An Act Creating a Code Committee to Revise and Amend the Civil, Commercial, Penal, and Procedure Codes in Force in the Philippine Islands and to Prepare New Codes on Said Subjects, Making Necessary Appropriation for the Same, and for Other Purposes

May 20, 1909

ACT NO. 1941

AN ACT CREATING A CODE COMMITTEE TO REVISE AND AMEND THE CIVIL, COMMERCIAL, PENAL, AND PROCEDURE CODES IN FORCE IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS AND TO PREPARE NEW CODES ON SAID SUBJECTS, MAKING NECESSARY APPROPRIATION FOR THE SAME, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

SECTION 1. A code committee composed of a president and four members for the purpose of revising the Civil, Commercial, Penal and Procedure Codes which have been in force to date and the Mortgage and Land Registration Acts, and to prepare new codes upon said matters in accordance with modern principles of the science of law and with the customs of the country, is hereby created.

SECTION 2. The Governor-General shall appoint, by and with the consent of the Philippine Commission, the president and members of the committee created by this Act; said president shall receive an annual salary of fifteen thousand pesos and said members shall receive an annual salary of twelve thousand pesos each.

SECTION 3. To be appointed president or member of the code committee the following qualifications shall be necessary:

(a) To be thirty years of age or over,

(b) To be a citizen of the United States, a native of the Philippine Islands, or to have acquired the political rights of a native of said Islands by virtue of the treaty of Paris, and

(c) To have practiced law or to have been judge of a court of record in the United States, the Philippine Islands, or Spain, or prior to the date of the ratification of the treaty of Paris, in any Spanish territory, for a period of three years or to have held for an equal period of time any office requiring as an indispensable qualification the title of lawyer in the Philippine Islands, or, prior to the ratification of the treaty of Paris, in any Spanish territory.

SECTION 4. The Attorney-General shall furnish, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Finance and Justice, the subordinate employees which may be necessary in order for the code committee to begin and to carry out its duties.

SECTION 5. The committee shall complete its work not later than five years after the date of its appointment and shall present a report of all the work performed by it at the beginning of each session of the Legislature. CAIHTE

SECTION 6. The members of said committee shall have all the civil rights and privileges and shall be subject to the same disabilities as are now provided by law for judges of Courts of First Instance and shall be governed by the same civil-service provisions: Provided, That in case any officer or employee of the Philippine Government or any subdivision thereof shall be appointed upon said committee he shall be entitled to commutation of all accrued and vacation leave to which on the date of his appointment he may be entitled, at any time in connection with actual leave taken by him under the provisions of this section.

SECTION 7. Said committee is hereby also authorized, whenever the Governor-General shall decide that the public interests require and shall so order, to revise, compile, and codify the existing general statutes of the Philippine Commission and Philippine Legislature and to report the same so codified to the Legislature for adoption as the revised statutes of the Philippine Islands. In case the Governor-General shall make the order herein authorized he may extend the time in which said committee shall complete its labors not to exceed one year.

SECTION 8. Concurrent Resolution Numbered Seven of the first session of the First Philippine Legislature, and all Executive Orders appointing committees for purposes similar to those of this Act are hereby repealed, and there is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, annually during the period for which authorization is given by this Act, for the operations of said committee, such sum of money as may be necessary, not exceeding ninety thousand pesos, to pay the salaries of the president and members of said committee and of the subordinate personnel provided in section four hereof and for the purchase of necessary books and stationery and other necessary incidental expenses which shall be approved by the Governor-General.

SECTION 9. This Act shall take effect on July first, nineteen hundred and nine.

ENACTED: May 20, 1909.