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OF THE


PROVINCIAL AND MUNICIPAL LAWS
OF
PUERTO - ICO.


DIVISION OF CUSTOMS AND INSULAR AFFAIRS.
WAR DEPARTMENT.
August, 1899.
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1899,




ROYAL DECREE.
In view of the provisions of the law of March 15, 1895, authorizing
my Government to modify the present provincial government of the
island of Puerto Rico, according to the prescriptions mentioned in basis
second of article 2 of said law, at the suggestion of the secretary of
the colonies and with the concurrence of the council of secretaries,
In the name of my august son, the King, Don Alfonso XIII, and as
Queen Regent of the Realm,
I decree the following:
ARTICLE 1. The attached provincial law is hereby approved:
ART. 2. The provincial law approved by this decree shall be promulgated and enforced in the island of Puerto Rico.
Given at the Palace on the 31st day of December, 1896.
MARIA CRISTINA.
TOMAS CASTELLANO Y VILLAROYA,
Colonial Secretary.
3




PROVINCIAL LAW APPLIED TO THE ISLAND OF PUERTO RICO.
TITLE I.
THE PROVINCE OF PUERTO RICO AND ITS INHABITANTS.
ARTICLE 1. The territory of the island of Puerto Rico and of the adjacent ones constitutes a province of the Spanish nation, and the city of
San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico is the capital thereof.
For the effects of articles 82 and 84, and according to article 89 of the
constitution, it is divided into two regions, which shall be called San
Juan and Ponce, in each of which there shall reside a delegate of the
Governor-General.
ART. 2. The delegates of the Governor-General shall have the category of chiefs of administration of the second class, and they must
possess the necessary requisites to be appointed civil governors in the
Peninsula.
They shall enjoy the same salary as the latter and shall perform the
duties entrusted to them by this law and the other laws in force in the
island of Puerto Rico.
ART. 3. The provisions contained in Title I of the municipal law are
applicable to the inhabitants of the province in so far as they refer to
their status and rights.
TITLE II.
CIVIL ADMINISTRATION OF THE PROVINCE.
CHAPTER I.-Provincial authorities.
ART. 4. The following are the administrative authorities of the
province:
1. The Governor-General of the island.
2. The provincial deputation.
3. The provincial committee with the character and duties determined
by this law.
4. The delegates of the governor.
ART. 5. The Governor-General and his delegates in the regions are
appointed and removed by the Government, as well as all the other
employees under their orders.
4




5
ART. 6. The provincial deputation of the island shall always exercise its duties in full session, and shall be composed of twelve membersthat is, six for each region.
They shall remain in office during four years, the corporation being
renewed by half every two years by an election which shall take place
alternately in the region of San Juan and in that of Ponce.
The provincial deputies shall be elected by the same electors of
municipal councils in accordance with the municipal law and in the
manner prescribed by the electoral law.
ART. 7. The provincial committee shall be composed of five members
appointed in accordance with this law. They shall remain in office for
two years.
CHAPTER II.-Duties of the Governor.
ART. 8. The Governor-General, and in his place his delegate in the
region of San Juan, shall1. Preside over the provincial deputation and the committee whenever he is present at their sessions, and shall have a right to vote.
2. Authenticate the minutes of the sessions he may preside over.
3. Communicate and execute the decisions of the deputation and of
the committee and see to their exact and punctual fulfillment.
4. Act in the name and represent the province in all its judicial matters, reports, correspondence, and all kinds of communications.
5. Inspect the offices of the province and municipal councils, auditing
their cash and other accounts, and examining the archives; see that the
laws and general provisions, as well as the decisions, of the deputation
are complied with; also see to their execution and prepare all matters it
may have to consider. In virtue thereof he shall issue the proper
orders, and in cases of omission he shall decide what he may deem best,
as well as in cases of negligence or opposition from those charged with
their execution, informing the supreme goverment of all these matters.
6. Suspend the decisions of the provincial deputation and of the
municipal councils when it is proper according to this law and to the
municipal law, and exercise the powers which the same and the other
laws in force grant him.
7. Suspend from their offices the provincial deputies, mayors, deputy
mayors, and aldermen in the cases and manner prescribed by this law
and by the municipal law.
8. Supplement the provincial and municipal action either by appointing the deputation and municipal councils whenever they do not meet,
or completing their number whenever they do not meet in a sufficient
number to adopt resolutions, or supplementing the duties of the
same corporations should they refuse to execute them, submitting the
matter to the colonial secretary after a report from the council of
administration.
ART. 9. The deputation shall adopt resolutions on all matters submitted by the Governor-General.




6
ART. 10. The delegates of the Governor-General shall very carefully
see that public order is preserved within the territory of their corre-.
spending region, for which purpose the military authorities shall give
them their assistance whenever they request it.
ART. 11. The Governor-General shall designate the person who is to
substitute the delegates during their absence or sickness.
ART. 12. The office of delegate of the Governor-General is incompatible with every other provincial or municipal office of any kind
whatsoever, without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding
article.
CHAPTER III.-Organization and mode ofprocedure of the provincial
deputation.
ART. 13. The procedure for the election of provincial deputies shall
be subject to the provisions of the electoral law.
ART. 14. All persons having the necessary requisites to be deputies
to the Cortes and who reside within the province may be provincial
deputies.
The following can not be provincial deputies in any case whatsoever:
1. Deputies to the Cortes.
2. Mayors, deputy mayors, and aldermen.
3. Employees of the State, province, or municipality holding office.
4. All persons directly or indirectly interested in services, contracts,
or the furnishing of supplies within the province,and for account of
the same, of the State or of the municipal councils.
5. All persons holding public offices which by special laws are
declared incompatible with that of provincial deputy.
6. All persons engaged in administrative or judicial litigation with
the deputation or with the establishment subject to and under the
administration of the same.
The same persons to whom this right is granted may excuse themselves from holding the offices of councilors, according to article 43
of the municipal law.
ART. 15. The election of provincial deputies shall take place during
the first fifteen days of the month of September.
ART. 16. The deputies elected shall present their certificates of election in the office of the secretary of the deputation eight days before that
on which the sessions are to begin. On this day, without previous
call, the deputies who may have presented their certificates shall meet
under the chairmanship of the Governor-General or his delegate and
shall proceed to the temporary organization of the deputation.
ART. 17. The provincial deputation shall be temporarily organized
under the chairmanship of the oldest member, and the two youngest
amongst those present shall act as secretaries.
ART. 18. After the deputation has been temporarily organized, and
during the same session, it shall elect two committees, each composed
of three members; the first committee shall investigate the certificates




7


already presented and those that may be subsequently presented by
the interested parties; the second committee shall investigate the
certificates of the members composing the former. Both committees
shall immediately present their reports to the provincial deputation,
which, in view thereof, shall proceed instantly to approve, in a proper
case, the certificates and the legal capacity of the elected members, and
decide on all claims and protests arising from the election, as well as
all questions in reference to its own organization in accordance with
the laws.
An appeal lies to the territorial audiencia of the island against these
decisions of the provincial deputation.
ART. 19. After the certificates against which there is no protest
affecting the legality of the election are approved, and in order to definitely organize itself, the deputation shall proceed to elect from
amongst its members a president, a vice-president, and two secretaries
to act as such at all the sessions to be held until its renewal.
ART. 20. The deputies who may not have presented their certificates
for the final organization shall be considered as having renounced the
office.
The deputation shall declare the vacancy and communicate the same
to the Governor-General, who shall order a partial election to be held at
the time and in the manner prescribed by law.
ART. 21. Should the deputation order the annuliment of a certificate,
it shall communicate its decision to the Governor-General, who shall
immediately order its publication in the Gaceta.
ART. 22. This decision shall be final, and in consequence thereof the
partial election shall be held, if the interested party does not appeal
from it within eight, days to the audiencia of the territory.
ART. 23. The provincial deputation shall meet only in the capital of
the province every year on the first working day of the months of April
and November.
ART. 24. The first session of each period shall be inaugurated by the
Governor-General or his delegate in San Juan, in the name of the government.
ART. 25. The office of deputy is without compensation, honorary and
subject to liability, and can not be renounced after having been accepted
except for just cause.
ART. 26. The extraordinary vacancies occurring for any reason whatsoever shall be filled by partial election, whenever an ordinary session
of the deputation is to be held before the general renewal.
When a vacancy occurs by reason of administrative or judicial suspension, or after the period above-mentioned, the Governor-General
shall temporarily fill it with any person who may have already held the
office of provincial deputy by election.
The person appointed shall continue to hold the office until the suspension of the deputy whose place he is filling is finally decided upon,




