TITLE XI.

COSTS IN ACTIONS.1

ART. 239. A ruling or decision which terminates a cause or any of the issues therein must contain a decision as to the payment of costs in the proceedings.

2

ART. 240. This resolution may consist of:

1. A declaration of costs ex officio.

2. The imposition of their payment upon the accused, fixing the proportion which each of them is to pay, if there be several.

Costs shall never be taxed against accused persons who are acquitted.

3. The adjudgment of the same against the private complainant or civil plaintiff.

The latter shall be adjudged to pay the costs when it shall appear from the proceedings that they have acted maliciously or in bad faith.3 ART. 241. The costs shall consist of:

1. The cost of the stamped paper used in the cause.

2. The payment of the court fees according to schedule.

3. The payment of the fees of attorneys and experts.

4. The payment of the indemnities pertaining to the witnesses who may have demanded them, and the other expenses which may have arisen in connection with the hearing of the cause.

ART. 242. When the costs are declared to be ex officio, the amounts referred to in numbers 1 and 2 of the foregoing article will not be paid.

The solicitors and attorneys who may have represented and defended any of the parties, and the experts and witnesses who shall have testified at their request, may require said party, if the proceedings are

This title confines itself to establishing general rules for the taxation of costs and the manner of recovering the same; but the special titles relating to questions of jurisdiction, challenges, proceedings in forma pauperis, preliminary action necessary to enforce the criminal liability of judges and justices, etc., determine who are to pay the same in each respective case. Decrees upon costs can not be annulled. (Decisions of January 10, 1890, and January 18, 1887.)

The precept of this article has been confirmed by various decisions of the Supreme Court, notably by that of February 12, 1879.

Taxation against the denouncer.—Should the denouncer not appear as the private complainant or civil plaintiff, as the law relieves him of the obligation of proving the acts denounced, and as he contracts no other liability but that pertaining to the crimes he may have committed by means of the denunciation or on the occasion thereof, costs can not be taxed against him. (Second Chamber, decision of February 12, 1879.)

obtenido el beneficio de pobreza, el abono de los derechos, honorarios é indemnizaciones que les correspondieren, reclamándolos del juez ó tribunal que conociese de la causa.

Se procederá á su exacción por la vía de apremio si, presentadas las respectivas reclamaciones y hechas saber á las partes, no pagasen éstas en el término prudencial que el juzgado ó tribunal señale, ni tachasen aquéllas de ilegítimas ó, excesivas. En este último caso, se procederá previamente como dispone el párrafo segundo del artículo 244.

El secretario del tribunal ó juzgado que interviniere en la ejecución de la sentencia hará la tasación de las costas de que hablan los números 1.o y 2.° del artículo anterior. Los honorarios de los abogados y peritos se acreditarán por minutas firmadas por los que los hubiesen devengado. Las indemnizaciones de los testigos se computarán por la cantidad que oportunamente se hubiese fijado en la causa. Los demás gastos serán regulados por el tribunal ó juzgado, con vista de los justificantes.1

ART. 243. Hechas la tasación y regulación de costas, se dará vista al ministerio fiscal y á la parte condenada al pago, para que manifiesten lo que tengan por conveniente en el término de tres días.1

ART. 244. En vista de lo que el ministerio fiscal y dicho interesado manifestaren, el juez ó tribunal aprobará ó reformará la tasación ó regulación.

Si se tachare de ilegítima ó excesiva alguna partida de honorarios, el juez ó tribunal, antes de resolver, podrá pedir informe á dos individuos de la misma profesión del que hubiese presentado la minuta tachada de ilegítima ó excesiva, ó á la junta de gobierno del colegio si los que ejerciesen dicha profesión estuviesen colegiados en el punto de residencia del juez ó tribunal.'

ART. 245. Aprobadas ó reformadas la tasación y regulación, se procederá á hacer efectivas las costas por la vía de apremio, establecida en la ley de enjuiciamiento civil, con los bienes de los que hubiesen sido condenados á su page.

ART. 246. Si los bienes del penado no fuesen bastantes para cubrir todas las responsabilidades pecuniarias, se procederá para el orden y preferencia de pago, con arreglo á lo establecido en los artículos respectivos del código penal.3

1 Véase en el Apéndice I las Ordenes Núms. 166 y 181 de 1900.

2Se ocupan del procedimiento de apremio los artículos 1479 y siguientes de la ley de enjuiciamiento civil vigente en las islas de Cuba y Puerto Rico.

Los artículos del Codigo Penal que determinan el orden de preferencia, son los 48 al 51. (Véase el Apendice II.)

not in forma pauperis, to pay the fees, charges, and indemnities due them, submitting their claim through the judge or court taking cognizance of the cause.

Compulsory process shall be employed for their recovery if, upon the presentation of the respective claims and their presentation to the parties they should not pay the same within a reasonable time fixed by the judge or court, or charge that they are illegal or excessive. In the latter case, the provisions of the second paragraph of article 244 shall first be observed.

The clerk of the court or tribunal intervening in the execution of the sentence shall make the taxation of costs referred to in numbers 1 and 2 of the foregoing article. The fees of the attorneys and experts shall be vouched for by memoranda signed by the persons charging the same. The indemnities of the witnesses shall be computed according to the amount duly fixed in the cause. The other costs shall be fixed by the superior or inferior court, in view of the vouchers.'

