entitled "An Act to amend Act Numbered One hundred and seventyfive, entitled 'An Act providing for the organization and government of an Insular Constabulary and for the inspection of the municipal police,' as amended," is hereby amended by substituting in lieu thereof the following: "SEC. 24. The Civil Governor, the Chief of Philippines Constabulary, the governors of provinces, with the consent and approval of the Civil Governor, and the inspectors of Constabulary, with the consent and approval of the Chief of Philippines Constabulary, may authorize in writing any resident of the province to purchase or receive a gun or revolver, or both, when satisfied that the person so purchasing, receiving, and having custody of the gun or revolver needs it for his reasonable protection or will use it for hunting or other lawful purposes only: Provided, however, That in the city of Manila such authority shall be granted by the Chief of Police of said city with the consent and approval of the Civil Governor. A list of the licenses issued hereunder shall be kept by the officer issuing them, and notice of the issue of each license shall be given by the issuing officer to the Chief of Philippines Constabulary. The Chief of Philippines Constabulary shall keep a record of all persons to whom written authority to keep an arm or arms has been issued. The Civil Governor may, by executive order, issue regulations as to the form of written authority to be issued and provide for the exaction of a bond upon terms to be fixed by him, which shall be conditioned for the safe keeping of the weapon authorized to be purchased or held. Any person, not connected with the Army or Navy of the United States or otherwise authorized by law, having in his custody a gun, a revolver, or other firearm, or ammunition for the same, who shall not have the license under this section provided, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars and imprisonment not exceeding one year and one day." SEC. 2. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage. [No. 653.] AN ACT amending sections three hundred and forty-four and three hundred and forty-five of the Philippine Customs Administrative Act, so as to provide for the enforcement of certain fines, penalties, and forfeitures in the Court of Customs Appeals. By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. Section three hundred and forty-four of "The Customs Administrative Act" is hereby amended so as to read as follows: "SEC. 344. All fines, penalties, and forfeitures lawfully incurred or imposed, not enforcible or collectible by collectors of customs, either by reason of the nature of the statutory provision authorizing the same or by reason of their being no property under the control of the col lector upon which the lien for such liability created by the imposition of the fine, penalty, or forfeiture can be enforced without a suit or criminal prosecution, shall be reported by the collector within ten days, together with a statement of all the facts and circumstances of the case within the collector's knowledge, or which may come to his knowledge from time to time, together with the names of the witnesses and the provisions of the law believed to be violated on which reliance may be had for condemnation or conviction. In such cases the decision of the collector upon the question of whether there is or is not property under his control upon which the lien for such liability can be enforced shall be final." SEC. 2. Section three hundred and forty-five of "The Customs Administrative Act" is hereby amended so as to read as follows: "SEC. 345. The Collector of Customs for the Philippine Archipelago, upon receiving such report of the collector, shall cause suit or prosecution to be commenced without delay for the fines, penalties, and other forfeitures by law in such cases provided in the Court of Customs Appeals, which court is hereby given jurisdiction to enforce the fines, penalties, and forfeitures against the persons upon whom the same were imposed by ordering imprisonment at hard labor of the guilty person until such fines, penalties, or forfeitures have been paid or otherwise lawfully satisfied. The sentence shall provide that, if the fine, penalty, or forfeiture is not paid, the imprisonment shall continue a sufficient number of days to pay the same, with lawful costs, at the rate of not less than twenty cents in money of the United States per day for each day's imprisonment. The costs of prosecution shall be added to the fine, penalty, or forfeiture ordered. The rate to be allowed for each day's imprisonment shall be fixed by the court in its judgment." SEC. 3. The provisions of this Act shall be applicable to all vessels, and the owners and masters thereof, which are, or shall be, engaged either in the foreign or the coastwise trade of the Philippine Islands, whether by virtue of the Customs Administrative Act or otherwise. SEC. 4. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred. SEC. 5. This act shall take effect on its passage. [No. 654.] AN ACT providing for an appeal from the decision of a single judge in habeas corpus proceedings. By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. Whenever a writ of habeas corpus is made returnable before a judge of the Supreme Court, or before a Court of First Instance or a judge thereof, either in term time or in vacation, an appeal may be taken from the judgment of the judge or court to the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands, whether the judgment be that the person alleged to be unlawfully detained should be released and set at liberty or that he shall be remanded to the custody of the officer or the person detaining him. The appeal shall be taken in the manner in this Act provided. If the prisoner is ordered to be remanded by the judge or court, the appeal, if taken, shall be in the name of the prisoner. If the order of the court or judge be that the prisoner should be released, the appeal shall be taken in the name of the officer or person detaining him. But if the detention is by reason of civil proceedings, the party in interest or the person who caused the imprisonment or detention shall be entitled to control the appeal in the case last referred to. If the imprisonment or detention is by virtue of criminal proceedings against the prisoner, the fiscal of the province or the Prosecuting Attorney of the City of Manila, as the case may be, shall be entitled to control the appeal on behalf of the Government, subject to the right of the Attorney-General to intervene and represent the Government in all such cases. SEC. 2. In case the decision of the court or judge is that the prisoner shall be remanded to the custody of the officer or person detaining him, the appeal shall not vacate such order, but it shall remain in full force until the appeal shall have been determined by the Supreme Court. SEC. 3. In case the judgment of the court or judge shall be that the prisoner be discharged, such discharge shall not be effective until the officer or person detaining the prisoner has been notified of the decision of the court or judge and given an opportunity to appeal. In case the officer or person detaining the prisoner does not desire to appeal, the prisoner shall be forthwith released, as provided in section five hundred and forty-one of "An Act providing a code of procedure in civil actions and special proceedings in the Philippine Islands;" but