ART. 292. The judges shall examine these registries every year, and shall take the necessary steps in each case to protect the interests of the persons subject to guardianship.

TITLE X.-THE FAMILY COUNCIL.

SECTION FIRST.-Manner of constituting the family council.

ART. 293. If the department of public prosecution or the municipal judge should have knowledge that in the territory under their jurisdiction there exists any of the persons referred to in article 200, the former shall request and the latter shall order, of his own motion, or at the instance of the public prosecutor, according to the cases, the constitution of a family council.

The following are obliged to advise the municipal judge of any act which gives rise to a guardianship, as soon as they have knowledge. thereof the testamentary guardian, the relatives called to the legitiinate guardianship, and those who, according to law, are members of the council; being liable, should they not do so, to indemnify losses and damages.

The municipal judge shall cite the persons who are to compose the family council, informing them of the purpose of the meeting, and the day, hour, and place where it shall be held.

ART. 294. The family council shall be composed of the persons whom the father, or the mother, in a proper case, may have designated in the will, and, in the absence thereof, of the male ascendants and descendants, and of the brothers and husbands of the living sisters of the minor or incapacitated person, whatever their number may be. If it is less than five, this number shall be made up with the nearest male relatives of both the paternal and maternal lines; and, should there not be any or should they not be bound to form part of the council, the municipal judge shall appoint in their place honest persons, preferring the friends of the parents of the minor or incapacitated person.

Should there be no ascendants, descendants, brothers, or husbands of living sisters, the municipal judge shall form the council with the five nearest male relatives of the minor or incapacitated person, and, should there not be the full number of relatives, or any, he shall substitute them with honest persons, preferring always the friends of the parents.

ART. 295. In case of equal degree of relationship, preference shall be given in forming the family council to the oldest relative.

ART. 296. The courts may remedy the nullity which may arise by reason of the nonobservance of the preceding articles, if not due to fraud nor injuring the person or property of the person subject to guardianship, but correcting the error committed in the formation of the council.

ART. 297. The relatives of the minor or incapacitated person designated by law, who do not reside within a radius of 30 kilometers of the court having jurisdiction over the guardianship, shall not be forced to form part of the council; but they shall be members of the council if they voluntarily appear to accept the duty, for which purpose they must be cited by the municipal judge.

ART. 298. The causes which excuse, disqualify, and give rise to the removal of guardins and protutors are applicable to the members of

the family council. Neither can the persons excluded in their wills from this duty by the father or by the mother, in a proper case, be members thereof."

ART. 299. The guardian and protutor can not be at the same time members of the family council.

ART. 300. The meeting for the formation of the family council shall be presided over by the municipal judge. The persons cited are obliged to appear in person or through a special attorney, who can never represent more than one person. Should they not appear, the judge may impose upon them a fine of not to exceed 50 pesetas.

ART. 301. After the family council has been constituted by the municipal judge it shall proceed to prescribe all the measures necessary to take care of the person and property of the minor or incapacitated person and to constitute the guardianship.

ART. 302. The family council for natural children shall be constituted under the same rules as that for legitimate children, but appointing as members thereof the relatives of the father or mother who may have acknowledged them.

That of other illegitimate children shall be composed of the public prosecutor, who shall be the president, and four honest neighbors.

ART. 303. The administration of every charitable institution shall have over the orphans in the same who are minors all the powers corresponding to guardians and to the family council.

SECTION SECOND.-Method of procedure by the family council.

ART. 304. The member elected by the other members shall be the president of the council.

It is the duty of the president

1. To call a meeting of the council whenever he considers it advisable, or at the request of the members, of the guardian, or of the protutor, and to preside over its deliberations.

2. To draft and to give the reasons for the resolutions, recording the opinion of each member, requiring said members to authenticate the minutes with their signatures.

3. To carry out the resolutions.

ART. 305. The family council shall not adopt resolutions on matters submitted to them unless three members at least are present.

Resolutions shall always be adopted by a majority of votes.
The vote of the president shall decide in case of a tie.

ART. 306. The members of the family council are obliged to attend the meetings of the same to which they may have been called. Should they not attend, nor give any legitimate excuse, the president of the council shall inform the municipal judge thereof, who may impose on them a fine not exceeding 50 pesetas.

ART. 307. No member of the family council shall attend its meetings, nor cast a vote, when a matter is in question in which he, his descendants, ascendants, or spouse has any interest, but he may be heard if the council deems it advisable.

ART. 308. The guardian and the protutor are obliged to attend the meetings of the family council whenever cited, but shall have no vote. They may also attend if the council meets at their request.

The person subject to guardianship has a right to attend and to be heard, provided he is over 14 years of age.

ART. 309. The family council shall take cognizance of matters of their competency, in accordance with the provisions of this code.

ART. 310. The members who may have dissented from the majority in voting on any resolution, as well as the guardian or protutor, or any relative of the minor or other person interested in the decision, with the exception of the case of article 242, may appeal to the judge of first instance.

ART. 311. At the conclusion of the guardianship, and the consequent dissolution of the family council, the latter shall deliver the minutes of its sessions to the person who was subject to guardianship, or to the person representing his rights.

ART. 312. The members of the family council are liable for the damages which the person subject to guardianship may suffer by reason of their malice or culpable negligence.

The members who may have dissented from the resolution causing the injury shall be exempted from this liability.

ART. 313. The family council shall be dissolved in the same cases in which the guardianship is extinguished.

TITLE XI.-EMANCIPATION AND MAJORITY.

CHAPTER FIRST.-Emancipation.

