitor-General, and assistant attorney-general shall be allowed their actual expenses of travel and subsistence when absent from Manila on the business of the court, or to attend its sessions, upon the certificate of the Chief Justice and the approval of the Auditor.
Where actions shall be heard.
SEC. 13. Where actions shall be heard.—All actions coming into the Supreme Court from Courts of First Instance situated in the Islands of Luzon, Mindoro, Marinduque, and Paragua, shall be heard at Manila. Those coming into the Supreme Court from Courts of First Instance situated in the Islands of Romblon, Panay, Masbate, and Negros, the Sulu Archipelago, and the south half of Mindanao, shall be heard at Iloilo. Those coming from the Islands of Cebu, Bohol, Samar, Leyte, and the north half of Mindanao, shall be heard at Cebu. Original actions in the Supreme Court shall be filed in Manila, but may be hoard at Iloilo or Cebu, if the Court shall so order.
Transferring of hearings.
SEC. 14. Transferring of hearings.—Whenever the public good, or the convenience of individuals, or the necessity for speedy hearings, requires that any action, or any number of actions, which would by the terms of this Act be properly triable at either one of said places, should be hoard at another of them, the Supreme Court may order such action or actions to be heard at either Manila, Cebu, or Iloilo, as it finds most expedient, and with the same effect as though such actions or actions had been heard at the place provided in the preceding section.
Decisions to be in writing.
SEC. 15. Decisions to be in writing.—In the determination of causes, all decisions of the Supreme Court shall be given in writing, signed by the judges concurring in the decision, and the grounds of the decision shall be stated as briefly as may be consistent with clearness.
Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
SEC. 16. Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.—The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court shall be of two kinds:
Original; and
Appellate.
Its original jurisdiction.
SEC. 17. Its original jurisdiction.—The Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus, certiorari, prohibition, habeas corpus, and quo warranto in the cases and in the manner prescribed in the Code of Civil Procedure, and to hear and determine the controversies thus brought before it, and in other cases provided by law.
Its appellate jurisdiction.
SEC. 18. Its appellate jurisdiction.—The Supreme Court shall y have appellate jurisdiction of all actions and special proceedings properly brought to it from Courts of First Instance, and from other tribunals from whose judgment the law shall specially provide an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Power to issue all necessary auxiliary writs.
SEC. 19. Power to issue all necessary auxiliary writs.—The Supreme Court shall have power to issue writs of certiorari and all other auxiliary writs and process necessary to the complete exercise of its original or appellate jurisdiction.
The clerk and his assistants.
SEC. 20. The clerk and his assistants.—The Commission shall appoint a clerk, who shall be the recording officer and interpreter and translator of the Court, and perform such duties as are prescribed in the Code of Civil Procedure. He shall receive a salary at the rate of three thousand dollars per year, and all fees charged by him for his own services or those of his assistants shall belong to the Government. He may be at any time removed by the judges of the Supreme Court, and his successor may be appointed by them from a list of eligibles provided by the Civil Service Board under the rules of the Civil Service Act. He may employ such deputies and assistants as the majority of the judges of the Supreme Court may decide to be necessary, and at salaries to be by them fixed, all with the approval of the Chief Executive. The selection of such assistants shall be made in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Service Act.
Clerk's bond.
SEC. 21. Clerk's bond.—Before entering upon the performance of his duties the clerk of the Supreme Court shall execute a bond to the Government of the Philippine Islands in the penal sum of ten thousand dollars, with sufficient surety, to be approved by the Insular Treasurer, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties and for the payment to those entitled thereto of all sums of money that shall come into his hands or into those of his deputies and assistants by virtue of his office. The bond shall be recorded in the books of the Insular Treasurer and be retained in his office, and shall be available for any party in interest. The clerk may require of his deputies and assistants a sufficient bond to indemnify him against the malfeasance or nonfeasance of such deputies or assistants.
Governor of province to be officer of court.
SEC. 22. Governor of province to be officer of court.—The officer of the Supreme Court to serve its process and enforce good order in and about the court room shall be the governor, or his deputy, of the province in which the court is held, when the court is in session at Cebu or Iloilo. At other times its officer shall be the sheriff of the city of Manila, as hereinafter provided.
Governor to execute an official bond.
