Case Name: Antongiorgi v. the Registrar of Property
Court: Supreme Court of Puerto Rico
Jurisdiction: Puerto Rico
Decision Date: 1904-05-06
Citations: 6 P.R. 493
Docket Number: No. 5
Parties: Antongiorgi v. the Registrar of Property.
Judges: Justices Hernández, Pigueras and Sulzbacher concurred.
Reporter: Puerto Rico Reports
Volume: 6
Pages: 493–501

Head Matter:
Antongiorgi v. the Registrar of Property.
Appeal from a decision of the Registrar of Property of San Germán.
No. 5.
Decided May 6, 1904.
Citizenship Papers — Citizenship papers of the United States having been issued by the Supreme Court of a State (New York), and the same being authenticated by the clerk and seal of said court, said document does not need any other requirement to be admissible as genuine and valid, both in and out of court, in all the States and Territories of the Union.
Private International Law — Personal Status. — It is a principle of private international law, admitted by the decisions of the courts and especially sanctioned by article 9 of the Civil Code, that the personal law relating to the individual is that of the country to which he belongs, which follows him wherever he may go and, regulates his personal rights, his capacity to convey property by acts inter vivos or cansa mortis, and the government of marriage and the family.
Id. — Conjugal Partnership — Community Property — Alienation op Beal Property. — Applying the foregoing doctrine, a citizen of any State, where the system of community property has not been established, has perfect capacity in Porto Rico to execute a contract of purchase and sale of a rural estate constituting his private property, and no law or provision in foree in this Island relative to the alienation of real property is thereby violated.
Laws Relative to the Family and to Persons — Foreign Citizens and Citizens oe Porto Bico. — Laws relating to family rights and obligations, or to the status, condition and legal capacity of persons, are binding upon the citizens of Porto Bieo, although they reside in a foreign country, and this provision of the Civil Code is applicable, by analogy, to the citizens of any State residing permanently or temporarily in Porto Bieo.
STATEMENT OE THE CASE.
A hearing was had of the present administrative appeal taken by Attorney Ramón Falcon, on behalf of Francisco An-tongiorgi, from a decision of the registrar of property of San Germán refusing to admit a deed of sale of a rural estate to record.
By a public deed executed on the 21st of January last in the city of Mayagiiez, before Notary D. R. Ulpiano Colón, a lawyer and notary residing and having an office in the city of Ponce, Felipe Cuevas y Arredondo, a widower, of legal age, agriculturalist and property owner of that locality, sold to Francisco Antongiorgi y Franceschi, in his own right and as the attorney in fact of his mother, María de los Angeles Franceschi y Rodríguez, a sugar plantation known as “Car-melita,” situated in barrio ‘Bajura,’ municipal district of Cabo Rojo, for the sum and under the conditions specified in said deed, in which the following statement was caused to be inserted by the vendor: “Fifth: The statement is made by Mr. Cuevas that at the time of the purchase of said estate ie was married in first nuptials to Mrs. Sarah Jane Willis, who, like himself, was a citizen of America and of the State ■of New York, where they resided, the marriage having been •contracted in the city of Brooklyn. Said lady died without leaving estate or property of any description, inasmuch as said estate having been acquired exclusively by the declarant, in whose name, the title appears, the full ownership thereof became and was vested in him according to the laws of that .State, where the conjugal partnership does not exist as in this country, but the property belongs privately to each .spouse who acquires it in his or her name, the money/ on the other hand, with which the estate was purchased being absolutely* foreign to the marriage, and belonging exclusively .to Mr. Cuevas. That subsequently he contracted a second marriage with Josefa Padilla, and contributed thereto the .said estate as the private property of the said Cuevas, and that therefore no part of said estate belongs to the succession of said second wife, who died on September 11, 1901, all of which he will duly prove so as to entitle this document to be regularly recorded in the Registry of Property of the district;” and that said deed having been presented for record in the Registry of Property of San Germán, the same was refused by the registrar on the grounds set forth in the memorandum placed at the foot thereof, and which reads as follows: “The foregoing document, the classification of which has been made in view of other documents,, is not admitted to record because the estate forming the subject-matter of the contract having been ácquired by Mr. Cuevas for a valuable consideration, and while married, he cannot, according to the laws of Porto Rico, which are alone applicable to the case, sell it by himself as he does while a widower; and because, even though the laws of the State of New York invoked by the alienor should be applied, the American naturalization papers which he includes are not authenticated; and said defects being incurable, cautionary notice is entered fdr one hundred and twenty days at folio 139 of book 12 of the municipality of Cabo Rojo, estate 346, triplicate, entry letter B, in accordance with the provisions of section 7 of the act of the Legislative Assembly of March 1, 1902. San Germán, February 15, 1904. Dr. Joaquín Servera Silva. There is an internal revenue stamp for the sum of fifty cents. Fees, thirty-seven dollars. Nos. 1 and 7 of the schedulé.”
From this decision Attorney Ramón Falcon, on behalf of the interested party, Francisco Antongiorgi, took an appeal peal to this court, praying that said decision be reversed, and that the registrar be ordered to admit the deed to record.
Mr. Falcon, for appellant.

Opinion:
Me. Chief Justice Quinqués,
after stating the foregoing facts, delivered the opinion of the court.
United States .citizenship papers having been iasned in favor of Felipe Cnevas y Arredondo by the Supreme Court of the State of New York, and said papers having been authenticated by the clerk and the seal of the court, said document does not need any other requirement to render it admissible as genuine and valid in and out of court in all the States and Territories of the Union.
Inasmuch, therefore, as the character claimed by Felipe Cuevas y Arredondo in the deed of purchase and sale in question as a citizen of the State of New York, where the system of community property is unknown, must be considered as proven, his capacity to execute the said contract of purchase and sale of a rural estate constituting his private property cannot be denied, and by a stronger reason inasmuch as said contract does not violate any law or provision in force in this Island relative to the alienation of real.property. This is all in consonance with the principles of private international law, according to which the personal law delating to the individual is that of the country to which he belongs, which follows him wherever he goes and regulates his personal rights, his capacity to convey by acts inter vivos and causa mortis, and the government of marriage and the family. This principle is admitted by the decisions of the courts, and is especially sanctioned by article 9 of the Civil Code in force in providing that "The laws relating to family rights and obligations, or to the status, condition and legal capacity of the persons, shall be binding upon the citizens of Porto Eico, although they reside in a foreign country, ' ' which principle, by a parity of reasoning, is applicable to the citizens of any State residing permanently or temporarily in this Island.
According to this, the incurable defects relied upon by the registrar of property of San Grermán for refusing to admit to record the deed in question do not exist in the case at bar.
Having examined, the article cited of the Civil Code, and articles 65 and 66 of the Mortgage Law, and article 110 of the Regulations for the execution thereof, the decision appended by the registrar of property of San Germán to the bottom of the deed involved in the present appeal is reversed, and it is adjudged that said deed is entitled to record in the Registry of Property. The said' deed and other documents presented are ordered to be returned to the registrar of property of San Germán, together with a certified copy of the present decision, for his information and other proper legal purposes.
Justices Hernández, Pigueras and Sulzbacher concurred.
Mr. Justice MacLeary did not take part in the decision of this case.