US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

Under the Treaty of Paris of 1898, between the United States and Spain, a Spanish resident of the Philippine Islands, who left there in May, 1899, without making any declaration of intention to preserve his allegiance to Spain and remained away until after the expiration of eighteen months after the ratification of the treaty, continued to be a Spaniard, and did not, even though he intended to return, become a citizen of the islands under the new sovereignty, and therefore is not eligible to admission to practice at the bar under the rules established by the military and civil authorities of the Philippine Islands.

The laws applicable to other foreigners referred to in Article XIX of the treaty referred not to Spanish laws, but to the laws to be enacted by the new sovereignty. Spaniards only became foreigners after the cession.

The right to practice law is not property within the protection of Article VII of the treaty.

1 Phil. 88 affirmed.

Plaintiff in error applied to the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands in February, 1901, to be admitted to practice law in the Philippine courts. His petition was supported by various certificates as to professional qualifications and good character, and set forth that petitioner was a graduate of the University of Manila, and practiced law in the Philippine Islands from 1892 until the cessation of the Spanish courts;

"that he is of good character, and has not been inscribed in the record of Spanish nationality, in consequence whereof I have lost this, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Paris, and therefore I am neither a subject nor citizen of any foreign government, and consequently, in my opinion, have the condition required by General Order No. 29, July 19, 1899, of the United States military government in these islands, for continuing the practice of my profession."

July 27, 1901, the petition was denied by the Supreme Court, without opinion, on the ground that the applicant "does not chanrobles.com-red

Page 209 U. S. 92

possess the political qualifications required by law for the practice of his profession in the Philippine Archipelago."

Plaintiff subsequently filed a petition for rehearing, accompanied by additional certificates and affidavits as to his professional and personal reputation. In this petition he claimed to be entitled to practice his profession under Article IX of the Treaty of Paris and under § 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which had been enacted since the date of his first petition.

The petition for rehearing was denied by the court in an opinion rendered by the Chief Justice, 1 Phil. 88, which held that petitioner had not lost his Spanish nationality, but was a Spanish subject upon an equal footing with other foreign residents who were not entitled to practice the legal profession under the law, either prior or subsequent to the Treaty of Paris.

In January, 1906, plaintiff in error presented to the court the following motion:

"Appears Juan Garcia Bosque and asks that the honorable Supreme Court be pleased to declare that the petitioner has a right to practice as an attorney at law in the Philippines before all courts. This motion is founded upon the accompanying affidavit."

The affidavit referred to stated that the affiant, on April 10, 1899, and for eight years immediately prior thereto, had practiced law continuously before the courts of the islands. The Supreme Court overruled the motion, and thereupon plaintiff sued out this writ of error. chanrobles.com-red

Page 209 U. S. 95