A ruling denying the admission of evidence may be appealed from; but such appeal shall be allowed and determined at the same time as the appeal from the ruling closing the liquidation, if such appeal be interposed.

ART. 937. The period for the taking of evidence can not exceed 20 days, within which period the judge shall grant the number of days he may consider necessary.

This period shall be common for the presentation and taking of evidence, observing in other respects the provisions for ordinary actions which may be applicable.

ART. 938. The evidence shall be limited to the facts upon which the parties do not agree.

The judge shall disallow, without hearing the opposite party, and without further remedy than that of a rehearing, the evidence which is not pertinent or which tends to contradict the basis fixed for the liquidation in the final judgment.

ART. 939. After the period for the taking of evidence has expired, or all that submitted has been taken, the clerk shall make a report thereon, and the judge shall order the parties to appear at the earliest practicable date, within the next eight days.

The same shall be done in case that no evidence is taken on the issue as soon as the instrument impugning the liquidation is presented.

ART. 940. The parties shall appear on the day and hour fixed, and the clerk shall report upon the claims of both and of the result of the evidence that may have been taken; immediately thereafter the judge shall hear the parties or their counsel, should they appear, and shall endeavor to have them come to an agreement.

The proper record shall be made of the result of the hearing, which shall be signed by all the parties present, and authenticated by the clerk.

ART. 941. Within the three following days, the judge shall render, by means of a ruling, the decision which he may deem proper, fixing the amount to be paid in accordance with the final judgment.

In the case of article 933, the judge shall approve the liquidation presented by the creditor, in so far as the debtor may not have proven it incorrect, and which is according to the bases designated in the final judgment.

Said ruling may be appealed from for review only. When the appeal is allowed, a certified copy of the ruling, together with such statement as may be necessary for its execution, shall remain in court, and the original record shall be transmitted to the superior court, the parties being summoned to appear before the same within a period of fifteen days."

ART. 942. At the instance of the creditor, the execution of said ruling may be ordered.

When the property has been sold, there shall be given to the creditor the amount agreed upon by the debtor, together with the costs which may be charged against him; and the difference between said amount and that fixed in the ruling shall be deposited in the proper public

a The violation of this article, as it refers to procedure only, can not be made the basis for an appeal for annulment of judgment.—Decision of May 29, 1884. Questions which are brought up during the period of the execution of the judgment must be decided in the form of rulings, and not judgments.—Decision of June 5, 1884.

establishment until the appeal is decided, unless the creditor should furnish security to the satisfaction of the judge to answer therefor, in which case said difference shall also be delivered to him.

ART. 943. The second instance shall be heard and determined according to the proceedings established in articles 886 et seq. for appeals in incidental issues.

There shall be no remedy whatsoever against the decision of the audiencia."

ART. 944. As soon as the ruling is final or the execution thereof is ordered (the net amount being fixed in all the cases aforementioned) it shall be enforced according to the procedure prescribed in articles 920 et seq.

ART. 945. The provisions contained in articles 931 to 934 shall be applicable in case the judgment orders that the accounts of an administration be rendered and that the balance on hand be delivered; but in place of the period of six days fixed in article 934 it shall be twenty, and that of twenty days fixed in article 937 may be extended to forty days, when the judge considers it necessary, in view of the importance and complication of the subject."

ART. 946. When the judgment orders the payment of a fixed amount of products in kind, if the debtor should not deliver the same in the period fixed, the money value of such products shall be determined and steps shall be taken for the recovery of the respective amount.

The money value of such product shall be calculated at the average market price therefor at the place where the delivery thereof is to be made, or in its absence, at the nearest market on the day fixed in the judgment; and if no day is fixed therein then that of the day when the judgment is executed.

The price shall be proven by means of a certificate of the syndics of the association of brokers (colegio de corredores) if there be one, and otherwise, by that of the proper municipal authority.

ART. 947. No appeal lies from the ruling of the court ordering that the money value of products be determined for the purposes of the execution, but any material error or errors, in the calculation must be corrected as soon as discovered.

ART. 948. All proper appeals taken in proceedings for the execution of judgments shall be admitted for review only.

