Guillermo Alverez Sanchez v. United States

• Decision Date: 21 February 1910
• Docket Number: No. 69,69
• Parties: GUILLERMO ALVEREZ Y SANCHEZ, Appt., v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

216 U.S. 167

30 S.Ct. 361

54 L.Ed. 432

GUILLERMO ALVEREZ Y SANCHEZ, Appt.,

v UNITED STATES.

No. 69.

Submitted January 11, 1910.

Decided February 21, 1910.

Mr. S. Mallet-Prevost for appellant.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 167-170 intentionally omitted] Assistant Attorney General Thompson and Mr. Franklin W. Collins for appellee.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 170-171 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Harlan delivered the opinion of the court:

The appellant, an inhabitant and citizen of Porto Rico, seeks to recover from the United States the value of a certain office held by him in that island before and during the war with Spain, of which office, it is alleged, he was illegally deprived by the United States. A demurrer to the complaint was sustained and judgment given for the United States, the opinion of the court of claims being delivered by Chief Justice Peelle. 42 Ct. Cl. 458, 472.

The complaint, which, on demurrer, was adjudged to be bad, presents—using substantially the words of the complaint—the following case:

In the year 1878, the claimant, Sanchez, purchased from one Florenzio Berrios y Lopez, for a valuable consideration, the office known as 'numbered procurador [solicitor] of the courts of first instance of the capital of Porto Rico,' at Guayamo, in perpetuity, and in the same year the governor general of Porto Rico issued a provisional patent in his favor. In 1881, the claimant's tenure of the office was approved and confirmed, and a final patent therefor was issued by the King of Spain, in accordance with the laws, practice, and custom of Spain and Porto Rico governing the sale, surrender, and transfer of such an office. The claimant, it is alleged, thereby became vested with all the legal rights and privileges appertaining to the office.

From the date of the provisional patent issued to him until, as will be presently stated, he was deprived of his office, August 31st, 1899, the claimant exercised all the rights and privileges belonging to the office of procurador or solicitor. Under the laws of Spain and Porto Rico, it will be assumed, the office was transferable in perpetuity, and vested the incumbent with exclusive rights and privileges, and, as a consequence thereof, the claimant was entitled, under the laws of Spain in force in Porto Rico, during all the time he held the office, to perform its duties and receive its fees and emoluments, which, prior to August 31st, 1899, averaged, it is alleged, more than $200 per month, of which he could not be legally deprived except by due process of law.

On the 10th day of December, 1898, [30 Stat. at L. 1754], a treaty of peace between the United States and Spain was concluded, and having been duly ratified by the respective countries, was duly proclaimed April 11th, 1899. The treaty contained these provisions: 'Spain cedes to the United States the island of Porto Rico and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies, and the island of Gaum in the Marianas or Ladrones.' Art. 2. 'And it is hereby declared that the relinquishment or cession, as the case may be, to which the preceding paragraph refers, cannot in any respect impair the property or rights which by law belong to the peaceful possession of property of all kinds, of provinces, municipalities, public or private establishments, ecclesiastical or civic bodies, or any other associations having legal capacity to acquire and possess property in the aforesaid territories renounced or ceded, or of private individuals, of whatsoever nationality such individuals may be.' Art. 8.

A military government was organized in Porto Rico and was maintained there from October, 1898, up to and after April 30th, 1900. On the latter date, General Davis, as military governor, issued what is known as general order 134, containing these, among other, paragraphs: '11. The office of solicitor ('procurador') is abolished. Those who have heretofore practised as such before any court, and are of good repute, shall, in default of lawyers, have the right to be appointed municipal judges or clerks of municipal courts. 12. Hereafter, litigants who do not appear personally shall be represented before the supreme court and district courts exclusively by a lawyer, no powers of attorney being necessary therefor; it shall be the duty of the courts to suspend from the practice of his profession any lawyer who shall, without authority, assume to represent a litigant; but this shall not affect the civil or criminal liability which such lawyer may thereby incur. In the municipal courts, litigants may represent themselves or may be represented by an attorney in fact, resident of the place. 13. For the purpose of conducting the proceedings, lawyers may make use of such agents as they may by writing designate to the court.' That order was issued without notice to claimant and without any complaint being made as to the manner in which he was exercising his rights or discharging his dities.

On the 12th day of April, 1900, Congress passed (to take effect May 1st,...