8


or until the first renewal should the former discontinue on account of
the series established.
ART. 27. In case of permanent removal, the first renewal shall take
place two years thereafter, those representing the first region discontinuing their tenure of office, namely, at the first ordinary election to
be held after the lapse of said period of time.
ART. 28. The provincial deputation shall have the power to accept
or refuse resignations and to declare vacancies in accordance with the
provisions of this law.
The Governor-General shall order ordinary and extraordinary elections whenever they are to be held according to law and in the manner
prescribed by the same.
The elections shall be announced within the five days following that
on which they were decided upon, and shall take place within a period
not less than fifteen days nor more than thirty after the call.
ART. 29. The deputation shall determine at its first session of each
semiannual period the number of sessions it shall hold during the
same. Should it be necessary, it may order an adjournment.
Should any causes arise during sessions which should render their
continuance dangerous, the Governor-General may suspend or adjourn
them immediately, notifying the Government of his action.
ART. 30. The deputation shall meet in extraordinary session whenever in the opinion of the Governor-General he considers it necessary to
take action on any special question.
ART. 31. The Governor-General shall issue a call notifying in writing
and at his domicile each one of the members eight days beforehand,
stating the object of the session, if an extraordinary one is in question.
The session shall be advertised in the Gaceta de Puerto Rico the same
period in advance.
ART. 32. When the Governor-General considers on account of
special reasons that public order may be endangered if an extraordinary session takes place, he shall suspend the call.
ART. 33. The sessions of the provincial deputation shall be public,
except in the cases when for special reasons it is advisable that they
be secret.
An extract of the minutes of the sessions shall be published in the
Gaceta de Puerto Rico.
ART. 34. Attendance at the sessions is obligatory. Any deputy
who, without a legitimate and justifiable reason, does not comply with
the provisions of this article, shall incur a fine of twenty-five pesetas
for each offence, being, moreover, liable for any damages arising from
his tardiness.
Any deputy who shall find it necessary to absent himself shall notify
the delegate of the Governor-General; otherwise he shall incur the
liabilities mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
During the sessions permission from the deputation is required to




obtain leave of absence, which shall only be granted in so far as its
effects do not conflict with the provisions of the following article.
ART. 35. In order to deliberate on any subject the presence of an
absolute majority of the total number of deputies is necessary.
ART. 36. In order to adopt a resolution the vote of the majority of
the members present is necessary, except as provided for in a contrary
case by this law. In case of a tie, voting shall be resumed the following day, and should there be a second tie, the president shall cast the
deciding vote.
ART. 37. The provisions of articles 62,63,104, 108,110,112, 113, and
116 of the municipal law are applicable to the provincial deputations
in so far as possible.
ART. 38. For the dispatch of business, order of sessions, and mode of
procedure the deputation shall draft the regulations to be observed.
ART. 39. At each one of the semiannual meetings the president and
secretaries of the deputation shall submit a statement mentioning the
business it has to consider, with a notice of all pending matters, state
of the accounts, funds, and provincial administration.
CHAPTER IV.-Jurisdiction and powers of the provincial deputation.
ART. 40. The administration and direction of the special interests of
the province are under the jurisdiction of the provincial deputation, in
so far as they do not appertain to the municipal boards, according to
this law and the municipal law, and particularly in all that refers to
the following subjects:
1. The drafting and approving every year the budgets with sufficient
funds to attend to the services entrusted to it.
2. The examination and, in a proper case, the approval of the
accounts of the provincial budget, which shall be presented every year
by the section of local administration, declaring the administrative
liabilities resulting therefrom.
3. The establishment and preservation of the services devoted to the
comfort of the inhabitants of the province and the development of their
material and moral interests.
4. The resolution in accordance with the laws and regulations of
everything it may deem convenient for the administration in the island
of public works, postal and telegraphic, maritime and land communications, of agriculture, industry, commerce, immigration and colonization, public instruction, charities and health, fairs, expositions, and
other institutions for improvement and other similar purposes, without
prejudice to the high inspection and the inherent powers of sovereignty
which the laws reserve to the Government of the nation.
5. The administration of provincial funds, either for the use, enjoy-'
ment and preservation of all kinds of property, acts, and rights belonging to the province or to the establishments depending on the same,
or for the settlement, distribution, investment, and account of the




10


necessary revenues to carry into execution the services intrusted to the
deputation.
6. The decision without further appeal of the questions referring to
the organization of municipal corporations, claims and protests in the
elections of councilors, incidents of the same, capacity of the members
elected and excuses of the same, in the cases and manner provided for
by the municipal and electoral laws.
7. The resolution, without further appeal, of the questions relating
to the constitution of municipalities, the addition to and survey of
municipal districts.
8. The fulfillment of the duties which the municipal law assigns to
the same, and all the others intrusted to them by special laws.
The deputation shall comply with the laws and provisions issued for
their execution in all matters which, according to the present law, do
not come under its exclusive jurisdiction and wherein it has to act by
delegation.
ART. 41. The provisions of article 78 of the municipal law are applicable to the provincial deputation in all that appertains to the nature
of the services entrusted to this corporation.
ART. 42. The deputation shall, moreover, have all the powers conferred on the same by the municipal law as well as all those conferred
by other special laws.
ART. 43. The resolutions adopted by the provincial deputation, in
conformity with the provisions of article 40, are final, without prejudice
to the appeals established by this law.
ART. 44. The Governor-General shall suspend, of his own accord or
at the instance of any resident of the province, the execution of the
resolutions of the provincial deputation whenever he considers them
contrary to the laws or the general interests of the nation and shall
temporarily adopt, of his own accord, the rulings required by public
necessities which might be abandoned by reason of the suspension, submitting the matter to the colonial secretary, after a report from the
council of administration.
ART. 45. The resolutions of the provincial deputation shall be communicated on or before the third day to the Governor-General for the
effects of the preceding article.
The suspension shall be communicated to the provincial deputation
within the eight days following the notification of the resolution, after
which period it is final by its own right.
The period shall begin from the time when the proceedings were
received, in case the governor called for them in order to examine the
same.
The suspension, in any case, shall state the reasons therefor, and a
definite and precise statement shall be made of the legal provisions on
which it is based.
ART. 46. After the suspension has been communicated, the provincial




11
deputation may appeal to the colonial secretary, to whom the GovernorGeneral shall forward the appeal with the record of the proceedings and
his report by the first mail.
The colonial secretary shall decide without loss of time after consultation with the council of state.
ART. 47. The governor shall also suspend the execution of the resolutions of the provincial deputation whenever injury may result to the
civil rights of a third person.
In this case the suspension shall only take place when the interested
party so requests it, presenting at the same time a complaint against
the resolution.
The governor shall order the suspension, if it should be in order,
within the three days following that on which the petition was presented, and shall immediately notify the interested party.
ART. 48. Any person considering himself injured in his civil rights
by the resolutions of the deputation, whether their execution has been
suspended or otherwise, by virtue of the provisions of the preceding
articles, may object by means of a complaint to the proper judge or
court, in accordance with the laws.
The judge or court taking cognizance of the matter may suspend, by
means of a first ruling and on the request of the party interested, the
execution of the resolution appealed from, should this not have taken
place in conformity with Article 46, whenever he considers it proper and
convenient in order to avoid serious and irretrievable injury.
A period of thirty days is granted for the presentation of this complaint, beginning from the date of the notice of the resolution, or from
the date in which the suspension was communicated in a proper case;
should this period of time elapse without the complaint having been
presented, the suspension shall cease by right and the resolution
accepted.
ART. 49. When a resolution is suspended or appealed from by virtue
of the provisions of the preceding articles, the Governor-General shall
forward by the first mail the data to the colonial secretary in the first
case, or to the proper judge or court within the period of eight days in
the second case.
The colonial secretary shall decide in the manner prescribed by
article 46.
ART. 50. Should a resolution of the provincial deputation injure the
rights of private individuals, those having contributed with their vote
to the adoption of the same shall be held liable for indemnity or restitution to the injured party before the proper courts.
ART. 51. The municipal councils may appeal within the period of
eight days, counting from that of the publication or notice of the assessment, against all kinds of assessments, approved in accordance with
the provisions of the municipal law, which the deputation may order
amongst the towns of the province in order to cover the general and
necessary expenses for the provincial requirements.