Incidental issues which may be raised relating to questions not controverted in the action nor decided in the final judgment, are not included in this provision.

ART. 949. The costs incurred in proceedings for the execution of final judgments shall be taxed against the judgment debtor.

Those incurred in incidental issues raised during the execution shall be taxed against such party or parties as raise the said issues, on which point judges and courts must make an express declaration in

"When the judgment rendered for the fulfillment of another judgment conforms to the provisions of the latter, it can not be said that it is violated or in contravention thereof.-Decision of June 6, 1884.

The admission of an appeal for annulment of judgment taken against a decision of an audiencia ordering the rendition of the accounts of an administration and the payment of the balance on hand is not proper.—Decision of April 20, 1888.

• When a question is raised with regard to the interpretation and effects of a Judgment at the time of its execution, the decision rendered, which becomes final, is an integral part thereof.—Decision of February 5, 1886.

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deciding the incidental issue. Should they not do so, each party shall pay those incurred at his instance.

SECTION II.-JUDGMENTS RENDERED BY FOREIGN COURTS.

ART. 950. Final judgments rendered in foreign countries shall have, in the territory of the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, the force established in the respective treaties made by Spain.

ART. 951. Should there be no special treaties with the nation in which the judgment has been rendered, it shall have the same force which is given in said nation to final judgments rendered in Spain. ART. 952. Should the final judgment have been rendered in a nation where, under its laws, judgment rendered by Spanish courts are not executed, it shall have no force in the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico.

ART 953. If the judgment should not be included in any of the cases mentioned in the three foregoing articles, the final judgments shall have force in said territory, if the following circumstances are attendant:

1. That the final judgment was rendered in consequence of the prosecution of a personal cause of action.

2. That it is not a judgment rendered by default.

3. That the obligation to enforce which the action was instituted is licit according to the laws of Spain.

4. That the writ of execution possess the requisites necessary in the nation in which it was rendered in order to be considered authentic, and the requisites which the Spanish laws require in order to be admissible in Spain.

ART. 954. The execution of judgments rendered in foreign countries must be requested of the Supreme Court.

Cases are excepted in which, according to treaties, their cognizance pertains to other courts.

ART. 955. After the translation of the judgment, made according to law, and after the party against whom the judgment is rendered and the public prosecutor have been heard within a period of nine days, the court shall declare whether or not said judgment is to be executed. Against this ruling there shall be no further remedy.

ART. 956. For the citation of the party, who must be heard according to the foregoing article, a certificate shall be issued and forwarded. to the audiencia within whose jurisdiction he may be residing.

The period within which to appear shall be thirty days, if the party is a resident of the Peninsula, adjacent islands, or the Canaries. Sixty days if he resides in the islands of Cuba or Porto Rico. Ninety days should he reside in the Philippine Islands.

At the expiration of said period the court shall continue with the proceedings, even if the party cited fails to appear.

ART. 957. Should the execution be denied, the judgment shall be returned to the person who may have presented it.

If the execution is ordered, a certified copy of the ruling shall be transmitted to the audiencia, in order that the same may give the proper order to the judge of first instance of the judicial district in which the person against whom the judgment was rendered is domiciled, or of the judicial district in which said judgment is to be executed, in order that its provisions may be fulfilled, employing the means for execution prescribed in the foregoing section.

TITLE IX.-INTERSTATE PROCEEDINGS.

SECTION I.-PROVISIONAL MEASURES.

ART. 958. Intestate proceedings shall be commenced by placing in some secure place, under lock and seal, the property, papers, books, and goods liable to be stolen or hidden; depositing with some person offering sufficient security under the liability of the judge, and after an inventory has been made thereof, such property as may require care and preservation, and by adopting such measures and employing such precautions as may be necessary to avoid abuses and the commission of frauds in regard to credits, landed property, rents, and harvested or growing products."

ART. 959. In order to be able to institute intestate proceedings, it is necessary:

1. That there is information of the recent death of the principal. 2. That the existence of a testamentary disposition is not known. 3. That the deceased left no surviving descendants, ascendants, or collateral relatives within the fourth degree, nor legitimate spouse who may have been living with the said decedent."

