relatives designated by the founder or by law, and in similar cases where the courts are called upon to adjudicate upon a question of right.

a

ART. 1102. These universal proceedings may be instituted by any or all the persons who consider themselves as having any right to the property, as well as by the representatives of the department of public prosecution on behalf of the State, provided the testator has not otherwise disposed.

ART. 1103. The petition shall be prepared according to the provisions of article 523, and shall be accompanied by the will or foundation and all other documents upon which the action, as well as the right of the petitioner to the property, may be based.

A copy of the petition on ordinary paper shall accompany the original.

ART. 1104. If from the said documents it should appear that the petition is based upon any of the cases referred to in articles 1100 et seq., the judge shall admit it, ordering that those who believe themselves entitled to the property be called by edicts to appear and assert such rights within a period of six months, counted from the date of the publication of the same in the Gaceta de Madrid.

ART. 1105. The edicts referred to in the foregoing articles shall be published and posted in the public places of the locality where the proceedings are being held, in the town or towns where the property is located, and in the other places where, taking into consideration the birthplace of the testator or the object of the institution, it may be presumed that such persons reside.

They shall be inserted also, if there be any, in the Boletin Oficial of the province or provinces to which they appertain, in the Gaceta of Habana or of Porto Rico, in a proper case, and in that of Madrid, attaching to the record a copy of the periodical in which the publication may be made.

ART. 1106. The edicts shall contain the name, surname, and birthplace of the testator or founder, the date of the will or foundation, and anything else that may furnish information as to the object of the institution, and as to the persons entitled to participate in the property, as well as the name and surname of the person or persons who may have instituted the proceedings, and their degree of relationship to the testator or the reasons upon which they base their rights.

ART. 1107. The representative of the department of public prosecution, on behalf of the State, shall be a party to these proceedings until the same are concluded by a final judgment.

For such purpose the deputy public prosecutor of the court shall be cited and summoned to appear as soon as the petition has been admitted, and the copy of the latter presented by the plaintiff shall be delivered to him and he shall be notified of all the orders therein issued.

ART. 1108. All parties who appear in the action alleging a right to the property must file the documents upon which they base their claims, and in a proper case the corresponding genealogical tree.

Should they not have any of these documents at hand, they shall indicate the archives in which they may be filed, offering to present them at the proper time.

See note to article 166.

The instruments and documents shall be attached to the record in the order in which they are presented.

ART. 1109. Upon the expiration of the period prescribed in the first edicts, a second call shall be made for the same time, in the same manner, and with the same publicity, as prescribed in article 1105.

In these edicts shall be stated the fact that it is the second call to appear and the names of the persons who may have already appeared alleging a right to the property, with a statement of the degree of relationship or the reasons upon which they base their claim.

ART. 1110. At the same time and with the same requisites a third call shall be made, upon the expiration of the period of the second, stating in the same that it is the third and last, and adding the admonition that any party who does not enter appearance within this third and last period shall not be heard in the proceedings.

ART. 1111. After the court clerk shall have certified to the fact that the periods required by the three calls have expired, and that the petitions of all persons appearing have been attached to the record, the said record shall be given to the deputy public prosecutor for the period which the judge may consider necessary, but which can not exceed twenty days in order that he may report as to whether universal proceedings are proper, and if the parties who have appeared, or any of them, possess the qualifications necessary for requesting an adjudication of the property.

ART. 1112. Should the deputy public prosecutor object because of the impropriety of the proceedings, or because none of the claimants has the qualifications required in order to participate in the property, the judge shall order that the parties be notified so that they may defend their rights in an ordinary action, should they so desire.

ART. 1113. Should the deputy public prosecutor make no objection, and if there be two or more claimants, the judge shall order a meeting to be held on a fixed day and hour within the following fifteen days.

At this meeting, which may be attended by the deputy public prosecutor and the counsel of the parties, they shall discuss their rights to the property, and the results shall be stated in the minutes, which shall be signed by all those present.

