Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/97047/puerto-rico-vs-rubert-hermanos-inc
Timestamp: 2017-05-24 06:11:59
Document Index: 261359865

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 39', '§ 752', '§ 37', '§ 821', '§ 37', '§ 821', '§ 256', '§ 39', '§ 752', '§ 37', '§ 821', '§ 37', '§ 250', '§ 39', '§ 256', '§ 745']

Puerto Rico Vs Rubert Hermanos Inc - Citation 97047 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Save as PDF Add a Tag Add a Note Semantics Visualize Puerto Rico Vs. Rubert Hermanos, Inc. - Court Judgment	LegalCrystal Citationlegalcrystal.com/97047CourtUS Supreme CourtDecided OnMar-25-1940Case Number309 U.S. 543AppellantPuerto RicoRespondentRubert Hermanos, Inc.Excerpt:
puerto rico v. rubert hermanos, inc. - 309 u.s. 543 (1940)
1. the provision of § 39 of the organic act for puerto rico, 48 u.s.c. § 752, that "every corporation hereafter authorized to engage in agriculture shall by its charter be restricted to the ownership and control of not to exceed five hundred acres of land" is enforceable by proceedings of
authorized by the local legislature under § 37 of the organic act, 48 u.s.c. § 821, which..... Judgment:
authorized by the local legislature under § 37 of the Organic Act, 48 U.S.C. § 821, which provides that "the legislative authority shall extend to all matters of a legislative character not locally inapplicable. . . ." P.
309 U. S. 548
2. Section 39 of the Organic Act of Puerto Rico is not one of "the laws of the United States' within the meaning of the provision of Jud.Code § 256 which vests in "the courts of the United States . . . exclusive of the courts of the several States' jurisdiction of all suits "for penalties and forfeitures incurred under the laws of the United States." P.
309 U. S. 550
p. 642, to review the reversal of a judgment of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico sustaining a proceeding in
The question here in controversy is a matter of great importance to Puerto Rico, and involves the power of its legislature to enforce Congressional policies affecting the Island. We therefore brought the case here on a writ of certiorari, 309 U.S. 642, to review a decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. 106 F.2d 754. That court had reversed the judgment of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, 53 P.R. 779 (Spanish edition) sustaining a proceeding in
brought against respondent.
The proceeding was initiated in the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico under jurisdiction conferred upon it by the local legislature. The substance of two measures, enacted in 1935, and set out below, authorized the Government of Puerto Rico to bring a
proceeding in its Supreme Court against any corporation violating federal law. [
] Accordingly, the Attorney General of the Island
People of Puerto Rico" first declared by Congress in its Joint Resolution of May 1, 1900, 31 Stat. 715, supplementing the Foraker Act of April 12, 1900, 31 Stat. 77. [
] This limitation upon the corporate ownership of land was continued when Congress, in 1917, revised the constitutional framework of Puerto Rico's government in what is the existing Organic Act, § 39 of the Act of March 2, 1917, 39 Stat. 951, 964, 48 U.S.C. § 752.
In the setting of the traditional relation between the broad outlines designed by Congress for the government of territories and the powers of local legislatures to move freely within those outlines, the difficulties conjured up against the view taken by the Puerto Rican court rapidly evaporate. The objections urged against it illustrate vividly the power of subtle argument to give an appearance of difficulty to what is relatively simple. The breadth of local autonomy reposed by Congress in the Legislative Assembly was elucidated too recently and too thoroughly in
, to call for repetition here. Suffice it to say that the opinion in that case underlined the fullness of scope which Congress gave to Puerto Rico when it provided, by § 37 of the Organic Act of 1917, that "the legislative authority shall extend to all matters of a legislative character not locally inapplicable. . . ." 39 Stat. 964, 48 U.S.C. § 821. Drawing on the practice of Congress in its treatment of territories throughout our history, and assimilating that practice into the Puerto Rican situation, the Court concluded that
302 U. S. 261
Surely nothing more immediately touches the local concern of Puerto Rico than legislation giving effect to the Congressional restriction on corporate land holdings. This policy was born of the special needs of a congested population largely dependent upon the land for its livelihood. [
] It was enunciated as soon as Congress became responsible for the welfare of the Island's people, was retained against vigorous attempts to modify it, [
] and was reaffirmed when Congress enlarged Puerto Rico's powers of self-government. Surely Congress meant its action to have significance beyond mere empty words. To treat the absence of a specific remedy for violation of the restriction as an implied bar against local enforcement measures is to impute to Congress a "dog in the manger" attitude bordering on disingenuousness. We refuse to believe that Congress was bent on the elaborate futility of a
What was said in another context,
, is apposite here:
proceedings by the Attorney General of the United States is equally feckless.
