ART. 498. In the second case of article 496, if the personal property being exhibited, the plaintiff should state that it is the property which is the object of the action, the clerk shall enter a description thereof in the record and it shall be left in the possession of the person exhibiting the same, ordering him to preserve it in the same condition until the termination of the action.

The deposit of said personal property may also be ordered at the instance of the plaintiff, if the requisites of article 1398 necessary for the ordering of a cautionary attachment, are attendant. This deposit shall be for the account and at the risk of the person requesting it, and if he should not institute his action within the thirty days following, the attachment shall be dissolved de jure, an indemnification for the damages caused thereby being made.

The admonition ordered in the first paragraph of this article shall also remain without effect, if the action is not instituted within said. period.

ART. 499. In the third case of article 496, if the party shall designate, at the time the request is made, the protocol or archives in which the original document is filed, he shall not be required to exhibit the document.

ART. 500. He who shall refuse, without just cause, to make the exhibition referred to in cases 2, 3, 4, and 5, of article 496, shall be liable for the losses and damages which may be caused to the plaintiff, who may claim the same in the main action.

If the party required to make such exhibition objects thereto, his objection shall be heard and decided according to the procedure established for issues.

ART. 501. With the exception of the cases mentioned in article 496, the person seeking to institute an action can not request a declaration under oath from the opposite party, or from witnesses, or for any other evidence, except when the advanced age of some witness, the imminent danger of his life, his near departure to a point where communication is difficult or slow, or for other good reasons, said party is in danger of losing his rights for lack of evidence; in which case he may request, and the judge may order, that the witness or witnesses who may be under the circumstances referred to, be examined in the manner prescribed in the proper articles of this law.

These proceedings shall be attached to the record as soon as the action shall have been instituted.

SECTION III.-PRESENTATION OF DOCUMENTS.

ART. 502. The following must necessarily be attached to every complaint or answer:

1. The power of attorney by which the solicitor is empowered to act, whenever he intervenes.

2. The instrument or instruments showing the representative capacity of the party, if he appears as the legal representative of some person or corporation, or if the right he claims is based upon one conveyed to him by another by inheritance or otherwise.

• With regard to the formalities to be observed in documents, see article 396 of the mortgage law, and article 152 of the regulations of September 25, 1892, relating to the tax on property rights.

3. The certificate of the proceedings to effect a compromise (acto de conciliación) or to the effect that proceedings to avoid litigation were attempted in vain, in the cases in which they are an indispensable requisite before instituting an action."

ART. 503. Every complaint or answer must also be accompanied by the document or documents upon which the party interested bases his right.

If said documents are not at his disposal, he shall indicate the protocol or archives in which the originals are filed.

It shall be understood that the plaintiff has the documents at his disposal, and they must be attached to the complaint, whenever the originals are filed in a protocol or public archives from which he may demand and obtain authenticated copies of the same.

ART. 504. The presentation of the documents referred to in the foregoing article, when they are public, may be made by means of a simple copy, if the person interested declares that he has no other authentic copies; but said copy shall not produce any effect whatsoever, if, during the period designated for taking evidence, he does not obtain and include in the record a copy of the document having the requisites necessary in order to be admitted as evidence.

ART. 505. After the filing of the complaint and answer, neither the plaintiff nor the defendant shall be permitted to file any other documents but those mentioned in the following cases:

1. Documents bearing a date later than the date of said pleadings. 2. Documents bearing a date prior thereto, when the party presenting the same states on oath that he had no prior knowledge thereof.

3. Documents which could not be procured before for reasons for which the party interested can not be blamed, provided that the designation mentioned in the second paragraph of article 503 has been made at the proper time."

ART. 506. No document whatsoever shall be admitted after the citation for judgment. The judge shall, on his own motion, reject those

See art. 461 of this law.

This article is violated when the use of waters and an easement being involved and the ownership having been acknowledged by the opposite party, the plaintiff is demanded to prove the same. Decision of November 29, 1888; decision of February 8, 1888.

Administrators and agents must attach to the complaint the instrument evidencing the capacity in which they appear in the action.