SEC. 23. Governor to execute an official bond.—The governor of the province shall, before being qualified to perform the duties of officer of any court, execute a bond, with sufficient sureties, to the Government of the Philippine Islands, in the penal sum of ten thousand dollars, to be approved by the provincial treasurer, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of himself and his deputies as officer of the court, and the payment of all sums of money that shall come into bis or their hands officially, to the persons entitled thereto. The bond shall be recorded in the books of the provincial treasurer and kept on file in his office, and shall be available as security for the benefit of any person in interest. The governor may require each deputy by him appointed to execute to him a sufficient indemnity for his protection against the malfeasance or nonfeasance of such deputy.
Provisions for officer when governor fails to five bond.
SEC. 24. Provisions for officer when governor fails to five bond.— In case the governor shall fail to give the bond provided in the preceding section within thirty days after his election, it shall be the duty of the judge of the Court of First Instance of the province to appoint, in writing, a suitable person as the officer of the courts of the province, and the officer so appointed, upon executing the bond provided in the preceding section, shall be the officer of the courts of the province, with the same powers in the execution of process and appointment of deputies as the governor would have had be given the bond required.
The person so appointed shall bold office until the expiration of the term of office, of the governor, and shall he called the sheriff of the province, and may require bonds of his deputies, as provided in the preceding section.
Officer of courts in Manila.
SEC. 25. Officer of courts in Manila.—The officer of the Supreme Court to serve its process and enforce good order in and about the court room of the courts in session at Manila shall be the sheriff of the city of Manila, to be appointed by the Commission, to hold office during its pleasure. The sheriff of the city of Manila shall have power to appoint as many deputies as he deems expedient, and may, in person or by his deputies, serve any process, preliminary or final, issued from the Supreme Court, a Court of First Instance, or court of justice of the peace in the city of Manila. Before entering upon the performance of his duties he shall execute a bond, with sufficient surety, to the Government of the Philippine Islands, in the penal sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, to be approved by the Insular Treasurer, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of himself and deputies as officers of the court, and the payment of all sums of money that shall come into his or their hands officially, to the persons entitled thereto. The bond shall be recorded in the books of the Insular Treasurer, and kept on file in his office, and shall be available as security for the benefit of any person in interest. The sheriff may require each deputy by him appointed to execute to him a sufficient indemnity for his protection against the malfeasance or nonfeasance of such deputy.
Renewing bond of officer.
SEC. 26. Renewing bond of officer.—At any time that it shall be made to appear to the judge of the Court of First Instance in any province, or to the judges of the Supreme Court in the city of Manila, that the bond of the officer of the court, whether governor or sheriff, is insufficient, he or they may require a new and sufficient bond to be given within a period to be fixed in the order. If the new bond so required is not given within the period so fixed, a sheriff shall be appointed, as provided in the preceding sections. The sheriff so appointed shall have all the powers and duties of the regular officer of the court.
Fees.
SEC. 27. Fees.—The officer of the court and his deputies shall be paid by fees only, and strictly in accordance with the fee bill provided in the Code of Civil Procedure.
Rules.
SEC. 28. Rules.—The judges of the Supreme Court shall make all necessary rules for orderly procedure in the Supreme Court and Courts of First Instance, and courts of justices of the peace, and for the admission of lawyers to the practice of the law before such courts, in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, which rules shall be uniform for all the courts of the same grade, and binding upon the several courts; but the judges of the Supreme Court may at any time alter or amend such rules.
Assignment of Supreme Court judges to sit in Courts, of First Instance.
SEC. 29. Assignment of Supreme Court judges to sit in Courts, of First Instance.—The Supreme Court may, at any time, and for any reason satisfactory to its judges, assign any judge of that Court to hear any particular cause pending in any Court of First Instance, or to hold a term of the court in any Court of First Instance. The judge so assigned shall possess all the powers of the regular judge of a Court of First Instance in all actions heard by him under such assignment, but shall not sit in the Supreme Court in review of any decisions made by him in a Court of First Instance.
Reporter of decisions.
SEC. 30. Reporter of decisions.—The judges of the Supreme a Court shall appoint a reporter of the decisions of the Court, who shall hold office during their pleasure, and they may at any time remove him and appoint his successor. He shall receive a salary at the rate of one thousand dollars per year, payable quarterly, upon the certificate of a majority of the judges of the court that he has performed the duties of the office for the preceding quarter, and is entitled to the compensation herein provided.