ART. 1114. If in the meeting there should be a unanimous agreement as to the right to the property, and as to the participation of each, or in case there is but one claimant, and the deputy public prosecutor has made no objection, the judge shall order the record to be brought before him with a citation of the parties, and shall render judgment, making such declarations as he may consider proper according to law.

This judgment may be appealed from, both for review and a stay of proceedings.

ART. 1115. Before rendering said judgment, the judge may, in the furtherance of justice, order that the comparison of any document of doubtful validity be made, or that any other document which he considers necessary be included in the record.

ART. 1116. When no agreement has been reached at the meeting, the judge shall order the proceedings closed, and that the parties allege their rights in a declaratory action.

ART. 1117. Both in this case as well as in the case referred to in article 1112, the persons interested may assert their rights in the

ordinary action corresponding to the amount of the property involved, and, if it be unknown, in an action of greater import, all parties making common cause litigating jointly and with the same counsel.

ART. 1118. For the proper order of these proceedings, the following rules shall be observed:

1. The record shall be delivered to the party instituting the proceedings, in order that, within a period of ten days, he may amend his petition by realleging or modifying his claims.

2. If said party should abandon his petition by acknowledging a better right in one or more of the other claimants, the record shall be delivered to them in order that they may assert their claims; and if no such acknowledgment is made, said delivery shall be made to the party who first appears in the proceedings.

3. The complaint shall be referred, without a new summons, to the other claimants in the order in which they entered appearance in the proceedings, and the record shall be delivered for a period of ten days to each party to enable him to present his respective claims.

4. In the case referred to in article 1112 the deputy public prosecutor shall be considered as the defendant, and the record shall be delivered to him for his answer thereto, after all the claimants have presented their claims to the property.

5. The deputy public prosecutor shall also be considered a party in the case referred to in article 1116, and the record shall be delivered to him as soon as the claimants have filed their claims, in order that he may request what he may consider proper on behalf of the interests of the State, or in reference to the fulfillment of the religious bequests to which the property is subject. If he should have allegations to make with regard to these matters, he shall return the record with the indorsement" Examined" (Vistos), in which case a new hearing shall not be granted him unless he should request it; but he shall be notified of all the orders issued until final judgment is rendered.

6. The petitions of the claimants shall be drafted in the manner prescribed for complaints, accompanied by as many copies thereof as there are other litigants, to whom they shall be delivered for the purposes referred to in article 519 with regard to successive services in which the record shall no longer be delivered.

7. As soon as all the claimants have presented their claims, the proceedings shall be continued according to the procedure prescribed for ordinary actions of greater or lesser import, as the case may be, after answer is made to the complaint; and the judge shall order the interested parties, who have not already done so, that those making common cause shall, in the further prosecution of the same, litigate jointly and with the same counsel.

ART. 1119. When the right of one or more of the claimants is acknowledged, the same judgment shall determine what may be proper in order to insure the fulfillment of the religious bequests against the estate, even though no request is made therefor and no discussion thereupon has taken place in the proceedings.

ART. 1120. As soon as the judgment becomes final it shall be executed in the proper manner, with the intervention of the representative of the department of public prosecution only in case it is necessary to insure the fulfillment of religious bequests or any others in

favor of the State or of some corporation or institution dependent thereupon.

ART. 1121. When the estate is to be divided among several interested parties, and judicial intervention is requested or becomes necessary, the procedure prescribed for testamentary proceedings shall be observed.

ART. 1122. With regard to the administration of the property which may be the object of these proceedings, the dispositions of the testator shall be observed and enforced.

If he should have left no instructions, or if the property has for any reason been abandoned, the judge shall take the necessary measures for the security, custody, and preservation of the said property, the provisions established for intestate administrations being observed.

ART. 1123. The judge shall also see that all charges imposed upon the estate by the testator or founder shall be punctually paid out of the income derived therefrom.