A dilatory exception for lack of personality may be taken against a plaintiff who claims a right transferred to him, without proving the assignment by an instrument attached to the complaint.-Decision of May 21, 1879. But the personality exists from the time of the presentation of the instrument transferring the right, a proof as to the validity of this right not being required.-Decision of June 4, 1879.

The violation of this article can not serve as a basis for an appeal for annulment of judgment.-Decision of October 10, 1882.

When the plaintiff designates the place where the documents which must be attached to the complaint may be found, and, before answer is made, succeeds in attaching the same to the records, said complaint can not be rejected on account of a breach of law in the manner presenting the same.-Decision of May 14, 1884.

No essential form of procedure was violated in rejecting a document which the plaintiff had requested be included in the record, believing that this should be done because it bore a date later than that of the complaint and answer, without considering that it related to occurrences of a prior date.-Decision of March -22, 1888.

which may be presented, ordering them to be returned to the party without further remedy.

This shall be understood without prejudice to the authority which, in furtherance of justice, is vested in judges and courts by article 340. ART. 507. Every document presented after the expiration of the period fixed for the taking of evidence, shall be referred to the opposite party, in order that, within the period of six days, which can not be extended, he may state whether he acknowledges the document as genuine, efficacious, and admissible, or the reasons he may have for objecting thereto.

This statement shall be made in a supplementary prayer (otrosi) in the concluding pleadings, when the condition of the record permits it. For the purpose of making such reference only, the original document shall be delivered to the opposite party or parties in cases in which no copy is attached on account of the document being composed of more than twenty-five pages. If there are as many copies as there are opposite parties, the period of time for such reference shall be common and simultaneous for all.

ART. 508. A party who allows the six days to elapse without disputing the correctness of said document, shall be considered to have acknowledged the efficacy thereof in the action.

ART. 509. Within the three days following the delivery of the copy of the objections made to the document, the party who shall have presented the document may briefly answer, setting forth what he may deem proper.

After said period has elapsed no instrument whatsoever shall be admitted on this point.

ART. 510. When the document is a public one and the authenticity thereof is denied, or any of the parties should be in doubt as to the correctness of the copy, it shall be compared with the original, with a citation of the opposite parties, in the manner prescribed in article 598.

In such case, if the certified copy or the transcript should not contain the entire document referred to, such particulars as the parties may designate at the time of the comparison shall be added.

ART. 511. If the document were a private one, it shall be considered valid and efficient when the party whom it prejudices acknowledges it as genuine.

Such acknowledgment shall be considered as made if it be not expressly objected to, or six days are allowed to pass without the document being disputed.

If the said party does not acknowledge the signature, or disputes the genuineness of the document, the comparison prescribed in articles 605 et seq. shall be made.

ART. 512. When the objection refers to the admission of the document by reason of its not being included in any of the cases mentioned in article 505, the judge shall reserve his decision until final judgment is rendered.

ART. 513. In case that one of the parties should contend that a document which may have a well-known influence in the action is false, and institutes a criminal action for the discovery of the crime and of its author, the action shall be suspended until after a final sentence is rendered in the criminal action.

Said suspension shall be decreed as soon as the party interested shows that the complaint in the criminal action has been admitted." There shall be no remedy whatsoever against this order.

SECTION IV.-COPIES OF INSTRUMENTS AND DOCUMENTS AND THEIR PURPOSES.

ART. 514. Every instrument presented in a declaratory action shall be accompanied by as many true copies thereof, on ordinary paper, as there are other litigants, which copies shall be signed by the solicitor or in a proper case by the party, being responsible for the correctness thereof.

For this purpose parties bringing the action in common and represented by the same counsel shall be considered as a single party.

The instruments mentioned in number 4 of article 10 are excepted from said prescription.

ART. 515. In the same manner there shall be accompanied as many copies of every document presented as there are other litigants.

If any document is composed of more than 25 sheets, the presentation of copies thereof shall not be obligatory, but they shall be admitted if presented.

ART. 516. The copies of the instruments or documents shall be delivered to the opposite party or parties upon being notified of the order made with regard to the respective instrument, or when the proper citation or summons is served upon them.