ART. 314. Emancipation takes place:

1. By the marriage of the minor.

2. By majority.

3. By concession of the father or mother exercising the parental authority.

ART. 315. Marriage produces legal emancipation with the limitations mentioned in article 59 and in rule 3 of article 50.

ART. 316. The emancipation, treated of in the third paragraph of article 314, shall be granted by a public instrument or by appearance before the municipal judge, which shall be recorded in the civil registry, and in the meantime shall have no effect with regard to third persons.

ART. 317. Emancipation qualifies the minor to control his person and property, as if of age; but, until he attains his majority, the person emancipated can not borrow money nor encumber or sell real property without the consent of his or her father, and, in the absence of the latter, that of the mother, and, in the absence of both, without that of a guardian. Neither can he nor she appear in court without the attendance of said persons.

ART. 318. In order that the emancipation may take place by concession of the father or of the mother, it shall be necessary that the minor be 18 years of age and consent thereto.

ART. 319. After the emancipation has been granted it can not be revoked.

CHAPTER SECOND.-Majority.

ART. 320. Majority commences on attaining 23 years of age. A person of age is qualified for all acts of civil life, with the exceptions established by this code in special cases."

• See General Order No. 219, Headquarters Department Porto Rico, December 18, 1899.

ART. 321. Notwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing article, unmarried daughters of age, but under 25 years, can not leave the parental home without permission of the father or mother in whose company they live, unless to marry or when the father or mother have contracted another marriage.

ART. 322. The orphaned minor may obtain the benefit of majority by concession of the family council with the approval of the presiding judge of the territorial audiencia of the district, after hearing the public prosecutor.

ART. 323. For the concession and approval mentioned in the preceding article it is necessary

1. That the minor be over eighteen years of age.

2. That he or she consent to the qualification.

3. That it is considered advantageous to the minor.

The qualification shall be recorded in the registry of guardianships and in the civil registry.

ART. 324. The provisions of article 317 shall be applicable to the minor who has obtained the qualification of majority.

TITLE XII.-REGISTRY OF CIVIL STATUS.

ART. 325. Acts relating to the civil status of persons shall be recorded in the registry devoted to that purpose.

ART. 326. The registry of civil status shall include the records or entries of births, marriages, emancipations, acknowledgements and legitimations, deaths, naturalizations, and residences, and shall be in charge of the municipal judges or other officials of the civil order in Spain, and of consular or diplomatic agents in foreign countries.

ART. 327. The records in the registry shall be evidence of the civil status, and any other evidence can be admitted only when such records have never existed or the books of the registry should have disappeared or when a litigation is instituted before the courts.

ART. 328. It shall not be necessary that a newly born child be presented to the official in charge of the registry for the record of birth, the statement of the person obliged to make it being sufficient. This statement shall include all the conditions required by law and shall be signed by its author or by two witnesses, at his request, should he not be able to do so.

ART. 329. In canonical marriages it shall be the obligation of the contracting parties to furnish the official representing the State who attends the ceremony all the data required for its record in the civil registry. Those referring to banns, impediments, and their disposition are excepted and not required to be entered in the registry.

ART. 330. Naturalizations shall have no legal effects whatsoever until they are entered in the registry, whatever may be the evidence proving them and the date on which they have been granted.

ART. 331. Municipal judges and those of first instance, in a proper case, may punish the violations of the provisions relating to the civil registry, when they do not constitute a crime or offense, with a fine of 20 to 100 pesetas.

ART. 332. The law of June 17, 1870, shall continue in force in sc far as not modified by the preceding articles.

Book Second.-PROPERTY, OWNERSHIP, AND ITS MODIFICATIONS.

TITLE I.-CLASSIFICATION OF PROPERTY.

PRELIMINARY PROVISION.

ART. 333. All things which are or may be the subject of appropriation are considered either as personal or real property.

CHAPTER FIRST.-Real property.

ART. 334. Real property consists of—

1. Lands, buildings, roads, and constructions of all kinds adherent to the soil.

2. Trees and plants and ungathered products while they are not separated from the land and form an integral part of the real property.

3. All that is attached to real property in a fixed manner, so that it can not be separated therefrom without breaking the matter or injuring the object.

4. Statues, reliefs, paintings, or other useful or ornamental objects placed in buildings or on lands by the owner of the real estate in such a manner as to show the intention of attaching them permanently to the estate.

5. Machinery, vessels, instruments, or utensils, destined by the owner of the estate to the industry or work he may carry on in a building or estate and which are directly required to satisfy the necessities of the said work.

6. Vivaries for animals, pigeon houses, beehives, fish ponds, or beds for similar purposes, when the owner has placed or preserves them for the purpose of keeping the same attached to the estate and forming a permanent part thereof.

7. Manure destined to the cultivation of an estate, when it is on the ground in which it is to be employed.

8. Mines, quarries, and dumps, while attached to the soil, and running or stagnant waters.

9. Docks and constructions, even though floating, the purpose and conditions of which are to remain at a fixed place in a river, lake, or

on a coast.

10. Administrative concessions for public works, and easements. and other property rights in real estate.

CHAPTER SECOND.-Personal property.

ART. 335. Personal property is considered anything susceptible of appropriation and not included in the foregoing chapter, and, in general, all that which can be carried from one place to another without damage to the real estate to which it may be attached.

ART. 336. Incomes or pensions, either for life or hereditary, in favor of a person or family, provided they do not encumber real estate with a property lien, as well as alienated offices, contracts for public services, and mortgage loan bonds or certificates are also personal property.