Case ID: pr_7/html/0348-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

The Roman Catholic Apostolic Church in Porto Rico v. The People of Porto Rico.
    MotioN filed in the suit prosecuted in the Supreme Court, as a court of original jurisdiction, for the recovery of property and other matters.
    No. 1.
    Decided August 2, 1904.
    Practice — Code oe Civil Procedure — Application oe Its Provisions. — The new ' Code of Civil Procedure, which, went into effect on July 1, 1904, repealed all laws, decrees, orders or acts in conflict with the same, and the provisions thereof are applicable not only with respect to actions to be filed, but also with regard to those already brought, or those in process of trial.
    
      Id. — Retroactive Emect — Proceedings had under the old law of Procedure.— The application of the foregoing doctrine does not impart a retroactive effect to the new Oode of Procedure, since the validity and binding force of all the proceedings had in actions already instituted is recognized, and the new Code is to be applied only from the date on which it went into effect.
    Id. — Period within which to answer Complaint. — The court has power to extend, on motion of the defendant, the period provided by law for filing his answer to the complaint.
    STATEMENT OE THE CASE.
    The ■ Attorney General filed a motion in writing before this court on the 19th of July, last, requesting that the period of twenty days fixed by this court within which to answer the complaints filed against him as the representative of the People of Porto Bico by the Eev. Catholic Bishop of this Island, be extended until October 1st, alleging in support of the said motion, both orally and in writing, the importance of the matters in dispute, and invoking articles 361 and 362 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which went into effect on the 1st of July, last.
    
      Mr. Hernández López, for plaintiff.
    
      Mr. Stueet, Attorney General, for defendant.
   OPINION OP THE COURT.

Article 361 of the Code of Civil Procedure, approved on the 1st day of this year, provides that all laws, royal decrees, orders, military orders, acts or parts of acts inconsistent, or in conflict, with the same are thereby repealed, and the following article provides that said Code shall take effect from and after the 1st day of July of the same year.

In view of the general terms of the language contained in the articles above cited, no exceptions whatever being provided for, it is clear that on the 1st day of July, last, the new Code of Civil Procedure went into effect, and the former Code was repealed, not only with respect to actions to be filed, but with regard to those already brought, or those in process of trial.

By the legal doctrine set forth a retroactive effect is not given to the new Code of Civil Procedure, since the validity and legal effectiveness of the proceedings had in the suits under or in accordance with the former Law of Civil Procedure up to the 1st day of July, last, are not denied, and it is to be understood that the new Code shall apply only from that date.

In view of the foregoing, the validity of the orders made by this court admitting the complaints filed by counsel for the Rev. Catholic Bishop of Porto Rico against the People of Porto Rico, and ordering the defendant to be cited to answer the said complaints within the period of twenty days, not to be extended, all in accordance with the provisions of Judicial Orders No. 118, series of 1899, must be recognized; but as the said period had not yet expired on July 1st, nor when the motion was filed, from that day article 140 of the new Code is applicable, by the provisions of which the court is empowered to extend the period within which answers may be filed, in furtherance of justice and in the exercise of its discretion in the matter.

The reasons alleged by the Attorney General are sufficiently strong to warrant the granting of the extension applied for.

The extension of the period within which to answer the complaints requested by the Attorney General is hereby granted, the said extension' being made to the 1st of October of the present year. This motion and order are hereby ordered to be attached to the record in any of the suits brought by counsel for the Catholic Bishop of Porto Rico against the Attorney General in representation of the People of Porto Rico, and a copy hereof is ordered to be attached to each of the other actions brought by the said Catholic Bishop of Porto Rico against the Attorney General in the capacity above mentioned.

Chief Justice Quiñones and Justices Hernández, Fi-gueras, MacLeary and Wolf concurred.