ART. 517. The omission of the copies shall not be a ground for the nonadmission of the documents and instruments which are presented at the proper time. In such case the judge shall fix, without further remedy, the unextendible period which, taking into consideration the length of the instrument and documents, he may consider necessary to make the copies; and if they should not be presented within said period, the clerk shall make the same at the expense of the solicitor or of the party, if no solicitor took part.

From these provisions are excepted the complaints, which shall not be admitted when not accompanied by the copies thereof and the documents prescribed.

ART. 518. The original record shall in all cases be preserved in the clerk's office, where it may be examined by the parties or their counsel during office hours, whenever they wish to do so, without the clerk charging any fees for the exhibition thereof.

The original papers shall be delivered or referred to the parties only in the cases expressly prescribed by law.

• It is not sufficient to indicate suspicions as to the falsity, but it is necessary to make an accusation, as litigants may do according to this article.-Decisions of January 20, 1866, and June 9, 1868.

After a party has presented a document in an action he has no right subsequently to deny its authenticity on account of mere suspicion, because a document can not be classified as false without the previous declaration required by law 11, Title III, partida 3, or which said party could obtain by making use of the right granted by the law of civil procedure.-Decision of October 2, 1866.

Although the institution of a criminal action is optional with the parties. for a suspension of the action it is indispensable that the document, the falsity of which is alleged, be of importance therein, without the violation of this article in any case being a motive for an annulment of judgment.

See article 361 of this law.

ART. 519. The answers to the pleadings and similar matters shall be made in view of the copies, documents, and orders which each party shall retain in his possession.

If, on account of some document having more than 25 sheets a copy thereof should not have been presented, the original shall be delivered to the opposite party for the purpose of making answer, being afterwards attached to the record.

ART. 520. Upon the expiration of the period allowed to a party to answer any pleading, proceedings, or act, without answer being made and after the expiration, in a proper case, of the extension which may have been allowed, such action shall be taken as may be proper, at the instance of the opposite party.

Nevertheless, any proper instrument shall be admitted and it shall produce its legal effects if presented before the day when notice of the order made thereupon is given. It shall not be admitted thereafter, and said order being considered final, the proceedings shall be continued.

ART. 521. If any document has been delivered to the parties which is not returned within the proper period, the proceedings prescribed in art. 308 for the recovery of the record shall be followed.

ART. 522. Excluding the provisions of article 513, the provisions of this section and those of the foregoing one are not applicable to oral trials, which shall be governed by the special rules therefor."

CHAPTER II. Declaratory actions of greater import.

SECTION I.-COMPLAINT AND SUMMONS.

ART. 523. A declaratory action shall commence by the filing of a complaint, which shall succinctly and in numerical order state the facts and the principles of law upon which it is based, and the claim shall be clearly and precisely fixed, as well as the person against whom the complaint is directed.

The kind of action instituted shall also be stated when a question of jurisdiction is to be decided thereby."

Testamentary proceedings being instituted, the heir and the legal representative of the estate must be cited to appear.--Decision of March 16, 1864. When three or more persons are sued together and in solido, the domicile of the greater number must be taken into consideration.-Decision of December 13, 1868.

Arts. 224, 225, 254, 256, and 260 of the law of 1855 are equivalent to articles 523, 539, et seq. of the new law, and establish the manner of instituting actions and pleading exceptions, and the period within which the questions of fact and of law are to be definitely determined and which are the object of the judicial contention, in order that the question being confined to clear and precise terms, the order of the action may be methodized and the status of the litigants be equal, who otherwise would constantly be surprised by new questions.-Decisions of June 15, 1866, and May 12, 1865. For this reason no questions should be considered which are raised after the arguments have been closed.-Decision of October 17, 1892.

The plaintiff must determine in the complaint precisely what he claims and determine the kind of action he brings; and in the answers and rejoinders the plaintiff as well as the defendant must definitely determine the questions of fact and of law the object of the arguments, no definite judgment being permitted on points raised subsequently thereto, and on those which have not been argued or with regard to which no evidence has been taken.-Decisions of December 4,