Compensation of certain expert witnesses in criminal cases.
Section 48
SEC. 48. Compensation of certain expert witnesses in criminal cases.—Out of any sum appropriated for contingent expenses of the law department, the judge of the municipal court, or a judge of the Court of First Instance in the city, as the case may be, may allow compensate to physicians and surgeons, other than officers or employees of the National Government or the city, summoned by the Government as expert witnesses in criminal prosecutions when the attendance of such physicians and surgeons is necessary in the interest of justice. Such compensation shall not in any one case exceed five pesos for the testimony of the physician or surgeon so summoned, and the payment shall be made upon the certificate of the judge presiding at the trial that the witness attended and testified, that the case is an exceptional and meritorious one, and that compensation ought to be allowed. The total expenditure under the provisions of this section shall not exceed five hundred pesos a year.