12


After this period has elapsed it shall be final without further remedy.
The Governor-General shall decide on the appeal after hearing the
council of administration, and his confirmatory ruling may give occasion to an appeal to the court of the island hearing administrative
litigation.
CHAPTER V.-Organization and mode of procedure of the provincial
committee.
ART. 52. The provincial deputation shall appoint, from amongst its
members, the members of the provincial committee and its vice-president.
ART. 53. The extraordinary vacancies of the provincial committee
shall be filled in the same manner as prescribed in the preceding article, and those appointed shall occupy, in regard to the series of cessation (salida), the place of the members they substitute.
ART. 54. The provincial committee shall have the powers granted to
the same by this law; it is always in session and resides in the capital
of the province.
ART. 55. The provincial committee shall meet as often as required
by the business entrusted to it, in accordance with the order fixed in
the first session of each month.
ART. 56. The delegate of the Governor-General in San Juan de Puerto
Rico is the president of the committee, and the secretary of the deputation shall be the secretary without a vote.
ART. 57. In order to deliberate on any subject the presence of three
members is necessary, and this number of favorable votes is necessary
for the adoption of a resolution.
When this number of favorable votes is not obtained at a ballot, voting
shall be resumed the following day, and the decision of the majority
shall cause the resolution to be adopted; should there still be a tie the
vote of the president shall be the deciding one.
ART. 58. After the office has been accepted, attendance at the sessions is obligatory.
When a member does not attend four consecutive sessions without
permission from the committee or just cause accepted by the same, it
shall be understood that he renounces his office, without prejudice to
the liability he may have incurred according to article 34.
ART. 59. The sessions of the committee shall be public, except in the
cases when it should be decided to hold secret ones for special reasons.
ART. 60. The provisions of article 37 are applicable to these sessions
in so far as they are compatible with the organization and mode of
procedure of this body.
CHAPTER VI.-Jurisdiction and powers of the provincial committee.
ART. 61. The provincial committee shall have the following powers:
1. As a consulting body, to give its opinion whenever the rules and
regulations prescribe it and whenever the Governor-General, of his




13


own accord, or by command of the Government, deems convenient to
request it.
2. To temporarily take charge of the business intrusted to the provincial deputation, when by reason of the urgency or the nature of the
matter the meeting of the same can not be awaited; in such cases the
provincial deputies who are at the capital at the time must attend the
sessions. The deputation, at its first meeting, shall decide whatever it
may deem convenient in order to reach a final resolution.
ART. 62. The competencies of jurisdiction and powers between the
administrative and judicial authorities shall be decided in accordance
with the laws.
ART. 63. The Governor-General shall direct the litigation instituted
in the name of the province.
In order to institute ordinary complaints of greater amount the
resolution of the provincial deputation is necessary; in all other cases
that of the Governor-General is sufficient, after hearing the committee.
CHAPTER VII. —Employees and agents of the provincial administration.
ART. 64. The following are the divisions of the provincial deputation:
1. Office of the secretary.
2. Office of the auditor.
3. Office of the treasurer.
There shall be a chief at the head of each of these divisions, under
whose orders all the necessary employees shall serve.
ART. 65. The personnel, the salary, and the duties of all the
employees of said divisions, and the regulations for the interior management, shall be prescribed by the deputation.
ART. 66. The deputation appoints and removes all its employees.
ART. 67. The Governor-General may also remove or suspend the secretary, auditor, and treasurer for a serious reason, justified by proceedings.
The suspension can not exceed a period of four months.
ART. 68. The interested parties may enter complaints against the
ruling of removal or suspension before the colonial secretary through
the governor, who by the first mail shall forward the appeal with the
record of the proceedings and his report thereon.
The colonial secretary shall decide without loss of time and without
further appeal, after hearing the council of state.
ART. 69. The provincial deputation may appoint anyone of its members or employees to inspect the municipal councils in order to ascertain the condition of its services and archives.
During these visits no rulings shall be issued concerning municipal
matters, and the delegates shall confine themselves to informing the
deputation, which in view thereof shall adopt the proper resolutions in
conformity with this law.
ART. 70. The secretary is intrusted with the preparation and dispatch of the matters of which the committee and the deputation have




14


to take cognizance, with the drafting of its minutes and resolutions,
the correspondence, and the care and preservation of the archives.
He shall sign, with the president, the opinions and resolutions of the
committee and of the deputation, and shall authorize them with the
seal of the province, the care of which is intrusted to him, and shall
also see that the proper parties are duly notified.
ART. 71. The treasurer is the only person intrusted with the custody
of the provincial funds, and as such he shall give the bond which the
deputation may require.
CHAPTER VIII.-Budgets and provincial accounts.
ART. 72. The provincial deputation shall follow in the accounting
of its funds the provisions of the decree of September 12 and the
instructions of October 4, 1870, issued for the management of the
financial administration and accounting system of the colonies, and the
others in force relating to special services.
ART. 73. The provincial deputation shall forward every year its 
budgets to the Governor-General three months before the commencement of the fiscal year, for the double purpose of correcting the legal
extralimitations, should there be any, and to prevent the general interests of the nation from suffering.
ART. 74. The deputation may appeal from the decisions of the Governor-General, presenting the same to the Governor himself in order
that he may forward it to the colonial secretary, who shall decide
thereon without loss of time, after hearing the council of state.
If no resolution has been reached by the colonial secretary fifteen
days before the commencement of the fiscal year, the budgets approved
by the deputation shall be in force.
ART. 75. The general disbursing office appertains to the president of
the deputation or to whomsoever represents him whilst the deputation
is in session; when it is not in session it shall appertain to the vicepresident of the provincial committee.
ART. 76. The monthly distribution of funds shall appertain to the
deputation, or if it should not be in session to the associate committee
of the deputies who may be in the capital.
ART. 77. The provincial budget shall precisely include the necessary
amounts, in accordance with the revenues of the province, to cover the
following services:
1. Personnel and supplies of its offices and divisions.
2. Preservation and management of the buildings and estates belonging to the province.
3. Establishment and preservation of those the object of which is
the comfort of the inhabitants of the province.
4. Public works, telegraphic and postal, land and maritime communications, agriculture, industry and commerce, immigration and
colonization, public instruction, charities and sanitation.




15
5. Subscription to the Gaceta de Madrid and that of Puerto Rico.
6. Fund for emergencies and public calamities.
7. Advertisements, printing, and other expenses which may be considered necessary or convenient.
8. All the other expenses which may be clearly and precisely required
by this and by other laws in the part to be complied with by the
province.
ART. 78. The vote of an absolute majority of the total number of
deputies is necessary for the approval of the budget. If the budget
should not be approved at the beginning of the fiscal year, the previous
budget shall remain in force in its necessary parts, or in a proper case
the provisions of article 74 shall be observed.
ART. 79. In order to cover the expenditures specified in the provincial
budget, the deputation shall use as receipts or revenues:
1. The income and product of the property belonging to the province
and to the establishments and institutions the government and direction of which appertains to the provincial deputation.
2. The penalties authorized by law and enacted by the deputation,
on the taxes and imposts of the State, the collection of which is intrusted
to the general intendance of the Treasury.
3. The assessment which for the balance shall be assigned to the
municipalities as a provincial proportion, in relation to what each one
pays as direct taxation and to the entity of the corresponding budgets.
ART. 80. This proportion shall be included in the budget of each
town, and its entire amount shall be paid in the treasurer's office at
the time of the ordinary collection, or before should the municipal
councils voluntarily make the payment thereof.
ART. 81. The provisions of articles 165, 166, 169, 170, and 178 of the
municipal law are applicable to the deputation in all that appertains
to the collection, management, and custody of the provincial funds.
ART. 82. The deputation shall audit, and in a proper case approve,
the accounts of the provincial budget, which shall be made and submitted every year by the section of local administration.
TITLE III.
DEPENDENCY AND LIABILITY OF DEPUTIES AND AGENTS OF THE
PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION.
ART. 83. The provincial deputation and the committee are subject to
the proper administrative liabilityin all matters that do not come under
their jurisdiction, in conformity with the laws.
The Governor-General, as the superior chief of all the authorities of
the island, shall execute all the resolutions of the deputation of a final
character, and it is his duty to forward to the same and to the committee the laws, provisions, and instructions communicated to him by
the colonial secretary, in all that concerns them.