Reporter a ministerial officer.
SEC. 31. Reporter a ministerial officer.—The reporter shall be a ministerial officer, subject to the orders of the Supreme Court.
What cases reported, and how reported.
SEC. 32. What cases reported, and how reported.—The judges shall prepare and furnish to the reporter reports of the opinions by them severally given, embracing such decisions of the court as may be deemed by the court of sufficient importance to be printed and published, as rapidly as such decisions are promulgated. Dissenting opinions may be published with the majority opinions, if the dissenting judge or judges so direct.
The reporter shall prepare and publish with each case a concise and correct synopsis of the facts necessary to a clear understanding of the decision, and shall state the names of counsel, and concisely the material and controverted points made and the authority therein cited by them and shall prefix to each case a syllabus, which shall be confined, as near as may be, to points of law decided by the court on the facts of the case, without a recital therein of the facts.
In what language cases reported.
SEC. 33. In what language cases reported.—Until the first day of January, nineteen hundred and six, each case shall be reported in both the English and Spanish languages, and the decisions in both languages shall be hound together in the same volume. After the first day of January, nineteen hundred and six, the decisions shall be published only in the English language.
Volumes, how indexed, bound, and so forth.
SEC. 34. Volumes, how indexed, bound, and so forth.—Each volume shall contain a table of the cases reported and of the cases cited in the opinions and a full and alphabetical index of the subject matters of the volume prepared by the reporter, shall contain not less than seven hundred and fifty pages of printed matter, shall be well printed, upon good paper, and well hound in the best law sheep, substantially in the manner of the reports of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Tinted States, and shall be styled, "Philippine Reports," and numbered consecutively, in the order of the volumes published.
Contract for printing report.
SEC. 35. Contract for printing report.—When the reporter of decisions of the Supreme Court has prepared a volume of the Philippine Reports for publication, he shall contract for printing and binding two thousand copies thereof, but such contract shall not be valid until approved by a majority of the judges of the Supreme Court.
Disposition of reports.
SEC. 36. Disposition of reports.—The volumes, when printed, shall be delivered to the librarian of the Philippine Commission, who shall deliver one copy to the Chief Executive of the Archipelago, to each judge of the Supreme Court, and to each judge of a Court of First Instance, to each justice of the peace, to each provincial secretary, to the clerk of the Supreme Court, and to each clerk of a Court of First Instance in the Philippine Islands, to the Treasurer and Auditor of the Archipelago, which volumes shall not be sold or disposed of by the officials to whom they are delivered, but shall be public property appertaining to the several offices named, and remain as a part of the public documents thereof for the use of the successors of the officials named, and of the public. At least ten copies shall be retained at all times in the library of the Philippine Commission and ten copies shall be sent to the Library of Congress at Washington. Volumes above the number provided by law for the Philippine Commission, and for distribution as above provided, shall be kept for exchange and for sale by the librarian, for the benefit of the library of the Commission. The price of the volumes shall be fixed by the reporter, the Treasurer and the Auditor of the Archipelago.
Custody of original opinions.
SEC. 37. Custody of original opinions.—Immediately upon promulgation thereof, the opinions of the Supreme Court shall be regularly recorded by the clerk, in an "Opinion Rook," and, when recorded, the original shall be delivered by the clerk to the reporter for the purpose of preparing the publications herein required, and shall be by him retained as a part of the reporter's office.
SEC. 38. Disposition of causes, actions, proceedings, appeals, records, papers, and so forth, pending in the existing Supreme Court and in the, "Contencioso Administrativo."—All records, books, papers, causes, actions, proceedings, and appeals lodged, deposited, or pending in the existing Audiencia or Supreme Court, or pending by appeal before the Spanish tribunal called "Contencioso Administrativo," are transferred to the Supreme Court above provided for, which has the same power and jurisdiction over them as if they had been in the first instance lodged, filed, or pending therein, or, in case of appeal, appealed thereto.
Abolition of existing Supreme Court.
SEC. 39. Abolition of existing Supreme Court.—The existing Audiencia or Supreme Court is hereby abolished, and the Supreme Court provided by this Act is substituted in place thereof.
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
