decreed remained in suspense, and Vianello, the dispossessor, was continued in the possession of the estates in which he was the dispossessor, and thus the confusion and seizure continued. Our law concerning dispossession and the protection of possession is very deficient, for which reason the judge, without attracting much attention, could grant or refuse the solicited protection. But once granted, once decided by him, that the possession should be returned to the person who had been dispossessed, this decision by its very urgent and amendatory nature was to be carried out immediately. For this reason the judge very properly, without stay, admitted the first appeals taken by the dispossessor, despite the fact that he had asked for an appeal with a stay of proceedings, being interested in prolonging indefinitely the situation of seizure created by him and which permitted him to dispose of the products of the estates of which he had taken possession. But when the cases of Dn. Jose Abad and of the widow Lanza came up, in which protection of possession was asked for, and which was granted by the judge, the latter granted the appeal of Vianello with a stay of proceedings, leaving the condition of confusion and seizure in effect. This duality of judgment, which was not explained by the judge on rendering it, and which he has not since attempted to explain in the reports sent to this department, is totally inexplicable and is without justification, in view of the clearness of article 382 of the Law of Civil Procedure, according to which "Appeals without stay shall be granted in all cases in which it is not provided that they be admitted freely or with a stay of proceedings." And even if any doubt had occurred to the judge in this connection, such doubt could not in any way prevent the protection of the possession from being given effect, notwithstanding the appeal, because this is provided for in the analogous case of the prohibition of recovery, as is seen in article 1657 of said law. The parties dispossessed appeared before the sala de lo civil of the audiencia and, by virtue of the right granted them by article 396 of said law, asked that the appeal granted by the judge with a stay be declared to be an appeal without a stay of proceedings. The sala denied this appeal. And when this department, because of the complaint presented in the name of the parties dispossessed, asked the sala to report concerning this point, it explained and tried to justify its decision calling Vianello the dispossessed party, and those who had really and evidently been the dispossessed by Vianello were called the dispossessors, although they had obtained the order of protection of their possession which recognized them as the dispossessed. Judges and associate justices being human may err, but no one may be permitted to err to such an extent as to confound day with night. and the dispossessor with the dispossessed, and much less could such jado. Y mucho menos, si cabe, podía consentirse tal obsesión á los que tienen á su cargo la delicadísima misión de administrar la justicia, base y á la vez garantía del orden y del bienestar de los pueblos. Como consecuencia del estudio de este lamentable asunto y como solución al mismo, esta secretaría tendrá el honor de proponer á ese cuartel general, en esta misma fecha, las medidas que considera oportunas. Y á fin de que esas medidas tengan á los ojos del público la justificación con que el Gobierno debe revestir siempre sus actos, esta secretaría ruega á usted que para el caso de dignarse aprobar aquellas medidas, se sirva disponer que al publicarse las mismas en la Gaceta Oficial, se publique también el presente informe. De usted respetuosamente, MIGUEL GENER, Secretario. SECRETARÍA DE JUSTICIA DE LA ISLA DE CUBA, Al Gobernador Militar de Cuba. SEÑOR: Es muy frecuente en nuestros tribunales que, por disposición judicial ó á consecuencia de ella, dictada en juicios civiles ó criminales, se despoje ó perturbe en la posesión de bienes á terceras personas extrañas al juicio y que tienen dicha posesión legítimamente, es decir, por un título legal. Y es también muy frecuente que á solicitud de un acreedor se embarguen bienes que no son de su deudor, sino de un tercero que posee títulos con que justificar su dominio. La frecuencia de estos casos ha degenerado en un verdadero abuso de que ha tiempo se viene quejando la opinión pública. Ya desde la época de la dominación española adquirió proporciones tan graves el abuso, que los ciudadanos honrados llegaron á ver con temor la inseguridad en que se hallaban sus derechos de dominio ó de posesión. En 1371, el Rey de España, D. Enrique II, en la ciudad de Toro, dictó la sabia disposición contenida en la Ley II, título XXXIV, libro XI de la Novísima Recopilación, que dice así: "Ninguno sea despojado de su posesión, sin ser antes oído y vencido por derecho. Defendemos que ningún alcalde ni juez, ni persona privada no sean osados de despojar de su posesión á persona alguna, sin primeramente ser llamado y oído y vencido por derecho; y si paresciere carta nuestra, por donde mandáremos dar la posesión que uno tenga, á otro, y la tal carta fuere sin audiencia, que sea obedecida y no cumplida; y si por las tales cartas ó albalaes algunos fueren despojados de sus bienes por un alcalde, que los otros alcaldes de la ciudad, ó de donde acaesciere, restituyan á la parte despojada hasta tercero día, y pasado el tercer día que lo restituyan los oficiales del concejo." obtuseness be admissible in those who are charged with the most delicate mission of the administration of justice, which is at once the foundation and guarantee of order and of the well-being of nations. As a result of the study of this lamentable affair and as a solution of the same, this department has the honor to hereby propose to your headquarters the measures which it considers opportune. And in order that these measures may have in the eyes of the people the justification with which the Government should always clothe its acts, this department requests that, in case you may deem said measures worthy of approbation, the present report be published together with said measures in the Official Gazette. Very respectfully, MIGUEL GENER, Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OF THE ISLAND of Cuba, To the Military Governor of Cuba. SIR: In civil or criminal cases before our courts it often happens that third parties are disturbed in the possession of their property or deprived thereof by some judicial provision, or in