in case the officer or person detaining the prisoner shall take an appeal to the Supreme Court from the order discharging the prisoner as in this Act provided, the court or judge shall suspend the order of release until final decision of the Supreme Court upon the appeal, unless the prisoner shall furnish good and sufficient bail to the satisfaction of the court or judge ordering his release and in an amount sufficient to secure his appearance and remand to custody should such be the final order of the Supreme Court on the appeal. Bail may be taken in the form of a bond, or of a recognizance with sufficient surety, and shall be for such a sum as the court deems reasonable the circumstances of the prisoner, and the nature of the offense charged, consideredconditioned for his appearance before the Supreme Court to abide its order in the appeal. Should the prisoner fail to provide such bail, or enter into such recognizance, he shall be committed to the custody of the officer or person from whence he came until he shall enter into such recognizance, or until the Supreme Court shall otherwise order. SEC. 4. The appeal provided for in this Act shall be perfected by filing with the clerk of the Court of First Instance wherein the decision was rendered, or with the judge of the Supreme Court or a Court of First Instance who granted the writ and made the order, within twenty-four hours after the order has been made granting or refusing the discharge of the prisoner, a statement that the person so appealing is dissatisfied with the action of the court or judge in respect to the order so made and appeals therefrom to the Supreme Court. The clerk, or judge, as the case may be, shall thereupon immediately transmit to the Supreme Court the original petition for the writ of habeas corpus, the writ of habeas corpus, the return thereon, a statement of all the proceedings therein, and the original order discharging or remanding the prisoner, together with all the papers used upon the hearing, and the orders in regard to appeal and the statement of appeal. The correctness of the papers shall be certified to by the clerk or judge transmitting them. SEC. 5. Upon the receipt of the appeal in habeas corpus proceedings the Supreme Court shall forthwith proceed to hear and determine the right of the prisoner to be released upon the appeal, and to order him to be remanded to custody, or to be released, as the law and facts of the case may require. Such appeals shall take precedence over all actions pending in the Supreme Court. The presence of the prisoner in the Supreme Court at the time of the hearing of the appeal shall not be required, unless he has been set at liberty on bail as in this Act provided. If he has been at large on bail, his presence at the hearing shall be required, and likewise at the time of the rendition of the judgment by the Supreme Court, but his absence from the court shall not deprive that court from proceeding, in its discretion, to hear the appeal and render a decision thereon. In case the judgment of the Supreme Court shall be that he be remanded to custody, he shall forthwith be taken into custody by the officer or person from whose custody he was released. In case the judgment of the Supreme Court is that he shall be released, he shall forthwith be so released. In case he shall not be present when the appeal comes on for hearing, or for decision by the Supreme Court, that court shall forthwith declare his bond or recognizance forfeited, and shall also order that the prisoner be remanded to the custody of the officer or person from whose custody he was taken. The sum due upon the forfeited bail or recognizance shall be collected in the same manner as forfeited bail or recognizance in criminal proceedings are collected. Costs may be taxed for either party, as in other actions in the Supreme Court. SEC. 6. The prosecution of an appeal in habeas corpus proceedings shall not operate to delay or postpone the original action or proceeding to which the arrest or detention of the prisoner may have been incident. SEC. 7. In cases where an original petition for habeas corpus is filed in the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court shall have the power either to decide on the face of the petition filed that no case has been made for the issuing of a writ, or should such a case appear by the allegations of the petition, to issue the writ and make the same returnable and direct the hearing, either before the Supreme Court as a whole, or any judge thereof, or any judge of a Court of First Instance. SEC. 8. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred. SEC. 9. This act shall take effect on its passage, and shall be applicable to pending proceedings. Enacted, March 4, 1903. [No. 655.] AN ACT providing additional methods of enforcing the payment of the cedula tax; repealing the provisions of existing law that no person shall be required to pay a cedula tax who pays as taxes on real estate or industrial taxes an amount in excess of one peso; and exempting certain real estate of small value from land tax. By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. Section thirty of Act Numbered One hundred and thirtythree, entitled "An Act to amend the Provincial Government Act, Numbered Eighty-three," is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following words: "Provided, however, That the provincial treasurer may, in his discretion, enforce the collection of the cedula tax and penalty, after the same shall remain delinquent for fifteen days, by causing the delinquent to be prosecuted before the president of the municipality in which the delinquent shall reside for such delinquency, and upon conviction the person so delinquent shall be sentenced to imprisonment for five days, and such imprisonment shall be deemed a satisfaction of the tax and penalty and entitle the person so convicted, at the expiration of his imprisonment, to the cedula or certificate as though the tax and penalty had been paid in money." SEC. 2. Section thirty-four of said Act Numbered One hundred and thirty-three, reading as follows: "SEC. 34. For the year nineteen hundred and two, and succeeding years, no person who shall pay to the province and municipality together, as taxes on real estate, or as an industrial tax, an amount in excess of one peso, shall be required to pay the cedula tax. The receipt given for the land tax or the industrial tax shall contain the particulars required above for the cedula or registration tax, and shall be used for the same purpose of identification and to avoid disqualification, to testify, to execute an instrument, to vote or to hold office❞— is hereby repealed. SEC. 3. Whenever the entire final valuation of land or improvements thereon, for the purposes of taxation, either in the city of Manila or in any other one municipality, belonging to a single owner, shall not exceed the sum of fifty dollars, in United States currency, no land tax shall be assessed or collected upon such land or improvements. This section shall apply to all assessments of land taxes hereafter made, anything in existing law to the contrary notwithstanding. But all lands and improvements thereon shall be valued by the assessors of real estate, whether more or less than fifty dollars in value, in the manner provided by existing law. SEC. 4. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred. SEC. 5. This act shall take effect on its passage. |