16


The section of local administration in the general government and
by delegation of the same shall have in charge for this purpose the
services paid for from the provincial budget and the accounting system
in reference thereto, and shall be liable for the nonobservance of the
laws and of the legitimate resolutions of the deputation.
ART. 84. The provincial deputation shall be liable:
1. By reason of manifest infraction of the law in its actions or resolutions, whether it be on account of its having transcended its powers
or abused those appertaining to it.
2. By reason of disobedience to the supreme Government or to the
Governor-General in the matters in which it acts by delegation and
under orders from them.
3. By disrespect to the authority.
4. By reason of negligence or carelessness causing injury to the interests or services intrusted to it.
ART. 85. The liability shall be demanded administratively or-judicially, in a proper case, according to the nature of the act or omission.
The liability shall only be demanded from the deputies who incurred the omission or took a direct part in the act or resolution which
caused it.
ART. 86. The administrative liability includes the warning, fine, and
suspension which it is the duty of the Governor-General to impose.
The provisions of article 191 of the municipal law are applicable to
these penalties.
ART. 87. The following rules shall be borne in mind for the imposition
or exaction of fines:
1. The determination of the amount appertains to the GovernorGeneral. 
2. The fines shall not exceed 500 pesetas.
3. The fines imposed on the deputies can not be paid from the provincial funds.
4. The provisions of articles 194, 195, and 196 of the municipal law
are applicable to these fines.
ART. 88. Suspension is in order in the cases stated in article 199 of
the municipal law.
The provisions of articles 200, 201, and 204 of the municipal law are
applicable to the proceedings for the suspension of provincial deputies.
The provisions of article 203 of the municipal law shall be observed
should criminal liability exist.
ART. 89. The Governor-General, after hearing the board of authorities, may suspend the deputation, or, without that requisite, he may
order of his own accord the suspension of its members, provided there
remains a sufficient number of them to deliberate:
1. When the deputation or any of its members exceeds the limit of
its legitimate faculties with injury to the governmental or judicial
authority or endangering public order.




17


2. By reason of delinquency.
In the first case he shall immediately notify the Government, in order
that the latter may raise the suspension or order the removal, by reason
of the resolutions adopted by the council of secretaries, within the
period of two months counted from the date on which the first direct
steamer leaves for the Peninsula, after the lapse of which without either
ruling the suspension shall be raised by reason of right. In the second
case the proper courts shall immediately take cognizance of the matter,
and whatever these may decide shall be carried into execution, not only
in regard to the suspension but also to the final liabilities.
ART. 90. Any deputy who has been removed from office can not be
reelected until six years at least have elapsed, unless the sentence does
not impose a penalty of disqualification for a longer period.
ART. 91. The audiencia of the territory shall be the competent court
in first instance, with the appeals to the supreme court authorized by
the laws, in the offenses committed by the deputation in a body and by
the provincial deputies in the exercise of their functions.
ART. 92. The employees and agents of the provincial administration
appointed by the deputation shall render obedience to the same and are
liable to it in accordance with this law.
ART. 93. The Governor-General and the colonial secretary in the
proper cases, shall exercise the high inspection over all the services of
the island, in whatsoever manner they may be rendered, in accordance
with the faculties inherent to the sovereignty reserved by the laws to
the government of the nation.
ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS.
1. All former laws and provisions relative to the provincial government of the island of Puerto Rico are hereby repealed.
2. The laws, decrees, royal orders, and regulations in force in the
Peninsula deciding concrete points of the provincial administration,
or which are a complement or developments unforeseen by this law,
shall govern as supplementary legislation in so far as they may be
applied to the special case in question, and in the lack of a legal precept or governmental provision issued to the contrary for the island of
Puerto Rico.
3. The Government shall draft, in accordance with this law, the necessary provisions for the execution of the same.
Madrid, December 31, 1896.
Approved by Her Majesty.
CASTELLANO.
4080 -2




ROYAL DECREE.
In view of the provisions of the law of March 15,1895, which authorizes my Government to modify the municipal regime in force in the
island of Puerto Rico in accordance with the conditions established in
basis 1 of article 2 of said law, at the suggestion of the Colonial Secretary, in concurrence with the council of secretaries,
In the name of my august son the King, Don Alfonso XIII, and as
Queen Regent of the Realm,
I decree the following:
ARTICLE 1. The annexed municipal law is approved.
ART. 2. The municipal law approved by this decree shall be promulgated and enforced in the island of Puerto Rico.
Given at the Palace on December 31, 1896.
MARIA CRISTINA.
TOMAS CASTELLANO Y VILLARROYA,
Colonial Secretary.
18




MUNICIPAL LAW APPLIED TO THE ISLAND OF PUERTO RICO.
TITLE I.
MUNICIPAL DISTRICTS AND THEIR INHABITANTS.
CHAPTER I.-Municipal districts and their alterations.
ARTICLE 1. A municipality is the legal association of all the persons
who reside in a municipal district.
ART. 2. A municipal district is the territory under the administrative jurisdiction of a municipal council.
The following are the requisites of a municipal district:
1. That the number of residing inhabitants is not less than 2,000.
2. That it has or that there may be apportioned to it a territory in
proportion to its population.
3. That it can meet the obligatory municipal expenses with the income
authorized by law.
The present municipal districts which have a municipal council may
continue in existence, even though they do not fill the requisite prescribed in number 1 of this article, until otherwise ordered by the
Government.
ART. 3. Municipal districts may be changed1. By the absorption in whole to one or more adjoining districts.
2. By the separation of part of a district, either to constitute with
the same or with one or more parts an independent municipality, or
either to add it to one or to several of the adjoining districts.
3. In order to change from one town to another the seat of a district.
ART. 4. The abolition of a municipality and its absorption into one
or more of the adjoining ones is proper1. When on account of the lack of means or other good reasons it is
resolved and requested by the municipal councils and a majority of the
inhabitants of the municipalities interested.
2. When on account of the widening and development of building,
the limits of the towns become confused and it is not easy to determine
their true limits.
ART. 5. The separation of a part of a district in order to add it to
other existing ones is proper when requested by a majority of the residents of the portion to be separated and when it can be effected without prejudicing the legitimate interests of the rest of the municipality
nor cause it to lose the conditions mentioned in article 2.
19




20
The separation of part of a district in order to constitute one or more
independent municipalities, in itself or in union with one or more portions of adjoining districts, may take place by the agreement and on
the request of a majority of the persons interested and without prejudicing legitimate interests of other towns, provided the new districts
which are to be formed include the conditions mentioned in article 2.
ART. 6. In any of the cases of addition or separation the persons
interested shall indicate the new demarcations of lands and shall effect
the division of property, lands owned in common, public uses and
credits, without prejudice to the rights of ownership and public and
private servitudes existing.
ART. 7. The questions relating to the constitution of municipalities
and to the addition and survey of districts shall be decided without
further appeal, except that of complaint, by the provincial deputation.
ART. 8. Every municipal district shall form part of a judicial district
of the province, and can not belong, for any reason whatsoever, to different jurisdictions of the same order.
ART. 9. In order to transfer a municipal district from one to another
judicial district, as well as to transfer the seat from one town to another,
proceedings shall be instituted which shall be decided by the provincial
deputation without further appeal, except that of complaint, hearing
the municipal councils of the town and of the seats of the judicial district, as well as the territorial audiencia.
ART. 10. Groups of population, although they have their own municipal council, situated at a maximum distance of five kilometers from
the district line of the capital of the island or from any other town containing the same or a larger number of inhabitants, may be added to
said districts by virtue of a resolution of the provincial deputation.
CHAPTER II.-Inhabitants of municipal districts.
ART. 11. The inhabitants of a municipal district are divided into
residents and transients.
The residents are subdivided into residents and denizens.
ART. 12. Residents are all emancipated Spaniards who permanently
reside in a municipal district and are recorded as such in the register
of the town.
Denizens are all Spaniards who, without being emancipated. reside
permanently within the district, forming. part of the family or household of a resident.
As emancipated for all the effects of this law are considered all Spaniards who have reached the age of twenty-five years.
Transients are all persons who are not included in the foregoing
paragraphs and are temporarily in the district.
ART. 13. Every Spaniard must be registered as a resident or denizen
of some municipality.