consequence of the same, although they may be foreign to the suit and in legitimate possession of said property by legal title. And it also often happens that at the request of a creditor property is embargoed which does not belong to the debtor, but to a third party who has titles wherewith to justify ownership. The frequency of such cases has degenerated into an abuse, of which public opinion has long complained. Already in the period of Spanish domination this abuse acquired such serious proportions that all honest citizens realized with fear how insecure were their rights of control or possession. In 1371, the King of Spain, Henry II, in the city of Toro, enacted the wise provision contained in Law II, Title XXXIV, Book XI, of the Novísima Recopilación (Newest Digest), which reads: "No one shall be deprived of his possessions without being first heard and defeated in a suit at law. We hold that no mayor or judge or private party shall dare to deprive any person of his possessions without his having been first summoned, heard, and defeated in the suit, and if an order of ours be produced requiring that possession of one's property be given to another, and said order be given without hearing, let the same be respected but not executed; and if in view. of such order or decree any parties should be deprived of their property by any mayor, let the other mayors of the city, or of wherever this may occur, reinstate the party thus dispossessed within the third day, and after the third day let the members of the council effect said restitution." La Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil y el Código Civil vigentes han consagrado el respeto á la posesión y el amparo á los despojados; pero el procedimiento para obtenerlo es deficiente, costoso y dilatado. El abuso á que me refiero ha sido y continúa siendo una fuente de inmoralidad. A ciudadanos que tenían documentos fehacientes con que acreditar su derecho de dominio y que estaban poseyendo quieta y pacíficamente, se les obliga á seguir un largo y costoso litigio para demostrar que es de su exclusiva propiedad la cosa que se ha embargado en el concepto, equivocado ó malicioso, de pertenecer al deudor. Á ciudadanos que poseen una finca por un título legal, se les perturba ó despoja de dicha posesión; y muchas veces no se les hace justicia sino después de prolongados debates judiciales, durante los cuales los productos de la finca suelen ir á parar á manos de un tercero con el nombre de administrador judicial designado por el perturbador ó despojante. Cuando viene la reparación del daño, es ya demasiado tarde; los frutos de la finca ó han desaparecido con el administrador ó se consumen en los gastos del litigio ó de la administración judicial. Este inmenso abuso, repito, es una fuente de inmoralidad, de donde surgen numerosas cuestiones judiciales, que son la desesperación y la ruina de las familias. La necesidad de poner remedio al mal es tanto mayor cuanto que en la isla de Cuba es muy frecuente el caso de poseedores de fincas rústi cas, que las poseen de buena fé y con justo título, y que, sin embargo, se ven á menudo despojados ó perturbados en la posesión, sin poder reclamar por no tener inscrito el dominio en el registro de la propiedad. Otra causa de despojo ó perturbación, es el hecho de que innumerables fincas rústicas no están demarcadas por constituir parte de grandes propiedades territoriales conocidas en este país con el nombre genérico de "haciendas comuneras." Cree el secretario que suscribe realizar una eficaz reforma jurídica extirpadora de un mal antiguo y profundo, proponiendo á usted el siguiente proyecto de orden, que dará verdadera garantía á propietarios y poseedores, facilitándoles el remedio seguro contra ilegítimas perturbaciones y despojos, que tanto afectan al orden público. De usted respetuosamente, MIGUEL GENER, Secretario. No. 362. CUARTEL GENERAL DE LA DIVISIÓN DE CUBA, El Gobernador General de Cuba, á propuesta del secretario de justicia, ha tenido á bien disponer la publicación de la siguiente orden: I. Siempre que por los juzgados ó tribunales de justicia, civiles ó The law of civil procedure and the civil code in force have consecrated the right of possession and protected parties dispossessed, but the procedure to obtain said protection is deficient, expensive, and lengthy. The abuse to which I refer has been and is still a source of dishonest practices. Persons holding trustworthy documents to prove their ownership and quietly and peacefully in possession of their property are compelled to enter into a protracted and expensive suit to prove that the property, erroneously or maliciously seized as belonging to the debtor and embargoed, belongs exclusively to them. Persons owning an estate by legal title are disturbed in its possession or deprived thereof, and often justice is only done to them after a protracted suit, during which the products of the estate pass into the hands of a third party known as judicial administrator appointed by the disturber or despoiler. When the time for reparation comes it is already too late; the products of the estate have either disappeared with the administrator or are used to pay the expenses of the suit, or those of the judicial administration. This great abuse, I repeat, is a source of dishonest practices giving rise to many judicial questions which are the despair and ruin of families. The necessity of remedying this evil is the greater from the fact that very often in the island of Cuba owners of rural property hold possession in good faith and by legal title, and, notwithstanding this, they see themselves disturbed in the possession of the property or deprived thereof without being able to claim it because of failure to record same in the registry of property. Another cause of spoliation or disturbance is the fact that a great many rural properties are without marked boundaries because they form part of extensive landed estates known in this country by the generic name of "Haciendas Comuneras." The undersigned secretary believes that he will bring about an efficient legal reformation and eradicate a deep and long-lasting evil by recommending to you the following draft of an order, which will furnish a real guarantee to owners and possessors of landed estates, providing them with a remedy against illegal disturbance and seizures, so detrimental to public order. Yours respectfully, MIGUEL GENER, Secretary. No. 362. HEADQUARTERS DIVISION OF CUBA, The Military Governor of Cuba, upon the recommendation of the |