REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF FINANCE AND JUSTICE. DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND JUSTICE, Manila, October 19, 1911. GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to submit the following report of the department of finance and justice, which, unless otherwise stated, will cover only the year ended June 30, 1911. JUDICIARY. SUPREME COURT. There were pending at the beginning of the fiscal year 734 cases, of which.368 were civil and 366 criminal. During the year there were filed 418 civil and 420 criminal cases, a total of 838, as against 338 civil and 449 criminal cases filed during the previous year, showing an increase of 51 cases. More cases were disposed of by the court than during the previous year. There were decided 244 civil and 343 criminal cases, a total of 587, as against 224 civil and 317 criminal cases, a total of 541, for the fiscal year 1910. One hundred and seventeen cases were otherwise disposed of, of which 50 were civil and 67 were criminal cases, as compared with 109 cases, 51 civil and 58 criminal, for the previous fiscal year. There were pending at the close of the year 868 cases, 492 civil and 376 criminal. Notwithstanding the large number of cases disposed of by the supreme court during the year, there were at the close thereof 134 more cases pending than at the beginning of the year, due to the increase in the number of cases filed, and more especially to the fact that fewer cases were disposed of than were filed during the year. Of the cases pending at the end of the year, 107 were submitted, but no decision rendered; 600 were not ready for hearing on account of briefs not being filed; and 161 ready for argument were placed on the calendar for July, 1911, an increase of 3 as compared with the number at the beginning of the year. One hundred and fifty-eight candidates for admission to the bar were examined during the year, as against 128 for the preceding year. Sixty-one candidates passed the examination, while 72 were successful the previous year. Volumes XV and XVI, Philippine Reports, were published in English and Spanish, and a digest is being prepared to include 20 volumes of these reports. The total collections by the supreme court amounted to P10,859.96, as compared with 10,157.40 during the fiscal year 1910. COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF MANILA. During the year 814 civil cases were filed, 688 cases were disposed of, and 1,118 were pending at the close of the year, as compared with 702 filed, 699 disposed of, and 922 pending at the close of the preceding year. There were filed 1,125 criminal cases, as against 1,322 in the fiscal year 1910, and 1,137 criminal cases were disposed of, as against 1,311 during the previous year, leaving pending at the end of the year 59 cases, as compared with 71 pending at the close of the previous year. There were 31 customs appeal cases pending at the beginning of the year; 22 were filed and 27 disposed of during the year, leaving 26 at the end of the year. From the above statement it appears that there was a noticeable increase in the number of civil cases filed, while the criminal cases filed shows a falling off to the extent of nearly 200 cases. The larger number of civil cases pending at the end of the year than at the beginning thereof is chargeable not only to the increase in the number of cases filed, but to a great extent to the illness and death of Judge Estanislao Yusay, who was assigned to the civil branch of the court. He was continuously ill from about the first of the calendar year 1911 until his death, which occurred on June 2. The collections made by the court of first instance of Manila during the year amounted to 54,009.18, as against P43,185.11 for the previous year. COURTS OF FIRST INSTANCE IN THE PROVINCES. Including probate cases, there were filed during the year 3,486 civil cases, as compared with 2,965 during the preceding year, showing an increase of 521, and 3,643 civil cases were disposed of, as compared with 2,702 during the preceding year, an increase of 941 in the number of cases disposed of. At the end of the year there were pending 2,368 ordinary civil cases and 1,839 probate cases, a total of 4,207, as against 2,530 ordinary civil and 1,834 probate cases, a total of 4,364, pending at the close of the previous fiscal year, a decrease of 157 cases. There were 7,081 criminal cases filed, as compared with 6,092 filed during the preceding year, an increase of 989; 7,135 criminal cases were disposed of, as against 6,018 during the preceding year, an increase of 1,117. The number pending at the end of the year was 1,740 cases, as compared with 1,794 at the end of the fiscal year 1910, or a net decrease in the number of criminal cases pending of 54. From these statistics it appears that notwithstanding the remarkable increase in the number of cases filed during the year, the number of cases pending at the end of the year was less than the number pending at the close of the preceding year, due to the greater amount of work accomplished. The increase in the number of cases filed was about 16 per cent more than for the preceding year, while the increase in the number of cases disposed of amounted to nearly 231 per cent. |