ART. 960. If the relatives referred to in the foregoing article, or any of them, be absent without having a legal representative in the town, the judge shall limit himself to adopting the measures indispensable for the burial of the deceased, if necessary, and for the security of the property, and to giving proper notice of the death of said deceased to said relatives who may be considered the heirs of said decedent.

As soon as the relatives appear, personally or through legal representatives, the property and goods belonging to the deceased shall be given to them, after which the judicial intervention shall cease, unless some of the interested parties request otherwise.

ART. 961. The judge shall also ex officio take such measures as he may deem necessary for the security of the property, even if the deceased left any of the relatives above mentioned, when any of them are minors or incapacitated.

Tutors or curators shall be appointed by the judge of first instance for such persons, if they should have none.

ART. 962. The owner of the house wherein the death occurred, or any other person with whom the person who died intestate and with

See subdivision 4 of article 270 of the Organic Law.

See art. 912 of the Civil Code.

A person must be considered to have died intestate when no will is presented, nor is the existence of one legally shown by the litigant who contests this legal presumption. Decision of February 13, 1879.

A judgment, in declaring that the preliminary steps taken in intestate proceedings of a married woman, separated from her husband by a judicial decree are valid, does not violate articles 959 et seq., together with article 1040 of this law. Decision of December 10, 1884.

Tutor: The person in charge, primarily, of the education, rearing, and defense, and, secondarily, of the administration and government of the property of a person whose father died before he had attained fourteen years of age, if a male, or twelve years, if a female.

Curator: The person appointed to take care of the property and business of a person who, on account of his minority, insanity, imbecility, absence, interdiction, or declared prodigality, is not in a condtiion to personally administer or manage the same.-Escriche, Diccionario de Legislación y Jurisprudencia. See article 293 of the Civil Code.

out any of the relatives above mentioned, may have lived, must give notice of the death to the judicial authorities, being liable for all losses or misplacements which may occur of the property of the intestate by reason of his failure to give said notice.

ART. 963. Any of the judges mentioned in rule 5 of article 63, having knowledge of the death of a person dying intestate and without leaving any of the relatives mentioned in subdivision 3 of article 959, in addition to taking the measures prescribed in article 960, shall proceed ex officio to take the preliminary intestate proceedings prescribed in article 958.

ART, 964. After the measures mentioned in the foregoing articles have been taken, the judge of first instance, or the municipal judge, in a proper case, shall take the steps he may consider best, in order to ascertain if the person whose succession is in question died with or without making a testamentary provision, receiving, in the absence of other means, and without prejudice to attaching to the record the death certificate as soon as possible, the testimony of relatives, friends, and neighbors of the deceased:

1. As to whether the deceased died intestate.

2. As to whether or not he has heirs of any of the classes mentioned. ART. 965. If it appears that the person died intestate without any of the relatives mentioned in subdivision 3 of article 959 the judge shall:

1. Appoint a special administrator, who shall take charge of the burial of and obsequies over the deceased, and all other matters coming within his jurisdiction, according to law.

2. To take charge of the books, papers, and correspondence of the deceased.

3. To make an inventory of the property and deposit the same with some person furnishing sufficient security, who shall also take charge of the administration thereof.

ART. 966. The depositary-administrator of the property shall fur-· nish security in proportion to the property he is to administer, to the satisfaction and under the liability of the judge who has instituted the preliminary proceedings, and he may be removed at the will of said judge.

ART. 967. If money, public securities, or jewelry are found, the same shall be deposited in the public establishment destined to this purpose, and the clerk shall enter in the record a true copy of the instrument showing where they are deposited, and preserve the original in his possession for delivery to the depositary-administrator when he takes charge of the property.

Should there be no such public establishment at the place where the proceedings are pending, the judge shall provide for the safety of said property temporarily, under his liability, in the manner he deems best, without prejudice to ordering the transfer of said property to said establishment as soon as possible.

ART. 968. The judge shall open the correspondence in the presence of the administrator appointed and the clerk, and shall adopt such measures as may appear therefrom to be necessary for the security of the property.

The correspondence relating to the estate shall be delivered to the administrator, and a copy or memorandum thereof, as may be deemed proper, in view of its importance, shall be attached to the record, and