21


A person who resides alternately in different ones shall claim the
residence of one of them.
Nobody can be a resident of more than one town; if any person is
recorded in the registry of two or more towns, the last declared residence shall be considered the valid one, the previous ones being thenceforth considered annulled.
ART. 14. The character of resident is declared officially, or at the
instance of a party, by the respective municipal council.
ART. 15. The municipal council shall officially declare as residents
all emancipated Spaniards who at the time of the formation or correction of the registry have resided continuously for two years in the
municipal district.
A similar declaration shall be made with regard to the persons who
are filling public offices at that time requiring a fixed residence in the
district, even though they have not completed the two years.
ART. 16. The municipal council, any time of the year, shall declare
every person who requests it a resident, said person not being thereby
exempted from paying the municipal taxes which correspond to him up
to that date in the town of his previous residence.
The petitioner must prove that he has resided continuously in the
district for a period of six months at least.
CHAPTER III.-Registration.
ART. 17. It is the duty of municipal councils to make a register of
all the inhabitants of their district, stating whether they are residents,
denizens, or transients, name, age, status (whether married or single),
profession, residence, and other details required by statistics.
ART. 18. Every five years a new register shall be made, which shall
be corrected every intermediate year by the official entries or at the
instance of a party and by the eliminations on account of legal incapacity, death, or transfers of residence which have taken place during
the year.
Residents who change their domicile, the parents and guardians of
those who become incapacitated, and the heirs or legatees of deceased
persons are obliged to make the proper report to the municipal council,
in order that the elimination may take place.
The delegates of the Governor-General shall take care that the
municipal councils rectify the registry of residents periodically.
ART. 19. After the five-yearly registration has been made, or its
annual rectification, the municipal council shall make up two lists in
abstract, one stating the changes which have taken place during the
year and another including all the inhabitants there may be in the
district at the conclusion of the work.
These lists shall be published at once.
ART. 20. The registration and the rectifications shall take place in the
month of December, and shall be, as well as the lists, at the disposal of




22
all those who wish to examine them in the office of the secretary of the
municipal council on working days and during office hours.
In the fifteen following days the municipal council shall receive the
complaints which any resident of the district may make against the
registry or its rectifications, and shall decide thereon during the rest
of the month, entering in the book of minutes the decision adopted with
regard to each person interested, who shall immediately be informed
thereof in writing.
ART. 21. Against these decisions of the municipal councils an appeal
may be taken to the provincial deputation.
The appeal shall be instituted before the mayor within the three
days following the written notification of the decision.
The mayor shall forward, without any delay whatever, the proceedings to the provincial deputation.
The deputation within the period of one month shall decide, without
further appeal, in view of the reasons alleged by the persons interested and the municipal council, and shall communicate to the latter
its sentence, with the reasons therefor, after which, the proper corrections having been made during the following weeks, the registration
shall be declared terminated and the corrected lists shall be published.
ART. 22. The register is a solemn, public, and authentic document,
which shall serve for all administrative purposes.
ART. 23. The municipal councils shall forward to the provincial deputation, in the last month of each fiscal year, a statement of the number
of residents, denizens, and transients, classified as may be determined
by the Governor-General of the island, for the census of the population.
The delegates of the Governor-General shall see to the exact fulfillment of this service.
CHAPTER IV.-Rights and obligations of inhabitants of municipal
districts.
ART. 24. All the inhabitants of a municipal district have a right of
action against the decisions of municipal councils, as well as to denounce
and prosecute criminally mayors, aldermen, and members of the assembly of associates in the cases, and at the time and in the manner prescribed by the provisions of this law and those of the royal decree and
regulations of September 12, 1868.
ART. 25. All persons appealing to the municipal authority have a
right to demand of the same a statement, in which there shall be stated
the claim or complaint and the date and hour on which it was made.
ART. 26. All the residents of a municipal district have a share in
the lands owned in common or benefits of a communal character, as
well as in the rights of general interest granted the association, and
are subject to the taxes which may be imposed for the municipal and
provincialservices, in the manner and proportion determined by this law.




23


If the town has property owned by the community, the following
rules shall be observed for its annual arrangement and distribution:
1. When the property in common can not be equally utilized by all
the residents of a town, the enjoyment and benefit shall be awarded at
public auction among the said residents exclusively, after the necessary
appraisements and its division into lots in a proper case.
2. If the property is susceptible of general utilization, the municipal
council shall distribute the products among all the residents, distributing
them for the purpose into divisions or lots, which shall be awarded to
each person in accordance with any of the three following bases:
By families or residents.
By persons or inhabitants.
By the quota of assessment, should there be any.
3. The distribution, according to residents, shall be made with strict
equality to each one of them, without regard to the number of persons
their family may consist of or of the number who live with them and
under their dependence.
The distribution by persons shall take place by allotting to each
resident the portion corresponding to him in proportion to the number
of resident inhabitants of which their household or family consists.
The distribution according to the quota of assessment shall take place
among the residents subject to the payment thereof, and awarding to
each person the part corresponding in proportion to the quota allotted.
In such case, there shall be awarded to the poor residents exempted
from the payment, a portion not exceeding that which corresponds to
the taxpayer paying the lowest quota.
4. In extraordinary cases, and when the requirements of the town
necessitate it, the municipal council may order the auction of the socalled lands owned in common among the residents, or fix the price which
each one is to pay for the lot which may have been awarded to him.
The administration, use, and preservation of municipal timber lands
shall be subject to the forestry laws in force in Puerto Rico.
ART. 27. In so far as the municipal financial administration is concerned, as well as the rights and obligations arising therefrom with
regard to residents, the following shall be considered as owners of the
estates they cultivate, occupy, or administer:
1. The administrators, attorneys, or agents of nonresident owners,
without prejudice to the following cases, be they either at the head of
an agricultural, industrial, or commercial establishment opened in the
district for the account and in the name of the latter, or if they limit
themselves to the collection of rents.
2. Farmers, lessees, or coproprietors of rural estates, whether the
owners or administrators reside in the district or not.
3. Tenants of town property, when the same is leased to one person
only, and its owner, administrator, or agent does not reside in the district.
ART. 28. Foreigners shall enjoy the rights granted them by the
treaties or laws in force.




24


TITLE II.
GOVERNMENT AND ORGANIZATION OF MUNICIPALITIES.
CHAPTER I.-Municipal councils and municipal boards.
ART. 29. In each district there shall be a municipal council and a
municipal board.
ART. 30. The government and interior administration of each municipal district is under the jurisdiction of the municipal councils and
municipal boards, in accordance with the laws.
ART. 31. The municipal council is composed of councilors divided into
three categories-mayor, deputy mayors, and aldermen. They shall be
elected by the residents of the municipal district who have electoral
rights, in the manner fixed by law.
ART. 32. The municipal councils have the double character of juridical entities and of administrative authorities.
Their duty as juridical entities is:
1. To legally represent municipalities.
2. To preserve all property and to defend the rights and interests
belonging to the same, including those which are peculiar to those
towns which, preserving their private administration, have intrusted
the same to the municipal board authorized by this law.
ART. 33. In their character of administrative authorities, municipal
councils shall exercise jurisdiction over the entire municipal district or
the territory to which their action extends, in the manner and form
determined by the laws.
ART. 34. The budgets shall be drafted by the municipal councils and
approved by the municipal boards.
ART. 35. It is the duty of municipal boards to establish and create
means to obtain funds, at the time and in the manner ordered by this
law, as well as to revise and audit the accounts of municipal councils.
CHAPTER II.-Organization of municipal councils.
ART. 36. The census of the population shall determine the number
of councilors corresponding to each municipality and their distribution
as deputy mayors and aldermen; the number of deputies shall determine the number of municipal subdistricts each district is to be divided
into, and the number of residents in each one of said subdistricts shall
determine the number of wards and the number of electoral districts.
ART. 37. The municipal councils shall arrange the territorial division
in such manner that representation of minorities in municipal corporations is facilitated.
ART. 38. Each subdistrict shall be divided into wards when, on
account of the number of its inhabitants or on account of local circumstances, it is thus required for the good of the municipal service.
Each ward shall be included within one subdistrict.




