Spanish court

“ The Spanish Court seemed to surpass itself in magnificence in the splendid functions of the christening of the first heir to the throne.
Every seat in the chapel of the royal palace was reserved for those of the highest degree, and the gallery along which the royal procession passed on its way from the royal apartments to the church was crowded by people, who could only gain admittance by tickets from the Chief Chamberlain of the palace. ”

“ But by the Code of 1855, revised in 1881, without change in this respect, 'judgments pronounced in foreign countries shall have in Spain the force that the respective treaties given them; if there are no special treaties with the nation in which they have been rendered, they shall have the same force that is given by the laws of that nation to Spanish executory judgments; if the judgment to be executed proceeds from a nation by whose jurisprudence effect is not given to the judgments pronounced by Spanish tribunals, it shall have no force in Spain' ”

“ The King found it impossible to take any action for good in his adopted country. The want of sympathy, and suspicion, which met every suggestion of the young King, allied with the confusion reigning in every department of the Government, made progress unattainable, and the King, having nothing to do with his time in a serious way, was soon found to be an easy prey to the seductions of designing Spanish women, and it was not known till some time afterwards that the Government had to interfere in ridding the Court of an adventuress who managed to get into the Court circle. ”

“ Such as visit Madrid and the Sitios, independent of Court favour, may, for a few weeks, find amusement in the strangeness of the scene. The Court of Spain is, otherwise, too dull, stiff, and formal, to become an interesting residence. The only good society in the upper ranks is to be found among the Corps Diplomatique. The King, wholly occupied in the chase, and the Queen in her boudoir, are, of late, extremely averse to the theatres. Two Spanish play-houses are still allowed to be open every night ”

“ From the fact that both the early Spanish law and the Mexican law were considered, and growing out of some forms of expression contained in the opinion, it has sometimes been said with inaccuracy that the opinion sanctioned the proposition that every Spanish town, considering the Spanish law to which reference has been made, was entitled to a grant of four square leagues. ”

“ Whatever may have been the Spanish law, this is a principle so deep seated in our system that we should regard it as carried into the Philippines by implication as soon as we established courts in those islands. ”

“ We say this, because the argument for the plaintiffs in error in substance but proceeds upon the theory that, although the Spanish law was correctly expounded by the court below, nevertheless that law was inapposite because of conditions which it is insisted existed prior to and at the time the composition deed was issued and when the administrative order of annulment of that title was made. ”

“ It required a strong hand to save the Spanish Court from the overbearing of one whose father had adopted revolutionary ideas.
It was the Duke of Seville, the eldest son of the late Don Enrique, who, when in command of the Guard at the palace, entered the antechamber of Maria Cristina’s apartments one day, and demanded an interview. The Gentleman-in-Waiting said that Her Majesty had just returned tired from a walk, and had given orders that she could not receive anybody. But the Duke insisted, uttering disrespectful remarks as to what he could do if [p. 290] he were driven to desperation. ”

“ In some particular cases, in which any question of civil right is involved, even the political regulations of the viceroy may be brought under review of the court of Audience, which in those instances, may be deemed an intermediate power between him and the people, as a constitutional barrier to circumscribe his jurisdiction. But as legal restraints on a person who represents the sovereign, and is clothed with his authority, are little suited to the genius of Spanish policy ”

“ A young man, who, having studied Roman law at the University, attends three or four years at an acting advocate’s chambers, is, after an examination on Spanish law, qualified to plead at the courts of justice. But once engaged in this branch of the law, he must give up all hopes of rising above that doubtful rank which his profession gives him in society. Success may make him rich, but he must be contented with drudging for life at the bar of a provincial court, and bear the slighting and insolent tone with which the judges consider themselves at liberty to treat the advocates. ”

“ The same conflict of authority between the church and the monarch manifested itself in the relations of the kings with papal nuncios, who in the reign of Charles I began to reside at the Spanish court as permanent ambassadors. In 1537 Charles I obtained a license from the pope for the creation of the tribunal of the nunciature, or court of the papal embassy in Spain. This court, composed in part at least of Spanish officials, was to hear the numerous cases in ecclesiastical law which had customarily been settled at Rome. ”

“ The plaintiffs are not relying upon a merely equitable right; they are asserting a lien which they say the Spanish law gave them until it was barred by the statute of limitations. Whether the Spanish law had any doctrines of laches that in any aspect would be applicable to this case was not argued and we have not inquired. ”

“ This principle of public law is expressly recognised by our municipal constitution, in which treaties entered into by the United States, are declared to be a part of the supreme law of the land. The Spanish treaty and the acts of congress pronouncing the illegality of captures in violation of our neutrality, the duty to restore the captured property to the original owner follows, as a corollary. Supposing the allegations to be sufficiently pleaded, the proofs will fully authorize the court in decreeing restitution to the original Spanish owners in this case. ”

“ The claim of the Spanish government for the violation of its neutral territory being thus disposed of, it is next to be considered whether the British claimant can assert any title founded upon that circumstance. ”

“ This seems to be a mode of proceeding known to the Spanish law in force in the province, in the nature of an inquest of office, as a judicial act, which vitally affecting the royal domain, come within its general superintendency, under the royal order of September. ”

“ The act of 1851 authorized the adjudication of claims to land by virtue of any 'right' or 'title' derived from the Spanish government, and conferred the power in express language on the board and court to presume a grant in favor of a town. The act of 1891 not only entirely omits authority to invoke this presumption, but, as we have seen, excludes by express terms any claim the completion of which depended upon the mere grace or favor of the government of Spain or Mexico, and of the United States as the successor to the rights of those governments. ”

