Buxó v. Buxó

18 P.R. 188
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedMarch 29, 1912
DocketNo. 785
StatusPublished

This text of 18 P.R. 188 (Buxó v. Buxó) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Buxó v. Buxó, 18 P.R. 188 (prsupreme 1912).

Opinion

Mr. Chief Justice Hernández

delivered the opinion of the court.

In the suit brought in the District Court of Humacao by Francisco, Poncio and Julio Buxó y Pérez against Francisco [189]*189Buzó Cabrera, Alejandro Laborde, Luis Recourt and bis wife, María Frías, and Antonio Caubet y Pons, seeking to bave tbe court declare null and void tbe proceedings instituted by said Buxó Cabrera to secure judicial authority for tbe purpose of alienating tbe property of bis children, plaintiffs in said action, and further seeking to secure tbe nullity of the transfer of a certain rural estate made after the above-mentioned authority was granted, the said court, on a motion of nonsuit duly sustained, rendered its judgment on April 29 of last year dismissing the complaint with costs against the plaintiffs; and from this judgment counsel for said plaintiffs has taken an appeal, on which a decision is still pending.

The defendants, Alejandro Laborde and Luis Recourt, through their counsel, Carlos Travesier, and María Frías and Antonio Caubet, through their lawyer, Jorge V. Dominguez, filed with the court three memorandums of costs, that of Laborde amounting to $466.20, Recourt’s to $457, and that of Caubet and Maria Frias to $570; but these memorandums were objected to by counsel for plaintiffs, the objection being decided by the court below in an order dated November 1 of last year reducing the totals of the memorandums to $66.20, $57, and $159, respectively, said order closing as follows:

“The clerk of this court is instructed to proceed to the collection of said memorandums of costs, in accordance with the provisions of section 339 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as amended by the Act of May 12, 1908; the proper orders to be issued and notice served on the parties for their information.”

An appeal was taken from this order by the plaintiffs, who, in their bill to this Supreme Court, pray that the order, together with the memorandums of costs and disbursements made by defendants, be annulled and left without effect, their ground for the appeal being lack of jurisdiction of the court below and consequent violation of paragraph 4 of section 7 and sections 297 and 339 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as amended by tbe Act of March 12, 1908.

[190]*190The only question to be considered and determined in this appeal is whether or not the judgment imposing costs, being now on appeal before this Supreme Court, the court below had jurisdiction to proceed with the hearing upon said costs until the amount to be paid by the party against whom the same have been taxed should be fixed and the collection thereof ordered under the terms of the law.

The rules for claiming and collecting the costs taxed in a suit or proceeding are found in section 339 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as amended by the Act of March 12, 1908.

The English text of the first paragraph of that section differs from the Spanish text as to the method of computing the 10 days within which the memorandums of costs should be filed, the English text directing that it be filed within 10 days after the final judgment or decision, whereas, according to the Spanish text, it should be filed %vithin 10 days following that in which the judgment or decision terminating the controversy was made final.

Final judgment, according to the definition given in section 368 of the former Law of Civil Procedure, is that from which, by its nature or by agreement of the parties, there can be no ordinary or extraordinary remedy. A judgment, according to the English text of section 188 of the Code of Civil Procedure in force, is a final determination of the rights of the parties in an action or proceeding. And, under section 295, an appeal may be taken from a sentencia definitiva (the English text says final judgment), hence final judgment cannot be regarded as a sentencia firme, which is the expression used in the Spanish text of section 339, as amended.

In our decision of May 20, 1909, in Vázquez et al. v. Vázquez et al., 15 P. R. R., 275, we made the following statement: “The judgment or decision to which this act (that of March 12, 1908) refers, taking the English text and the general spirit of the law, must be the judgment of the court below * * *. The whole of Chapter VI of the Code of Civil [191]*191Procedure shows that the Legislature in considering costs had in mind the judgment to he rendered below. ’ ’

The jurisdiction- of courts emanate from the law; and as the Act of March 12, 1908, gave jurisdiction to district courts in proceedings for the collection of costs, and makes no exception where an appeal has been taken from the judgment allowing the costs, it is plain that the court of Huma-cao cannot be denied jurisdiction to take cognizance, as it did, of the proceeding in question until it had decided the objection raised, but in the present case it had no jurisdiction to enforce its decree.

Paragraph 4 of section 7 of the Code of Civil Procedure gives the courts power to compel obedience to their judgments, orders, or processes, in an action or proceeding pending therein, and consequently denies them such power when the action or proceeding is pending in some other court; and, consistently with this legal principle, section 297 of the same Code provides that whenever an appeal is perfected it stays all further proceedings in the court below upon the judgment or order appealed from, *or upon the matters embraced therein. Both sections have been violated by the court of Huma-cao, not because it continued the proceedings for the collection of the costs to a final decision, but because it directed the clerk to proceed to the collection of said costs under the terms of section 339 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as amended by the Act of March 12,1908, and that proper orders be issued and notice served upon the parties, for their information.

The closing paragraph of section 339 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as amended, reads:

“Where no objection has been made in due time to a memorandum of costs, or where such objection having been made, the court shall have rendered its final decision thereon and no appeal shall have been prosecuted therefrom, or in the event of such an appeal therefrom a final judgment shall have been entered pursuant to the decision on such appeal, the party against whom the costs have been taxed shall [192]*192deposit the amount thereof with the secretary of the court within five days after notice therefor has been served upon him by the secretary. Should he fail to do so a writ of execution shall issue in the same manner as in the case of a judgment.”

The provisions of the paragraph just cited must be applicable, and in case of any apparent conflict with the provisions of sections 7 and 297 of the same code, an effort must be made to conciliate and harmonize their provisions with one another.

We say one more that district • courts have jurisdiction to take cognizance of proceedings relating to costs allowed one of the parties until a decision has been rendered. Such decision shall become final if no appeal is taken therefrom, or, if affirmed, where an appeal has been taken.

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18 P.R. 188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/buxo-v-buxo-prsupreme-1912.