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One hundred and ninety-five, promulgated November twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, by Brigadier-General Davis, United States Volunteers, and the laws and ordinances of Porto Rico and the municipalities thereof in force, so far as the same are not in conflict herewith, all which courts and tribunals are hereby continued. The jurisdiction of said courts and the form of procedure in them, and the various officials and attachés thereof, respectively, shall be the same as defined and prescribed in and by said laws and ordinances, and said General Orders Numbered One hundred and eighteen and One hundred and ninety-five, until otherwise provided by law: Provided, however, That the chief justice and associate justices of the supreme courts and the marshal thereof shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and the judges of the district courts shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the executive council, and all other officials and attachés of all the other courts shall be chosen as may be directed by the legislative assembly, which shall have authority to legislate from time to time as it may see fit with respect to said courts, and any others they may deem it advisable to establish, their organization, the number of judges and officials and attachés for each, their jurisdiction, their procedure, and all other matters affecting them.

SECTION 34.-That Porto Rico shall constitute a judicial district to be called "the district of Porto Rico." The President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint a district judge, a district attorney, and a marshal for said district, each for a term of four years, unless sooner removed by the President. The district court for said district shall be called the district court of the United States for Porto Rico and shall have power to appoint all necessary officials and assistants, including a clerk, an interpreter, and such commissioners as may be necessary, who shall have

like power and duties as are exercised and performed by commissioners of the circuit courts of the United States, and shall have, in addition to the ordinary jurisdiction of district courts of the United States, jurisdiction of all cases cognizant in the circuit courts of the United States, and shall proceed therein in the same manner as a circuit court. The laws of the United States relating to appeals, writs of error and certiorari, removal of causes, and other matters and proceedings as between the courts of the United States and the courts of the several States shall govern in such matters and proceedings as between the district court of the United States and the courts of Porto Rico. Regular terms of said court shall be held at San Juan, commencing on the second Monday in April and October of each year, and also at Ponce on the second Monday in January of each year, and special terms may be held at Mayaguez at such other stated times as said judge may deem expedient. All pleadings and proceedings in said court shall be conducted in the English language.

The United States district court hereby established shall be the suecessor to the United States provisional court established by General Orders, Numbered Eightyeight, promulgated by Brigadier-General Davis, United States Volunteers, and shall take possession of all records of that court, and take jurisdiction of all cases and proceedings pending therein, and said United States provisional court is hereby discontinued.

SECTION 35.-That writs of errors and appeals from the final decisions of the supreme court of Porto Rico and the district court of the United States shall be allowed and may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States in the same manner and under the same regulations and in the same cases as from the supreme courts of the Territories of the United States; and such writs of error and appeal should be allowed in all cases where the Constitution of the United States, or a treaty there

of, or an Act of Congress is brought in question and the right claimed thereunder is denied; and the supreme and district courts of Porto Rico and the respective judges thereof may grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases in which the same are grantable by the judges of the district and circuit courts of the United States. All such proceedings in the Supreme Court of the United States shall be conducted in the English language.

SECTION 36.-That the salaries of all officials of Porto Rico not appointed by the President, including deputies, assistants, and other help, shall be such, and be so paid out of the revenues of Porto Rico, as the executive council shall from time to time determine: Provided, however, That the salary of no officer shall be either increased or diminished during his term of office. The salaries of all officers and all expenses of the offices of the various officials of Porto Rico, appointed as herein provided by the President, including deputies, assistants, and other help, shall also be paid out of the revenues of Porto Rico on the warrant of the auditor, countersigned by the governor.

The annual salaries of the officials appointed by the President, and so to be paid, shall be as follows:

The governor, eight thousand dollars; in addition thereto he shall be entitled to the occupancy of the buildings heretofore used by the chief executive of Porto Rico, with the furniture and effects therein, free of rental.

The secretary, four thousand dollars.

The attorney general, four thousand dollars.

The treasurer, five thousand dollars.

The auditor, four thousand dollars.

The Commissioner of the Interior, four thousand dollars.

The commissioner of education, three thousand dollars. The chief justice of the supreme court, five thousand dollars.

The associate justices of the supreme courts (each), four thousand five hundred dollars.

The marshal of the supreme court, three thousand dollars.

The United States district judge, five thousand dollars. The United States district attorney, four thousand dollars.

The United States district marshal, three thousand five hundred dollars.

SECTION 37.-That the provisions of the foregoing section shall not apply to the municipal officials. Their salaries and the compensation of their deputies, assistants, and other help, as well as all other expenses incurred by the municipalities, shall be paid out of the municipal revenues in such manner as the legislative assembly shall provide.

SECTION 38.-That no export duties shall be levied or collected on exports from Porto Rico; but taxes and assessments on property, and license fees for franchises, privileges, and concessions may be imposed for the purposes of the insular and municipal governments, respectively, as may be provided and defined by act of the legislative assembly; and where necessary to anticipate taxes and revenues, bonds and other obligations may be issued by Porto Rico or any municipal government therein as may be provided by law to provide for expenditures authorized by law, and to protect the public credit, and to reimburse the United States for any moneys which have been or may be expended out of the emergency fund of the War Department for the relief of the industrial conditions of Porto Rico caused by the hurricane of August eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine: Provided, however, That no public indebtedness of Porto Rico or of any municipality thereof shall be authorized or allowed in excess of seven per centum of the aggregate tax valuation of its property.

SECTION 39.-That the qualified voters of Porto Rico shall, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, anno Domini nineteen hundred, and every two

years thereafter, choose a resident commissioner to the United States, who shall be entitled to official recognition as such by all Departments, upon presentation to the Department of State of a certificate of election of the governor of Porto Rico, and who shall be entitled to a salary, payable monthly by the United States, at the rate of five thousand dollars per annum: Provided, That no person shall be eligible to such election who is not a bona fide citizen of Porto Pico, who is not thirty years of age, and who does no read and write the English language.

SECTION 40.-That a commission, to consist of three members, at least one of whom shall be a native citizen of Porto Rico, shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to compile and revise the laws of Porto Rico; also the various codes of procedure and systems of municipal government now in force, and to frame and report such legislation as may be necessary to make a simple, harmonious, and economical government, establish justice and secure its prompt and efficient administration, inaugurate a general system of education and public instruction, provide buildings and funds therefor, equalize and simplify taxation and all the methods of raising revenue, and make all other provisions that may be necessary to secure and extend the benefits of a republican form of government to all the inhabitants of Porto Rico; and all the expenses of such commissioners, including all necessary clerks and other assistants that they may employ, and a salary to each member of the commission at the rate of five thousand dollars per annum, shall be allowed and paid out of the treasury of Porto Rico as a part of the expenses of the government of Porto Rico. And said commission shall make full and final report, in both the English and Spanish languages, of all its revisions, compilations, and recommendations, with explanatory notes as to the changes and the reasons therefor, to the Congress on or before one year after the passage of this Act.

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