CONGRESS. (THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.) 



169 



I 



civil governor of said islands, and each of whom 

 shall be entitled to a salary payable monthly by 

 the United States at the rate of $5,000 per 

 annum, and $2,000 additional to cover all ex- 

 penses: Provided, That no person shall be eligi- 

 ble to such election who is not a qualified elector 

 of said islands, owing allegiance to the United 

 States, and who is not thirty years of age. 



" SEC. 9. That the supreme court and the 

 courts of first instance of the Philippine Islands 

 shall possess and exercise jurisdiction as here- 

 tofore provided and such additional jurisdiction 

 as shall hereafter be prescribed by the govern- 

 ment of said islands, subject to the power of 

 said government to change the practise and 

 method of procedure. The municipal courts of 

 said islands shall possess and exercise jurisdic- 

 tion as heretofore provided by the Philippine 

 Commission, subject in all matters to such alter- 

 ation and amendment as may be hereafter en- 

 acted by law; and the chief justice and asso- 

 ciate justices of the supreme court shall here- 

 after be appointed by the President, by and with 

 the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall 

 receive the compensation heretofore prescribed 

 by the commission until otherwise provided by 

 Congress. The judges of the court of first in- 

 stance shall be appointed by the civil governor, 

 by and with the advice and consent of the Phil- 

 ippine Commission: Provided, That the admi- 

 ralty jurisdiction of the supreme court and 

 courts of first instance shall not be changed ex- 

 cept by act of Congress. 



' SEC. 10. That the Supreme Court of the 

 United States shall have jurisdiction to review, 

 evise, reverse, modify, or affirm the final judg- 

 ments and decrees of the supreme court of the 

 Philippine Islands in all actions, cases, causes, 

 and proceedings now pending therein or hereafter 

 determined thereby in which the Constitution or 

 any statute, treaty, title, right, or privilege of 

 the United States is involved, or in causes in 

 which the value in controversy exceeds $25,000, 

 r in which the title or possession of real estate 

 xceeding in value the sum of $25,000, to be as- 

 lertained by the oath of either party or of other 

 ompetent witnesses, is involved or brought in 

 uestion; and such final judgments or decrees 

 iay and can be reviewed, revised, reversed, modi- 

 ed, or affirmed by said Supreme Court of the 

 ~nited States, on appeal or writ of error by the 

 party aggrieved, in the same manner, under the 

 same regulations, and by the same procedure, as 

 far as applicable, as the final judgments and de- 

 crefes of the circuit courts of the United States. 



"SEC. 11. That the government of the Philip- 

 pine Islands is hereby authorized to provide for 

 the needs of commerce by improving the harbors 

 nd navigable waters of said islands and to con- 

 struct and maintain in said navigable waters and 

 upon the shore adjacent thereto bonded ware- 

 houses, wharves, piers, lighthouses, signal and 

 life-saving stations, buoys, and like instruments 

 of commerce, and to adopt and enforce regula- 

 tions in regard thereto, including bonded ware- 

 houses wherein articles not intended to be im- 

 ported into said islands nor mingled with the 

 property therein, but brought into a port of said 

 islands for reshipment to another country, may 

 be deposited in bond and reshipped to another 

 country without the payment of customs duties 

 or charges. 



" SEC., 12. That all the property and rights 

 which may have been acquired in the Philippine 

 Islands by the United States under the treaty 

 of peace with Spain, signed Dec. 10, 1898, except 

 such land or other property as shall be desig- 



nated by the President of the United States for 

 military and other reservations of the Govern- 

 ment of the United States, are hereby placed 

 under the control of the government Of said is- 

 lands to be administered for the benefit of the 

 inhabitants thereof, except as provided in this 

 act. 



" SEC. 13. That the government of the Philip- 

 pine Islands, subject to the provisions of this 

 act and except as herein provided, shall classify 

 according to its agricultural character and pro- 

 ductiveness, and shall immediately make rules 

 and regulations for the lease, sale, or other dis- 

 position of the public lands other than timber 

 or mineral lands, but such rules and regulations 

 shall not go into effect or have the force of law 

 until they have received the approval of the 

 President, and when approved by the President 

 they shall be submitted by him to Congress at 

 the beginning of the next ensuing session thereof 

 and unless disapproved or amended by Congress 

 at said session they shall at the close of such 

 period have the force and effect of law in the 

 Philippine Islands: Provided, That a single home- 

 stead entry shall not exceed 16 hectares in extent. 



" SEC. 14. That the government of the Philip- 

 pine Islands is hereby authorized and empowered 

 to enact rules and regulations and to prescribe 

 terms and conditions to enable persons to perfect 

 their title to public lands in said islands, who, 

 prior to the transfer of sovereignty from Spain 

 to the United States, had fulfilled all or some 

 of the conditions required by the Spanish laws 

 and royal decrees of the Kingdom of Spain for 

 the acquisition of legal title thereto yet failed to 

 secure conveyance of title; and the Philippine 

 Commission is authorized to issue patents, with- 

 out compensation, to any native of said islands, 

 conveying title to any tract of land not more 

 than 16 hectares in extent, which were public 

 lands and had been actually occupied by such 

 native or his ancestors prior to and on Aug. 

 13, 1898. 



" SEC. 15. That the government of the Philip- 

 pine Islands is hereby authorized and empow- 

 ered, on such terms as it may prescribe, by gen- 

 eral legislation, to provide for the granting or 

 sale and conveyance to actual occupants and set- 

 tlers and other citizens of said islands such parts 

 and portions of the public domain, other than 

 timber and mineral lands, of the United States 

 in said islands as it may deem wise, not exceed- 

 ing 16 hectares to any one person and for the 

 sale and conveyance of not more 1,024 hectares 

 to any corporation or association of persons: 

 Provided, That the grant or sale of such lands, 

 whether the purchase price be paid at once or in 

 partial payments, shall be conditioned upon ac- 

 tual and continued occupancy, improvement, and 

 cultivation of the premises sold for a period of 

 not less than five years, during which time the 

 purchaser or grantee can not alienate or encum- 

 ber said land or the title thereto; but such re- 

 striction shall not apply to transfers of rights 

 and title of inheritance under the laws for the 

 distribution of the estates of decedents. 



" SEC. 16. That in granting or selling any part 

 of the public domain under the provisions of- the 

 last preceding section, preference in all cases 

 shall be given to actual occupants and settlers; 

 and such public lands of the United States in the 

 actual possession or occupancy of any native of 

 the Philippine Islands shall not be sold by said 

 government to any other person without the con- 

 sent thereto of said prior occupant or settler first 

 had and obtained: Provided, That the prior right 

 hereby secured to an occupant of land, who can 