25
All suburbs removed from the limits of the town, as well as any other
part of the municipal district removed from the said limits, shall constitute a ward.
In each ward there shall be a mayor (alcalde) of the same appointed
from among the voters permanently residing in the ward.
The mayor may freely remove mayors of wards.
ART. 39. In the towns referred to in chapter 2 of title 3 of this law, the
duties of mayor of a ward shall be discharged by the presidents of the
boards who must be elected as prescribed in the same chapter; and
they can not be removed except for the reasons mentioned in this law
for deputy mayors.
ART. 40. The first division of the district into subdistricts, wards,
and electoral districts shall be made in accordance with the following
rules:
1. The municipal council shall order the division and shall have it
published in the Gaceta de Puerto Rico and in the local newspapers,
should there be any, or by means of edicts otherwise.
2. The residents and denizens of the district may within the follow,
ing month, to be counted from the date of the publication of the resolution, make such complaints against the same as they may consider
proper.
3. Should there be no objection, the resolution shall be considered as
final at the end of the period mentioned above; should there be any,
the municipal council shall investigate them and forward the same, with
its report, together with a certified copy of the resolution of division,
to the provincial deputation within the fifteen days following the expiration of the period.
4. The provincial deputation shall examine the data and the objections, and shall decide what may be proper with regard to the points
referred to in the latter, and shall communicate its report within one
month from the date of the reception of the proceedings.
ART. 41. After the division of a municipal district has been made, in
accordance with the prescriptions of this law, it can not be changed
until two years at least have elapsed, and only in case time shows that
it does not correspond to the conditions and circumstances above mentioned, and never in the three months preceding any ordinary election.
The proceedings for change shall be instituted on the initiative of the
municipal council and shall pursue the same course as those mentioned
in the foregoing article.
ART. 42. The number of councilors which each electoral district is
to elect and the number each elector may vote for, as well as the
formation of electoral lists, shall be governed by the provisions of the
electoral law.
ART. 43. The following can in no case be councilors:
1. Provincial deputies or deputies to the Cortes, and senators.
2. Municipal judges, notaries, and other persons who fill public




26
offices which have been declared incompatible with the office of councilor by special laws.
3. Those who discharge public remunerated functions, even though
they have renounced the salary.
4. Those who directly or indirectly are interested in services, contracts, or furnishing of supplies within the municipal district for the
account of their municipal council, of the province or State.
5. Debtors as taxpayers to the municipal, provincial, or general
funds, who have been judicially notified.
6. Those who have an administrative or judicial suit pending with
the municipal council, or with the establishments under its dependency
or administration.
Relationship between councilors is not a cause of incapacity.
In order to discharge the duties of deputy mayor or syndic, it is
necessary to know how to read and write.
The following may excuse themselves from acting as councilors:
1. Persons over sixty years of age and those physically incapacitated.
2. Persons who have been senators, deputies to the Cortes, provincial deputies, and councilors for two years after having ceased in their
respective offices.
Councilors shall cease in their offices if they should at any time not
possess all the conditions mentioned in this law.
Each electoral district shall appoint the number of councilors which
belongs to the same in proportion to the number of electors.
ART. 44. Municipal elections shall be held in the first two weeks of
the month of May.
ART. 55. The municipal councils shall be renewed by half every
two years, the oldest councilors in service going out at each renewal.
In cases of ordinary or extraordinary renewals, the election of the
councilors shall be made by the same electoral districts which elected
the departing ones.
ART. 46. A partial election shall be held when, at least six months
before the ordinary elections, vacancies occur which amount to a third
of the total number of councilors.
If the vacancies occur after said period and amount to the number
indicated, they shall be temporarily filled, until the first ordinary election, bythe persons whom the Governor-General may appoint from
among those who had formerly been elected to the municipal council.
ART. 47. The municipal councils shall make a report of the aforesaid
vacancies to the Governor-General, who, within ten days exactly, shall
order the election held within a period not less than fifteen nor more
than twenty days, counted from the time the resolution is communicated to the respective municipal council.
ART. 48. For the purposes of this law, in so far as the series of cessation is concerned, the persons elected shall, in cases of vacancies, be
considered as the councilors they have substituted.




27
ART. 49. The municipal councils shall meet on the first day of the
fiscal year-that is, on the first of July-after an ordinary election has
been held, the departing councilors ceasing on that day and the persons elected taking possession.
The latter shall present their certificates and credentials issued by the
board of general examination in the office of the secretary of the
municipal council three days at least before the meeting is to be held.
Persons who do not comply with this requisite, or are not present on
the day fixed for the establishment of the corporation, without giving
good reasons for their absence, shall incur the fine which shall be fixed
by the delegate of the Governor-General.
The councilors elect who repeat this offence and cause thereby that
the corporation can not establish itself on the day fixed for the purpose
and for which they have been cited, shall incur double the fine above
mentioned.
ART. 50. If for any reason whatsoever the new municipal council
has not been named by the first day of the first month of the fiscal
year, the departing councilors shall be replaced by temporary ones
appointed in accordance with the provisions of the second paragraph
of article 46.
ART. 51. The departing mayor shall be present at the act of the
installation of the new municipal council, in order to receive the councilors elect and install them in their offices, and shall immediately
thereafter retire with the departing councilors.
ART. 52. The mayors shall be appointed from among the councilors
by the Governor-General or by the municipal councils.
When the Governor-General makes use of the privilege mentioned
the person he appoints shall be the mayor.
During the time the Governor-General does not deem it proper to
appoint a mayor, the person elected by the municipal corporation
shall hold that office.
The Governor-General may also remove mayors when he considers
that there is good cause therefor, hearing the council of administration.
ART. 53. Mayors shall receive the salary which is fixed for them in
the municipal budget, provided there is no deficit in the latter, and it is
thus ordered by the municipal council.
ART. 54. Deputy mayors shall be appointed in the same manner as
mayors. The Governor-General may order their removal and replacement by other councilors.
ART. 55. When vacancies occur in the office of mayor or deputy
mayors within the half year preceding the ordinary elections, the
vacancies shall be filled as follows: Those of mayors, if the GovernorGeneral does not make use of his privilege to appoint them, by the
deputies, and those of the latter by the councilors who obtained the
highest number of votes or are older, in cases of ties.
ART. 56. The mayors shall present themselves, without loss of time,
before the municipal council assembled for the purpose, and shall




28


receive possession from the retiring mayor or from the person who is
temporarily filling the office.
ART. 57. When the municipal corporation is to be installed, the mayor
shall call them for that purpose and shall install the deputy mayors
and councilors. The president and the members of the former municipal council shall be present at this ceremony to receive the new councilors, and shall retire after'the latter are installed in office.
ART. 58. After the new municipal council has been established
under the presidency of the mayor appointed by the Governor-General,
or by the person who obtained the highest number of votes in a proper
case, shall proceed to the election of advocate syndics, and in a proper
case to the election of deputy mayors.
The advocate-syndics (procuradores sindicos) represent the corporation in all the suits which may be instituted in the defence of the municipal interests, and shall revise and audit all the local accounts and
budgets.
The ballots shall be secret and the votes shall be written on slips of
paper, which shall be deposited in a box; and separate ones shall be
held for mayors and syndics, those who obtain the highest absolute
majority of the total number of members present being elected.
If no absolute majority is obtained, the corporation shall continue
established as it is, balloting being resumed on the following day, those
who receive a relative majority being proclaimed. In cases of ties, it
shall be decided by lot.
ART. 59. Immediately after the persons elected take possession, the
municipal council shall fix the days and hours on which ordinary sessions are to be held, with which the inaugural session shall be closed.
One ordinary session shall be held each week at least.
ART. 60. On the same day the mayor shall appoint, from among the
electors, the mayors of wards. The persons appointed shall hold office
until the next renewal of the municipal council, if they are not removed
before by the mayor.
ART. 61. The mayor shall report to the municipal corporation in the
next session the appointments of mayors of wards referred to in the
foregoing article.
ART. 62. In the second session the municipal council shall fix the
number of permanent committees into which it is to be divided,
entrusting to each one of them the general business of one or more of
the branches which the law places in their charge, and determining the
number of members which are to compose the same.
After coming to a decision, the election of the members thereof shall
immediately be proceeded with in secret ballot and with slips of paper,
those who obtain the highest number of votes being elected, ties being
decided by lot.
ART. 63. During the course of the year the municipal council may
appoint, when it considers it advisable, special committees, which shall




29


be elected in the same manner as the permanent ones, but they shall
be discontinued when the commission entrusted to them is concluded.
When a deputy mayor or syndic is elected to a committee he shall
be its president.
ART. 64. The councilors and the members of the board of associate
members may be reelected.
They shall cease to be such if they incur any of the incompatibilities
established.
ART. 65. The office of deputy mayor, syndic, councilor, associate
member, and mayor of a ward are without compensation, obligatory
and honorary.
The mayors, the deputies, and the mayors of wards shall use as a
symbol of their authority the insignia established by the regulations.
The deputy mayors and aldermen shall not have any special title as
such.
ART. 66. The questions relative to the incidents of elections, capacity
of the persons elected, and other similar ones shall be decided without
further appeal, except by complaint, by the provincial deputation.
CHAPTER III. —The organization of the municipal board.
ART. 67. The municipal boards shall be composed of the municipal
council and of the associate members in equal number to councilors
appointed from among the taxpayers of the subdistrict.
ART. 68. For this purpose all residents may be appointed who are
obliged to contribute a quota to the municipal expenses, and where no
quota is assessed those who pay a land tax or an industrial, commercial, or professional one.
Persons who do not have the capacity to be councilors are excepted,
however, as well as those who are such at the present time, their associates, and their relatives within the fourth degree, and the employees
and clerks of the municipal council.
In towns which do not have over 2,000 inhabitants the exclusion by
reason of relationship shall be limited to the second degree.
ART. 69. The appointment shall be made by lot among the taxpayers,
divided into sections, in accordance with the following rules:
1. The number of sections shall be determined in one of the first
four sessions of the year by each municipal council, taking into consideration the population of the town and the amount and class of wealth
of the same, and shall in no case be less than a third part of the councilors.
2. In each section there shall be included the residents or landowners
whose professions or trade are more or less related to each other, in
accordance with the groupings and classifications made for the payment of direct taxes, in such manner that the members of one taxpaying class do not form part of different sections. Residents who pay
taxes for more than one purpose, or are included in two or more industries, shall enter the section they may select.