“ The Spanish commentators do not help us, as they go little beyond a naked statement one way or the other. It seems to us that the best evidence of the view prevailing in Spain is to be found in the codification which presumably embodies it. ”

“ The reader not familiar with the Spanish law, prevalent until 1836, in what is now the State of Texas-a region till that date a portion of Mexico, itself formerly a colony of Spain-may not know exactly what a testimonio is. For any such it may be stated that in Spain and her colonies, deeds, contracts, and powers of attorney are executed before a regidor, a public officer, a sort of notary or alderman, exercising quasi judicial power. The parties appear before him accompanied by a certain number of their neighbors as 'instrumental witnesses.' The parties state the matters between them. ”

“ The administration of justice was vested in tribunals called Audiences, formed on the model of the Court of Chancery in Spain. In the entire Spanish dominions of America there were eleven Audiences, of which seven were established in the southern division of the continent,—namely, at Lima, Panamá, Santa Fé de Bogotá, La Plata or Charcas, Quito, St. Iago de Chili, and Buenos Ayres. ”

“ Satisfaction and indemnification should rest on the question of right, which was to be settled by the negotiation. [305]
[399]
This review of the essential points of the two memorials shows that the Courts were as far apart as ever. The conflicting colonial principles were clearly stated, and each nation stubbornly persisted in its own view. In his remarks on this communication Merry conceived that there was little or no room left to expect that any change would occur in the sentiments of the Spanish Court. ”

“ Let any one judge whether I have not reason to fear such persons, and particularly, when they, have so strong a party. Their cabal is very considerable; there are a dozen persons of consideration, all great noblemen at Court. The richest part of the people favour the Spanish pretensions, as well as the Duc and Duchesse du Maine; they wish to call in the King of Spain. My, brother has too much sense for them; they want a person who will suffer himself to be led as they, please; the King of Spain is their man ”

“ The citations in the brief of the learned counsel for the government seem to establish that under the Spanish law, as theretofore administered, one who had been convicted by a judgment of the court of last resort could not again be prosecuted for the same offense. We notice some of these provisions:
In Spanish law the doctrine found expression in Fuero Real (A. D. 1255) and the Siete Partidas (A. D. 1263) .
'After a man, accused of any crime, has been acquitted by the court, no one can afterwards accuse him of the same offense (except in certain specified cases) . Fuero Real, lib. ”

“ Such proceedings are not to be scrutinized with a view to discovering defects. They were sufficient in the view of those who undertook to pass title to the lands under the Spanish system, and our courts should have neither the right nor the disposition to upset such titles by a nice examination of the regularity of the proceedings. Every presumption is in favor of the authority and authenticity of such proceedings. ”

“ But that possession is admitted, and nothing is shown by the pleadings, to authorize the courts of this country to divest it from the captors. There is no infraction of the treaty with Spain pleaded, which can give our courts jurisdiction to restore to the former Spanish owners. The 6th and 9th articles of the treaty of 1795 are the only articles which can have any bearing upon the case, and these only provide for restitution, where the capture is made within our territorial limits, or, where it is made by pirates. ”

“ The theory, then, of the vesting by operation of law in every Spanish town at the time of its organization of a title to four square leagues of land finds no support in the text of the Spanish laws, and is repugnant to their general tenor, as it is in direct conflict with mandatory provisions of that law exacting a grant and its confirmation. Of course, the existence of power to make contracts for settlements in particular cases cannot be held to have deprived the proper authorities of the right to make grants in other cases where a general power to that effect was possessed. ”

“ And when we went to Santander for the sea-bathing, it was the same. The same people accompanied us, the same routine of life engaged us, the same round of interests confined our minds.
Contrary to the popular tradition about Courts, there was very little of the scandal of which the “secret memoirs” of ladies-in-waiting have so much. Conditions in Spain did not encourage such stories, particularly among the aristocracy that came to Court. A Spanish lady would not even receive a call from a man if her husband were not at home; she could not walk alone in the streets ”

“ In 1442, the audiencia of Castile was ordered to hold its sessions in the city of Valladolid, which was thereafter the capital city of Spain, the jurisdiction of the court ultimately being limited to Castile.
Other tribunals were created for the administration of justice in the remaining provinces as need arose. The sixteenth century saw tribunals functioning in Valladolid and Granada. These had the rank of chanceries (chancillerías) [10] . There were audiencias in Galicia (Coruna, 1563) , Seville, the Canaries and Mallorca [11] . ”

“ It being, then, competent, under the Spanish law, for the vendors of property, after parting with title, to conduct in their own names, for the benefit of their vendees, a litigation having for its object ultimate relief such as was sought in the action so instituted by the Laporte heirs in 1887, we are of opinion that there is no merit in the contention upon which plaintiffs in error rely in assailing the sufficiency of the defense set up in the third paragraph of the answer. ”

“ But, as pointed out by the author just referred to, the prohibition in question was omitted from the Spanish Civil Code, and therefore the right to deal with real property involved in a pending litigation was no longer prohibited. ”

“ On the fifteenth, with the assistance of the Ordinary, his case was definitively judged by a sentence pronounced unanimously, that the prisoner hear his own condemnation read in the hall of the Tribunal with open doors; that he make an abjuration de levi, be severely reprehended and warned, absolved ad cautelam, and be banished from this city, Madrid, and the court of his Majesty, to a distance of eight leagues, for the space of five years, the three first of which to be spent in the royal garrison of this city. ”