BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-06-20
SAN JUAN, JUNE 20
The Lesson Of
The Federal Court.

The beginning of the new fiscal year
will see the active operation IN the 1nsu-
lar courts of Porto Rico, of code OF laws,
based upon the best precedentS and
statutes which form part of the Ameri-
can system of jurisprudence. That
this system is bound to be vast i'm
provement is matter beyond conten-
ton. Many people have insisted that 1t
should have been introduced long ere
this.
The continuous and persistent objec-
ton to the introduction of new laws has
been the belief that they would
cause a revolution in the lives of the
people, in the procedure of the insular
courts. If that object can be achieved
then we have found their greatest and
best excuse for existing. If a set Of
laws can be put into operation which
will remove all possibility of complain
ants being fined for making complaints,
which ill prevent judges from favoring
their friends, and prosecuting their enc
mics then the revolution will be most
healthy one.
That all this will occur is the lesson
taught by the United States District
Court which has just closed its sessions
for the court year of I9oI-I9o2. This
court has up to the present time been
the only tribunal in the entire island
where the prac- tees and the precedents
of the American system havebeen fol
lowed with rigor, intelligence and i'm
partiality.
The story is told that when the
4 - g = lsst7 NJ
troduced into the Legislature, a com
mittee of the House of Delegates was
appointed to consider it. While the
members of the committee we're on
their way to the committee room one
of the committeeman approached a
fellow legislator who had resided in the
states for sometime, and said "D1game
la verdad, que es inhoonkshun." This
was not an unnatural question to ask,
for despite the fact that Porto Rico has
been flying the American flag for four
years, with the exception Of the Federal
Court injunctions have not been heard
of in the island of Porto Rico
In the ordinary course Of the proce-
dure prevailing in the Federal Court we
have had ilijunctiOns, attachments,
bankruptcy, franchise and equity suits,
not TO mention the vast number of or
binary suits at law which involved vast
sums of monty. Jury trials have been
going on ever since the I4th day of Oc-
tdber last either here, in Ponce, or at
Mayaguez. The lesson learned by the
native after once ac.ing as juror can
never e unlearned, and the real
rights and duties of citiz IN of free
republic only come to him in their
proper light after sitting in judgment on
his fello men, after being the equal
in every respect of the Judge appointed
by off1cialdorn.
We shall soon have in the island
system of laws which will in many res
poets resemble those in operation under
the Federal jurisdiction, but tie work
of the Federal Court cannot be overes-
timated, or unduly praised. O1estions
of the utmost importance have come up
there, and have been decided in a way
which has left no doubts in the minds Of
the people, but that every man in Anne
rica respected the laws of the land, or
suffered for the disrespect.
The question of removing causes
from the insalar to the Federal Court
has been settled once and forever. and
if the labor of the Court had ceased
there it could have been said that a
good years work had been accomplish
ed. Suspicious to an unwarran.ed
degree the People of Porto Rico have
more or less been of the opinion that
the Federal Court was really IN exis-
tence for the purpose of interfering
with their insular courts whenever the
powers that be believed that such a
thing was necessary. The decision of
Judge Holt deelaraing that the Insular
Courts had jurisdiction which was
bound to be respected just as much as
that of the State courts in the Union
oIoled the eyes of the doubling com
munity to the fact that American courts
of law never delegated to themselves
powers that they have not, and never
usurped III. powers given to other tri-
blna1s
The documents of the Federal Court
are on file in the office of the Clerk. /
and on the observation Of the proper
regulations can be seen by any person
having right TO view them. Can this
be said of our Inst1ar Courts? Several
months ago this community was shock
ed by IN incident which tcok place be. +
tween attorneys practicing in the Insular
Courts One attorney was permitted to
take a document off The flies Of the San
Juan District Court, another one later
toek the liberty Of borrowing the same
without permission. Criminal proceed.