30
3. In towns Where it is not possible to make any distinction of classes,
the payment of taxes of its inhabitants being made for the same reason
or in which there are no industrial branches of sufficient importance to
require the formation of a special section, the assessment of the latter
shall be made by streets, wards, or parishes.
The same shall be done when any of the sections formed according to
the foregoing rule is so large that it in itself constitutes the fourth part
of the associate members of the municipal board.
4. To each section there shall be assigned the number of members or
associates which correspond to the same in proportion to the amount
of tax paid by all its members.
ART. 70. The municipal council, before the end of the first month of
each fiscal year, shall publish the result of the formation of sections,
against which any of the persons interested may complain within the
period of eight days to the provincial deputation.
The deputation must decide within the following fifteen days, and its
decision shall be final for the two subsequent years.
ART. 71. After the formation of sections has thus taken place, the
municipal council in a public session shall announce it two days in
advance in the ordinary manner, and at least one hour before on the
said day shall proceed with the sortition of the associate members to
the sections and shall have the result immediately published.
The board must be definitely established within the second month of
the fiscal year.
The persons elected shall fill their office for the entire respective
fiscal year.
ART. 72. The municipal council shall admit and decide within the
period of eight days all excuses or objections, making a new sortition
if it is proper, without prejudice to the appeal for review to the provincial deputation.
ART. 73. When a vacancy occurs in the number of associate members a new sortition shall take place, with the formalities mentioned in
article 71, in order that their number may always be complete.
-  TITLE III.
MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION.
CHAPTER I.-Powers of municipal councils.
ART. 74. Municipal councils are financial administrative corporations, and may only exercise the functions entrusted to them by the
laws.
Their title is impersonal.
ART. 75. The government and administration of the private interests
of towns is under the jurisdiction of municipal councils, subject to
the laws, and particularly in all that refers to the following subjects:
First. Establishment and creation of municipal services referring to




31
the arrangement and ornamentation of public roads, comfort and
hygiene of the neighborhood, encouragement of its material and moral
interests, and security of persons and property, as follows:
1. Opening and survey of streets and parks and of all kinds of roads
of communication.
2. Paving, lighting, and sewerage.
3. Water supply.
4. Promenades and trees.
5. Bathing establishments, laundries, market houses, and slaughterhouses.
6. Fairs and markets.
7. Institutions for instruction and sanitary services.
8. Municipal buildings and in general all kinds of public works necessary for the fulfillment of the services subject to the special legislation
on public works.
9. Surveillance and police.
Second. Urban and rural police-that is, all that refers to the good
order and surveillance of the established municipal services, care of
public roads in general, cleanliness, hygiene, and health of the town.
Third. Municipal administration, which includes the use, care, and
preservation of all estates, property, and rights belonging to the
municipality, and to the establishments depending therefrom, and the
determination, distribution, collection, investment, and account of all
receipts and imposts necessary for the execution of the municipal
services.
AnT. 76. Municipal councils are specially obliged, under the personal liability imputable to all councilors guilty of negligence or
omission, to prevent all kinds of trespasses on property and to
administratively recover recent usurpations of rights of the community, recent usurpations being understood those the possession of which
has not covered a longer period than one year and a day.
After the one year and a day mentioned have elapsed, the payment
of the expenses caused by the recovery by any other legal procedure
shall be for the account of the negligent councilors.
ART. 77. It is the obligation of municipal councils to construct and
keep in repair municipal roads. In so far as the rural roads are concerned, the municipal councils shall oblige the persons interested in the
same to preserve and repair them.
In order to attain these objects the proper measures with regard to
municipal roads shall be adopted by the board of associates, and with
regard to the rural roads by a board of the persons interested.
The provincial deputation shall see to the fulfillment of this part of
the administration by virtue of the powers granted the same by the
laws.
ART. 78. It is the duty of municipal councils to procure, alone or
with the assistance of the members, in the manner hereafter expressed,




32
an exact compliance, in accordance with the means and necessities of
the town, of the purposes and services which, according to the present
law, are intrusted to their action and surveillance, and particularly the
following:
1. Preservation and repair of public roads.
2. Rural and city police.
3. Police for security.
4. Primary instruction.
5. Administration, custody, and preservation of all estates, property,
and rights of the town.
6. Charitable institutions.
Municipal resolutions relating to fairs and markets, surveillance,
police, and security, primary instruction and charitable institutions
require the previous approval of the provincial deputation.
In matters which do not come under their jurisdiction, they are also
obliged to assist the action of the general and local authorities in the
fulfillment of that part of the laws which refers to the inhabitants of
the municipal district, or which are to be complied with within the
same, for which purpose they shall proceed in accordance with the prescriptions of the said laws and the regulations issued for their
execution.
ART. 79. For the fulfillment of the obligations of municipal councils,
the following are their special powers:
1. Establishment of the municipal ordinances for the city and rural
police.
2. The appointment of its employees and agents in all branches in
accordance with this law and other special ones.
The agents of municipal surveillance who carry arms shall depend
exclusively on the mayor with regard to their appointment and removal.
3. The establishment of personal services.
ART. 80. The municipal ordinances for the rural and town police
which may be issued by the municipal councils for the government of
their respective districts, shall be submitted to the approval of the
Governor-General, after a report from the provincial deputation.
The decision of the Governor-General shall be final when it is in
accordance with the report of the provincial deputation.
In case of disagreement the proceedings shall be submitted to the
colonial secretary, who shall decide, hearing the council of state.
ART. 81. Any infractions of the ordinances and regulations shall be
punished by fines not to exceed 50 pesetas in the capital of a province
and in towns having an equal number of population; 25 in seats of
judicial districts and towns of 4,000 inhabitants, and 15 in other towns,
with reparation for the damage done and indemnification for costs, and
arrest of one day for each peso in cases of insolvency.
For the collection of fines the proceedings shall be in accordance
with articles 194 (rules 1, 2, and 3), 195, and 197.




33


The municipal judge shall discharge the duties entrusted by article
97 to the judge of first instance.
Against an administrative decision the person fined may appeal to
the municipal council and institute the proceedings referred to in article
196, in a proper case.
ART. 82. The appointment and removal of all the employees and
clerks paid with municipal funds shall be made by the municipal councils.
Officials destined to professional services shall have the qualifications
and fill the conditions determined in the laws relating to the same.
ART. 83. Personal services are inforced in order to assist in the construction of municipal public works of all kinds; municipal councils
have the power to require the same of all inhabitants over sixteen
years of age and under fifty, with the exception of those taken care of
in charitable institutions, soldiers in active service, and persons incapacitated for work.
The number of days shall not exceed twenty per year nor ten consecutive ones, each day redeemable by the person interested at the rate
of pay given laborers in the locality.
With the exception of the public works mentioned in this article, no
personal services of any kind can be required, the mayor or deputy
mayor requiring them incurring liability.
ART. 84. The municipal councils, with the authority and approval of
the provincial deputation, may form by themselves and with the
adjoining ones associations and communities for the construction and
preservation of roads, rural police, care of property owned in common,
and other subjects of their exclusiveinterest. These communities shall
be governed by a board composed of one delegate for each municipal
council, presided over by the member elected by the board.
The board shall draw up the accounts and budgets, which shall be
submitted to the municipal boards of each town, and should they not
be approved by all or by any of them the provincial deputation shall
decide.
ART. 85. The communities of municipal councils shall always be
voluntary and shall be governed by boards of delegates of the same,
which shall alternately meet in the respective seats of the municipal
associated subdistricts.
Whenever any complaints are made against the administration of
said communities they shall be decided by the provincial deputation,
with the exception of questions of ownership, which are reserved to
the courts of justice.
ART. 86. Municipal councils may represent, in so far as matters of
their competency are concerned, the provincial deputation, the delegate
of the Governor-General, the Governor-General, the Government, and
the Cortes.
Except when they make complaints against the mayor, they must do
4080   3




