CONGRESS

TO AMEND SECTIONS 7, 8, AND 9 of the PANAMA CANAL ACT, AS AMENDED

FEBRUARY 21, 1931.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. DENISON, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 15001]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 15001) to amend sections 7, 8, and 9 of the Panama Canal act, as amended, having considered and amended the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it pass.

The bill has the approval of the President and the Secretary of War, as will appear by the letter attached.

Hon. JAMES S. PARKER,

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 22, 1930.

Chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. PARKER: The receipt is acknowledged of your letter of December 18, 1930, inclosing and requesting a report and comment upon bill H. R. 15001, entitled "A bill to amend sections 7, 8, and 9 of the Panama Canal act, as amended," which was introduced by Mr. Denison.

This is one of the proposals made for the revision of the laws of the Canal Zone recommended by me in a letter to the President dated June 5, 1930, and, in conformity with the provisions of the act of May 17, 1928 (45 Stat. 596), entitled "An act to revise and codify the laws of the Canal Zone," forwarded by him to the Congress with his message of June 9, 1930.

The message and report transmitted therewith were printed as House Document No. 460, Seventy-first Congress, second session. A statement of the general purpose and scope of the bill is set forth on pages 554 to 561 of that document. One change from the original proposal was incorporated in the bill in conformity with a recommendation contained in my letter to the President dated December 1, 1930, which was forwarded by him to the Congress with his message of December 4, 1930, published in House Document No. 675. An explanation of this item will be found on page 6 of that document.

A few typographical errors discovered in reading the bill are listed on the attached statement, and incorporated in a copy of the bill which is returned herewith.

The early consideration and passage of the legislation proposed for the Canal Zone are recommended.

Sincerely yours,

PATRICK J. HURLEY,

Secretary of War.

The bill has been amended by the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce in the following particulars:

Page 2, line 13, strike out the possessive mark after the word "magistrates" and insert the same after the letter "e" in the word magistrates" so as to make the word possessive singular instead of possessive plural.

Page 5, line 24, insert the word "in" after the word "or".

Page 10, line 21, after the word "by" insert the word "other". Page 11, line 8, after the word "judgment" insert the letter “s” so as to make the word plural instead of singular.

This bill is another of a number of bills that have been approved and recommended by the Secretary of War and the President in pursuance of the act of May 17, 1928, providing for the revision and codification of the laws of the Canal Zone.

This is a bill to amend sections 7, 8, and 9 of the Panama Canal act, as amended.

SECTION 7

Section 7 of the Panama Canal act as it now stands confers upon magistrate courts exclusive original jurisdiction of "all violations of police regulations and ordinances and all actions involving possession or title to personal property." This bill amends section 7 by omitting that jurisdiction of magistrate courts. It is considered to be unnecessary to provide for violations of police regulations and ordinances in this act. It often happens that questions involving the possession or title to personal property involves large values that are such as to demand the immediate attention of the district court. There is no good reason for conferring exclusive jurisdiction in such cases on the magistrate court.

Section 7 of the Panama Canal act, as amended, provides that police magistrates

shall also hold preliminary investigations in charges of felony, and offenses under section 10 of this act, and charges of misdemeanor in which the punishment that may be imposed is beyond the jurisdiction herein granted to magistrate courts, and commit or bail in bailable cases to the district court.

The bill modifies this provision of law in some respects, the purpose of which will be apparent.

Section 10 of the Panama Canal act provides that any person violating rules and regulations touching the right of any person to remain upon or pass over any part of the Canal Zone shall be guilty of misdemeanor punishable by fine not exceeding $500, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year or both; and that any person who injures or obstructs, or attempts to injure or obstruct, any part of the Panama Canal, or the locks thereof, or the approaches thereto, shall be guilty of a felony punishable by fine not exceeding $10,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding 20 years, or both.

Offenses against section 10 are defined in that section as misdemeanors or felonies, respectively, and have been provided for in the Criminal Code that is being submitted to Congress for its approval by another bill. Specific mention, therefore, of offenses under section 10 of the Panama Canal act is not necessary in the amended section 7 of the act, and reference thereto is therefore omitted. The words "where such charges of felony or misdemeanor are begun by complaint filed in such magistrates' courts" are by the bill inserted in the law for the purpose only of clarification and limitation of the jurisdiction of the magistrates' courts.

Existing law vests in the Governor of the Panama Canal authority to appoint magistrates and constables. This bill provides that magistrates and constables and other employees necessary to conduct the business of the magistrate courts shall be appointed by the President or by his authority. The purpose of this change in the law is to provide for necessary clerical employees of the magistrate courts, and to vest in the President authority to regulate the matter of appointing these officials as he may deem proper.