ART. 1124. No one shall be admitted as a party to these proceedings. who did not enter appearance during the periods fixed in the edicts, even though they allege that the judicial calls did not come to their knowledge, but they shall reserve their right and institute an ordinary action thereupon against the interested party or parties to whom the property has been adjudicated, as soon as the judgment becomes final.

ART. 1125. Nothwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing article, if in the cases referred to in articles 1112 and 1116, an ordinary action has been instituted in order to secure a declaration upon the right to the property, any person who believes himself to have a preferential right thereto may appear in such action and shall be considered a party thereto, whatever be the status thereof, but in no case shall there be any retrogression in the proceedings, the provisions of articles 765 et seq. being observed.

ART. 1126. Neither shall other actions be admitted which, during the prosecution of these universal actions, may be separately presented, either in the same or any other court by parties not appearing in said universal actions and presented for the purpose of securing a declaration of their rights to the property.

ART. 1127. Such actions shall be suspended until a final judgment is rendered in the universal proceedings, and thereafter said actions shall be admitted as against the parties in favor of whom the declaration of right and the adjudication of the property may have been made in the judgment.

TITLE XII.-INSOLVENCY PROCEEDINGS.

SECTION I-COMPOSITION AND RESPITE.

ART. 1128. Every debtor, not a merchant, before presenting himself as an insolvent, may judicially request of his creditors composition and respite, or both.

This request must necessarily be accompanied by

1. A statement giving the names of all his creditors, their domicile, the origin, time, or date of the credits, and the amount of each one. 2. Another detailed and exact statement of his property and its market value according to his opinion. He can omit from this state

ment only such of his property as may be exempt from seizure according to article 1447.

These statements shall be signed by the debtor or by his representative having a special power of attorney therefor.

ART. 1129. The judge shall act upon said request, and shall immediately order a meeting of the creditors to be called, fixing a period therefor, which can not exceed thirty days, in order that those who reside in the respective territory of the islands of Cuba and of Porto Rico may attend, and the place where and the day and hour when it is to be held.

ART. 1130. At the request of the debtor, the creditors residing beyond the territory mentioned in the foregoing article shall be personally cited to appear, in which case the period above mentioned may be extended to such time as the judge may consider necessary to enable them to attend the meeting.

ART. 1131. Only the creditors included in the statement filed by the debtor shall be cited to appear and attend said meeting.

The citation of persons having a known domicile shall be made. personally by means of a writ. Others shall be cited by means of edicts in the manner prescribed in article 269.

ART. 1132. In the writs of citation, as well as in the edicts, besides making the statement prescribed in article 272, it shall be ordered that the creditors appear at the meeting with the evidence of their claims, without which requisite they shall not be permitted to attend the same.

ART. 1133. If executions are pending against the debtor, they shall not be consolidated with this proceeding, but the course thereof shall be suspended, if the executions are in process of enforcement and before the sale of the property, if the debtor so requests of the judge taking cognizance of the proceedings for composition and respite, who shall give notice thereof to the other judges in writing.

ART. 1134. Executions against property, specially mortgaged, are excepted from the preceding provisions.

The suspension granted by virtue of the provisions of the foregoing article shall be raised de jure if two months should elapse without the composition and respite being granted, or as soon as it is denied.

ART. 1135. The creditors may be represented at the meeting by a third person, duly authorized by power of attorney, which document must be presented in order to be attached to the record.

Persons authorized to appear for more than one creditor shall have but one personal vote, but the claims they represent shall be taken into consideration to form the majority of the amount represented. ART. 1136. In order that said meeting may be held it is necessary that the number of creditors attending the same should represent at least three-fifths of the liabilities.

ART. 1137. The meeting shall be held on the day fixed, under the chairmanship of the judge and with the assistance of the court clerk, subject to the following rules:

1. The court clerk shall make a memorandum of the persons present and their claims which he shall insert in the minutes of the meeting, and at the same time the judge shall examine the written evidence of the credits and the powers of attorney, in a proper case.