Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-27
DENIEDBY TARY
Claim to the High Shrievalty of
Havana.
MILITARY AUTHORITIES UPHELD
Privilege Dependent on Sovereignty
That Created 1t.
AUTHORITIES UPHELD
JUDGE MAGOON'S OPINION

The Secretary Of War has sustained the
action of the military authorities in Cuba in
what is familarly known as the ''slaugh-
terhouse case" without prejudice. however,
to the full legal rights of the claimants,
which are left to the future determination
| of the courts of Cuba. This case involves
many important legal questions and bids
fair to be subject of litigation for many
years to come There is considerable money
| involved in the settlement, and the claim
ants have secured the services of Gen. B.
F. Tracy, the Coudert Brothers and other
| eminent counsel The history of the grant
out of which the controversy arises is in
teresting and runs back to the early part
of the last century.
Purchased the MayOrnIty.
In the year IT'S Don Sebastian CaIvo de
| la Puerta bought ut public auction from
the Spanish crown the office Of alguacil,
mayor or high sheriff of The city of Havana.
The Office was declared to be perpetual
| and capable of passing by inheritance in
the direct male line of descent, or of being
aHcnated by purchase and sale under cer-
tain conditions. On the death OF the pur-
chaser, the office and its enoumcuts passed
10y descent to his grandson, Don san Fran
cisco Calv" de la PEcrta, whose title
c"iVed royal confirmation by letters patent,
dated May ~. 1IS3 Eventually the male
issue of the incumbent of the office having
b, come extinct. the office passed ny per-
mission of the Spanish crown. To the Count
O'Rcily. who WAS the husband of the
daughter of the then recently t.ceasc
high sheriff. From the Count o'Rcilly the
Office descended To his heirs and Successors,
with the approval in each ease of the Span
lsh crown, to tn" present tount'SS D'Rclly
and Bucna Vista. on whose behalf the pres
cnt proceedings We're instituted. She is
Joined in this issue by Dr. Don Gustavo
bp
chased a one-half interest in The "mou-
lnentS OF the office at public auction in
the city of Havana in 1893.
Principal EmoIument Of the Office
The principal emolument Of the office
WAS the right to receive five "rcales fuer-
tes' about 81 in gold for each head Of
large cattle killed in the slaughter house
of Havana 1t is stated that one object Of
the grant was to insure supply Of SOUND
meat for the city. The high sheriff was re-
quired to inspect and weigh the meat and
transport it from the slaughter house to
the nublic market and the various meat
shops in the city. numbering about 400.
Privilege Declared Extinct.
On May %, 1899. the military governor Of
Havana issued an order declaring this
grant or privilege null and void, and re-
quiring that the city Of Hvana make pro-
vision for the performance of the service
through other means. A protest was lodg-
ed against the execution of this order
and the matter was taken before the mill
tary governor of Cuba for review with tho
result that on August 10, 1899. he issued
another order abolishinS the office of
'alguacil mayor de IA Habana," and deny
ing the right of the O'Reillys to exercise
the office or to receive any of the emolu-
ments appertaining thereto.
They resisted what they termed the con-
fiscation of their property by the military
authorities in Cuba and sought redress at
Nf fkn far-N nf
matter has been under consideration at the
War Department for several months and
vouminous arguments were filed by the
counsel for the claimants. Judge Magoon,
the civil law officer Of the department.,
filed an elaborate brief in support of the
action of the military authorities.
Points of the Claimants.
In their argument the counsel for the
claimants made the following legal points:
That the office of high sheriff was property,
an incorporeal hereditament, belonging to
the heirs of Count REILLY; that the emol-
uments of the office were private property,
OF which the owners could not be deprived
without COMPENSATION and due process or
law; that the United States has no juris-
dicton to exercise the power of eminent
domain in Cuba that the exercise OF that
power finds no justification in the beliger.
ent right which belongs to an army of oc-
cupation: that the treaty of peace wit.
Spain especially guards the property of the
inhabitants of Cuba, and that the military
governor exceeded his rights and powers
in the conflScation of the property of the
claimants
Secretary Roots Decision.
Secretary Root has denied the applica-
tions of both the Countess O'Reilly and
Ruena Vista and DIR. Duplesses for the
revocation of the orders of the military
governor of Cuba, and has filed the follow
ing memorandum in the matter:
Il cannot assent TO the proposition that
the right to perform any part of the du-
ties receive any part of the compensa-
ton attached to the office of sheriff OF l1a-
vana under Spanish sovereignty consti-
tuted a perpetul franchise which could sur
vive that sovereignty. The fact that the
Spanish crown permitted an office to be in
herited or purchased does not make it any
less an office the continuance OF which is
dependent upon the sovereignty which cre-
ated 1t.
THE services which the petitioner claims
the right to render and exact compensation
for are in substance an exercise of the po-
lice power of the state The right to exer-
else that power under Spanish appointment
or authority necessarily terminated when
Spanish sovereignty in Cuba ended It
thereupon became the duty Of the military
governor to make a new provision under
which this part Of the power of the new
sovereignty, which took the place of the
sovereignty of Spain, should be exercised
and the necessary service rendered 10 tho
public. The petitioner has been deprived OF
no property whatever. The Office right or
privilege which she had acquired by in
hertance in its nature terminable with
the termination Of the sovereignty on which
it depended.
THE question whether by reason of any
thing done before that time the right to
compensation from the municipality of Ha-
has arisen. is question TO be deter
mined by the courts of Cuba.
THE application for the revocation of the
order heretofore made herein by the mill.
tary governor Of Cuba Is denied"
Army Orders.
First Lieutenant M. L. Walker, Corps OF
Engineers, has been relieved from duty un-