Existing law makes no specific provision for oaths of office by magistrates and constables, but leaves that matter to regulation by order of the President. This bill amends section 7 of the Panama Canal act so as to provide specifically that magistrates and constables shall take oath to the effect that they will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of their respective offices. It is believed that this requirement as to taking oath should be provided for by legislative enactment rather than left merely to administrative regulation.

Section 7 of the Panama Canal act provides that

the rules governing said courts and prescribing the duties of said magistrates and constables, oaths, and bonds, the times and places of holding such courts, the disposition of fines, costs, forfeitures, enforcements of judgments, providing for appeal therefrom to the district court, and the disposition, treatment, and pardon of convicts shall be established by order of the President.

The bill amends this part of section 7 by omitting the words "enforcement of judgments, providing for appeals thereform to the district court, and the disposition, treatment, and pardon of convicts shall be established by order of the President." The method of enforcing judgments and the disposition and treatment of convicts has been provided in the code of procedure that is being submitted to Congress for its approval by another bill, and it is therefore unnecessary to leave that provision in the Panama Canal Act that is being amended. The matter of pardoning convicts is taken care of by specific provision in the pending bill, as follows:

The Governor may grant pardons and reprieves and remit fines and forfeitures for offenses against the laws of the Canal Zone and reprieves for offenses against the laws of the United States until the decision of the President is made known thereon.

There has been considerable controversy on the Zone with reference to the power of the Governor to grant pardons. There are many laws that have been enacted specifically for the Canal Zone. There are other general laws that have been enacted by Congress for the entire country and extended to the Canal Zone by specific provisions. Questions have arisen as to whether or not the Governor can exercise pardon power in cases of convictions for offenses against the laws of the United States, such as the narcotic or prohibition.

laws. The act is amended in the foregoing particular for the purpose of clarifying the question of authority to grant pardons and reprieves. Section 7 of the existing Panama Canal act provides for appeals to the district court from the judgment and rulings of the magistrate court, as follows:

Appeals in civil and criminal cases are hereby authorized from the judgments and rulings of the magistrate courts to the district court under the rules and regulations prescribed by section 6 of Executive order of March 12, 1914, relating to the Canal Zone judiciary: Provided, however, That there shall be no right of appeal in criminal cases, except in those cases wherein the defendant has been sentenced to jail, or has been fined in amount exceeding $25.

This bill omits reference to rules and regulations prescribed by section 6 of the Executive order of March 12, 1914, and also omits the proviso at the end of that provision. The matter of appeals from the magistrate court to the district court is fully covered by the codes of procedure that are being submitted to Congress for its approval in other bills. When those codes shall have been enacted into law, the Executive order of March 12, 1914, will be obsolete and no reference to it will be made in the code. Appeals will be taken care of by law. The proviso has been omitted from this provision with reference to appeals because it is believed that there should be a right of appeal in all cases whatever the judgment may be in amount

or time.

Section 7 of the Panama Canal act of August 24, 1912, as amended by the act of September 21, 1922, and by the act of December 29, 1926, showing the matter stricken out in black brackets and the new matter inserted in italics by the pending bill, is as follows:

SEC. 7. That the Governor of the Panama Canal shall, in connection with the operation of such canal, have official control and jurisdiction over the Canal Zone and shall perform all duties in connection with the civil government of the Canal Zone, which is to be held, treated, and governed as an adjunct of such Panama Canal. Unless in this act otherwise provided, all existing laws of the Canal Zone referring to the civil governor or the civil administration of the Canal Zone shall be applicable to the Governor of the Panama Canal, who shall perform all such executive and administrative duties required by existing law.

The President is authorized to determine or cause to be determined what towns shall exist in the Canal Zone and subdivide and from time to time resubdivide said Canal Zone into subdivisions, to be designated by name or number, so that there shall be situated one town in each subdivision, and the boundaries of each subdivision shall be clearly defined.

In each town there shall be a magistrate's court with exclusive original jurisdiction coextensive with the subdivision in which it is situated of all civil cases in which the principal sum claimed does not exceed $300, and all criminal cases wherein the punishment that may be imposed shall not exceed a fine of $100, or imprisonment [not exceeding] for thirty days, or both, [and all violations of police regulations and ordinances] and all actions involving [possession or title to personal property or] the forcible entry and detainer of real estate.

Such magistrates' courts shall also hold preliminary [investigations] hearings in all charges of felony [and offenses under section 10 of this act] and in charges of misdemeanor in which the punishment that may be imposed is beyond the jurisdiction herein granted to the magistrates' courts, where such charges of felony or misdemeanor are begun by complaint filed in such magistrates' courts, and commit or bail in bailable cases to the district court.

A sufficient number of magistrates and constables, who must be citizens of the United States, and other employees necessary to conduct the business of such courts, shall be appointed by the [Governor of the Panama Canal] President or by his authority for terms of four years and until their successors are appointed and qualified, and the compensation of such persons shall be fixed by the President, or by his authority. [, until such time as Congress may by law regulate the same.]