Public Service Commission v. Havemeyer,
It is admitted, as indeed, in view of the
case, it could not be denied, that the remedy here pursued would have been available to the Legislative Assembly if that body had adopted the Congressional policy in a substantive statute of its own. But respondent contends that the same result cannot be achieved by investing the insular courts with jurisdiction directly to enforce the Congressional policy. Such useless indirection is compelled neither by the Organic Act nor by any general consideration underlying the distribution of power between Congress and the insular legislature. So long as the Legislative Assembly acts within the framework which Congress has set up, it merely avails itself of the power conferred in § 37 of the Organic Act. It has done so here.
for the District of Columbia, though enacted by Congress, was held to be not a "law of the United States" within the meaning of § 250 of the Judicial Code, 36 Stat. 1087, 1159.
. Likewise, we hold that § 39 of the Organic Act is not one of "the laws of the United States" within the meaning of § 256. Section 39 is peculiarly concerned with local policy calling for local enforcement from which local courts should not be excluded by a statutory provision plainly designed for the protection of policies having general application throughout the United States.
Other objections urged at the bar and in respondent's brief do not call for particular mention. On the only questions now before us, we think the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico acted within the scope of power validly conferred upon it by the Legislative Assembly. [
] The judgment of the Circuit Court of Appeals must therefore be
"Section 1. -- The is hereby conferred upon the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico exclusive original jurisdiction to take cognizance of all Quo Warranto proceedings that the Government of Puerto Rico may hereafter institute for violations of the provisions of Section 752, Title 48, United States Code, and, for that purpose, it is provided that the violation of said provisions shall constitute sufficient cause to institute a proceeding of the nature of
"Section 2. -- In case any person should usurp, or unlawfully hold or execute any public office or should unlawfully make use of any franchise, or likewise shall hold any office in any corporation created by and existing under the laws of Puerto Rico, or any public officer shall have done or suffered any act which, by the provisions of the law, involves a forfeiture of his office, or any association or number of persons shall act within Puerto Rico as a corporation, without being legally incorporated, or any corporation does or omits any act which amounts to a surrender or forfeiture of its rights and privileges as a corporation, or exercises rights not conferred by law, the Attorney General, or any prosecuting attorney of the respective district court, either on his own initiative or at the instance of another person, may file before any district court of Puerto Rico a petition for an information in the nature of
in the name of The Puerto Rico; or whenever any corporation, by itself or through any other subsidiary or affiliated entity or agent, exercises rights, performs acts, or makes contracts in violation of the express provisions of the Organic Act of Puerto Rico or of any of its statutes, the Attorney General or any district attorney, either on his own initiative or at the instance of another person, may file before the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico a petition for an information in the nature of
in the name of The Puerto Rico, and if from the allegations such court shall be satisfied that there is probable ground for the proceeding, the court may grant the petition and order the information accordingly. Where it appears to the court that the several rights of divers parties to the same office or franchise may properly be determined on the same proceeding, the court may give leave to join all such persons in the same petition, in order to try their respective rights to such office or franchise."
"When any corporation, by itself or through any other subsidiary or affiliated entity or agent, is unlawfully holding, under any title, real estate in Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico may at its option, through the same proceedings, institue [
] in its behalf the confiscation of such property, or the alienation thereof at public auction, within a term of not more than six months counting from the date on which final sentence is rendered."
Whether the restriction operates directly as a limitation upon the powers of the corporation or merely as a limitation upon the Legislative Assembly's power to confer corporate privileges, its effect is to render corporate land ownership in excess of the prescribed acreage unlawful.
the opinion of Attorney General Wickersham, 28 Op.Atty.Gen. 258, 260, 261.
Gayer, Homan and James, The Sugar Economy of Puerto Rico, pp. 97-132; Diffie, Porto Rico: A Broken Pledge, pp. 45-88; Fleagle, Social Problems in Porto Rico, pp. 19-27; Hanson, Planning Problems and Activities in Puerto Rico (Report to National Resources Committee, 1936).
Clark, etc., Porto Rico and Its Problems, pp. 495-500, 628
H.R. 23,000, 61st Cong.; H.Rep. No. 750, 61st Cong., 2d Sess.; S.Rep. No. 920, 61st Cong., 3d Sess.; 45 Cong.Rec. 6861
46 Cong.Rec. 2644.
The imposition of a fine by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, as a part of the power to grant relief ancillary to the main proceeding for forfeiture of the corporate privileges, was within the scope of authority validly conferred upon it by the 1935 legislation.
Compare Illinois v. Illinois Cent. R. Co.,
33 F. 721.
High, Extraordinary Legal Remedies, §§ 745-762.