ART. 243. After the taxation and appraisement of the costs, the prosecuting official and the party against whom the costs were adjudged shall be heard in order that they may state what they deem proper.1

ART. 244. In view of the statements of the prosecuting official and the said party, the judge or court shall approve or modify the taxation.

If any item of the fees should be objected to as illegal or excessive, the judge or court before deciding may call for the opinion of two persons of the same profession as the one presenting the item objected to as illegal or excessive, or the opinion of the board of administration of the college, if the persons engaged in such profession should belong to an association located at the seat of the judge or court.1

ART. 245. After the taxation or appraisement has been approved or amended, compulsory process, established by the Law of Civil Procedure, shall be instituted for the purpose of enforcing the payment thereof upon the property of those sentenced thereto."

ART. 246. If the person sentenced should not possess sufficient property to meet all pecuniary liabilities, the provisions of the respective articles of the Penal Code shall be observed for the order and preference of payment.3

1See in Appendix I, Orders Nos. 166 and 181 of 1900.

* Articles 1479 et seq. of the Law of Civil Procedure in force in Cuba and Porto Rico relate to compulsory process.

The articles of the Penal Code which determine the order of preference are articles 48 to 51. (See Appendix II.)

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TÍTULO XII.

LAS OBLIGACIONES DE LOS JUECES Y TRIBUNALES RELATIVAS Á LA
ESTADÍSTICA JUDICIAL.

ART. 247. Los jueces municipales tendrán obligación de remitir cada mes al presidente de la audiencia territorial respectiva un estado de los juicios sobre faltas que durante el mes anterior se hubiesen celebrado.

ART. 248. Los jueces de instrucción remitirán mensualmente al presidente de la respectiva sala ó audiencia de lo criminal un estado de los sumarios principiados, pendientes y conclusos durante el mes anterior.

ART. 249. Los presidentes de las expresadas salas ó audiencias remitirán al presidente de la audiencia territorial cada trimestre un estado resumen de los que hubieren recibido mensualmente de los jueces de instrucción, y otro de las causas pendientes y terminadas ante su tribunal durante el trimestre.

Los trimestres se formarán contando desde el comienzo del año judicial.

ART. 250. Los presidentes de las audiencias territoriales remitirán al Ministerio de Ultramar, en el primer mes de cada trimestre, estados en resumen de los que hubieren recibido de los jueces municipales y de los tribunales de lo criminal.

ART. 251. Las salas segunda y tercera del Tribunal Supremo remitirán al Ministerio de Ultramar un estado de los recursos de casación ante ellas pendientes y por ellas fallados durante el trimestre.

Cuando la sala de lo criminal de cualquier audiencia territorial ó la tercera del Tribunal Supremo, ó éste constituido en pleno, principiaren ó fallaren alguna causa criminal que especialmente les estuviese encomendada, lo pondrán inmediatamente en conocimiento del Ministro de Ultramar, remitiendo en su caso testimonio de la sentencia.

ART. 252. Los tribunales remitirán directamente al registro central de los procesados y penados, establecido en el Ministerio de Ultramar, notas autorizadas de las sentencias firmes en las que se imponga alguna pena por delito, y de los autos en que se declare la rebeldía de los procesados, con arreglo á los modelos que se les envíen al efecto. ART. 253. El tribunal que dicte sentencia firme condenatoria en cualquier causa criminal remitirá testimonio de la parte dispositiva de la misma al juez de instrucción del lugar en que se hubiere formado el sumario.

TITLE XII.

OBLIGATIONS OF JUDGES AND COURTS WITH REGARD TO JUDICIAL STATISTICS.

ART. 247. Municipal judges shall be obliged to transmit every month to the presiding justice of the respective territorial audiencia a statement of the actions for misdemeanors which may have been heard during the month.

ART. 248. Judges of examination shall forward monthly to the presiding justice of the respective criminal chamber or audiencia a statement of the sumarios begun, pending, or concluded during the previous month.

ART. 249. The presiding judges of the said chambers or audiencias shall transmit every quarter to the presiding judge of the territorial audiencia a brief report of the statements received monthly from the judges of examination, and another statement of the causes pending and concluded before their court during the quarter.

The quarters shall be formed counting from the beginning of the judicial year.

ART. 250. The presiding judges of the territorial audiencias shall transmit to the Colonial department, during the first month of each quarter, brief reports of the statements received from the municipal judges and the criminal courts.

ART. 251. The second and third chambers of the Supreme Court shall forward to the Colonial department a statement of the appeals for annulment of judgment pending before the same and decided by them during the quarter.

When the criminal chamber of any territorial audiencia or the third chamber of the supreme court, or the latter sitting in banc, shall begin or decide some criminal cause especially entrusted to them, they shall immediately inform the colonial minister, transmitting a transcript of the sentence in a proper case.

ART. 252. The courts shall transmit directly to the "Registro central de los procesados y penados," established in the colonial department, authenticated memoranda of the final sentences imposing some penalty for a crime, and of the decrees declaring the persons accused in default, in accordance with the forms sent them for the purpose. ART. 253. A court rendering a final decision sentencing a person accused in any criminal cause shall transmit a certified copy of the adjudging portion of said sentence to the judge of examination of the place where the sumario was conducted.