34
so through the same. When they address themselves to the Government or to the Cortes, they shall do so through the Governor-General.
If within a period of eight days the proper authorities do not take
action on representations of municipal councils (excepting the Governor-General), said councils may repeat the same in the shape of a
direct complaint.
If within a period of two months the Governor-General does not
take action upon representations of municipal councils, the latter may
repeat the same directly, in the shape of a complaint, addressed to the
colonial secretary or to the Cortes in a proper case.
ART. 87. All the resolutions of municipal councils in questions of
their competency are final, with the exception of the appeals determined
by the laws.
ART. 88. Resolutions regarding pruning and cutting of timber in
municipal forests require the approval of the provincial deputation,
subject to the laws relating to the matter and those referring to
the reform and abolition of municipal establishments for charity and
instruction.
ART. 89. Alienations and exchanges of municipal property shall be
made in accordance with the following rules:
1. Lands remaining over from public roads and granted to private
ownership and useless objects may be exclusively sold by the municipal
council.
2. Contracts relating to municipal establishments of no use for the
service to which they had been destined, and private credits in favor
of the people, as well as all contracts relating to other real estate and
property rights of the municipality, require the approval of the provincial deputation.
3. This approval is also necessary for the acquisition of real estate
and property rights by municipal councils, even though it be gratuitous, and to make leases for more than six years which require recording in the registry of property.
Municipal councils can in no manner whatsoever make gratuitous
cessions of lands of the community, nor of any other class of lands or
rights belonging to the municipality, except with the approval mentioned in the two foregoing paragraphs for works or services which will
be of evident benefit to the municipal interests.
All contracts made by municipal councils for all kinds of services,
purchases, works, sales, and leases, and in general all those which will
cause expenses or receipts in the municipal funds, shall be made subject to the prescriptions of the royal decree of January 4, 1883, regarding administrative contracts.
ART. 90. The authorization of the provincial deputation is necessary
in order to institute suits in the name of towns of less than four thousand inhabitants.
The resolution of the municipal council must in all cases be adopted
after a favorable report of two lawyers.




35


No authorization or report of lawyers is necessary to utilize injuncs
tions to retain or recover and those relating to new or old works, nor to
institute suits in which the municipal council is the defendant.
ART. 91. Whenever, in any of the cases mentioned in the foregoing
article, it is necessary to obtain the approval of the provincial deputation, it shall be the duty of the mayor to forward the data within a
period of not exceeding eight days, counted from the date of the
resolution.
ART. 92. Municipal councils in all matters which, according to this
law, are not of their exclusive competency, and in which they act by
delegation, shall be governed by the general laws and provisions relating to the same.
ART. 93. Inferior and superior courts can not admit injunctions
against administrative rulings of municipal councils and mayors in
matters of their respective competency.
ART. 94. In defined matters, such as the exclusive municipal competency, each municipal council shall enjoy all the liberty of action
compatible with obedience to the laws and the respect due private
parties.
CHAPTER II.-Administration of towns added to a municipal district.
ART. 95. Towns which, together with others, form a municipal district,
and have their own land, water, pasture grounds, forests, or any other
rights, exclusively their own, shall preserve the private administration
over the same.
ART. 96. For said administration they shall appoint a board, which
shall be composed of one president and two or four members, all of
whom shall be elected directly by the residents of the town and from
among them.
For towns of sixty or more residents there shall be four members,
and two for towns having a smaller number.
ART. 97. The election of the presidents and members above mentioned shall be made in accordance with the electoral law, but in one
day only, and without allowing more than eight days to elapse from
the time the municipal council was installed and which shall see to the
execution of this precept.
ART. 98. After the three or five members for the board have been
elected, the office of president shall be given the person who obtained
the highest number of votes, and should there be a tie it shall be
decided by lot.
ART. 99. The objections established by this law for municipal offices
shall also be applicable to the election of members of the board with
relation to the respective town.
ART. 100. The municipal council of the respective district shall
inspect the private administration referred to in this chapter either on
its own initiative or at the request of two or more residents of the town
interested.




36


ART. 101. The administration and the inspection above mentioned,
as well as the duties and obligations of the board and of its members,
shall be governed by the provisions of this law in all that has not been
determined by this chapter.
CHAPTER III.-Sessions and mode of procedure of municipal councils.
ART. 102. The sessions of municipal councils shall be public, with
the exception of the cases in which, for special reasons, it is resolved
that they be secret; and the days and hours on which they are to be
held shall be announced in the usual places.
They shall necessarily take place, under pain of nullity, in the townhalls, except in cases of force majeure.
ART. 103. The mayor and the deputy mayors, as well as the aldermen, are obliged to be present punctually at all the ordinary and extraordinary sessions, unless prevented for good reasons, which they shall
prove in a proper case.
Lack of attendance shall cause a fine to be incurred for each time in
accordance with the following scale:
In towns of 20,000 or more inhabitants, 15 pesetas.
In towns of over 15,000 inhabitants, 10 pesetas.
In those of more than 8,000, 5 pesetas.
In other towns, 2 pesetas.
This provision is applicable to the members of the municipal board.
ART. 104. The mayor, the deputies, and the aldermen all have the
right of speech and vote in the sessions and resolutions of the municipal
council.
They are equally responsible for the resolutions which they authorize
with their votes without being permitted for any reason whatsoever to
abstain from casting the same.
ART. 105. The municipal council shall be presided over by the mayor.
In his absence the deputy shall preside, and thereafter the councilors
in the order of their age.
The Governor-General and his delegate shall preside when they are
present at the sessions of the municipal council, but shall not have a
right to vote.
ART. 106. The mayor may call an extraordinary session when he
deems fit, and he must always do so when ordered to by the delegate
of the Governor-General or when it is requested by a third of the
councilors.
ART. 107. In every call for an extraordinary session the business to
be transacted shall be mentioned, and the municipal council can not
take up any other matters at the same session.
The calls shall be made at least one day in advance, except in cases
of greater urgency, and the resolutions shall be subject to ratification
at the following one.
AnT. 108. Every session of an ordinary character, with the exception
of the days fixed in accordance with article 159 of this law, which is




37


not called by the mayor in the nanner and under the conditions prescribed in the foregoing articles or in which a question not announced
in the call is treated of, shall be null and of no value, and the resolutions adopted at the same shall also be null.
ART. 109. In order to hold sessions the presence of a majority of the
total number of councilors which the municipal council must have
according to this law is requisite.
If at the first meeting there should not be a quorum for the adoption
of resolutions, a new citation shall be made for two days later, stating
the reasons therefor, and the persons present at the same may adopt
resolutions, no matter what their number may be.
ART. 110. All questions which are to be resolved upon by a municipal council shall first be discussed, if necessary, and then voted upon.
Questions shall be considered as adopted which one over half of the
members present at the session vote for.
In case of tie, voting shall be resumed at the next session, or at the
same one, if the question is of an urgent character in the judgment of
the mayor; and in case of a new tie, the latter shall cast the deciding
vote.
ART. 111. Balloting shall be oral when questions relating to the
councilors themselves or to members of their families within the fourth
degree are not in question, being otherwise secret, the councilor interested being obliged to withdraw from the session while the matter is
under discussion and being voted upon.
ART. 112. The secretary of the municipal council shall make minutes of each session, in which he shall state the names of the president
and of the other councilors present, the questions treated of, and the
resolutions adopted relating to the same, the result of the votes, and a
list of the oral ones, should there be any.
The opinions of the minorities and their reasons shall always be
included in the minutes.
The minutes shall be signed by the councilors who are present at the
session, by those present when they are read, and by the secretary.
The minutes of the opening session of each municipal council shall be
signed by all those who were present at the same and who know how
to write, those not knowing how to sign being mentioned.
ART. 113. The book of minutes of the municipal council is a public
and solemn instrument. No resolution which is not explicitly and finally
included in the minutes referred to shall have any value whatsoever.
This book shall be made of the proper stamped paper, and all its
sheets shall bear the rubric of the mayor and the stamp of the municipal council.
ART. 114. At the end of each month, in the capital of the island, in
the seats of judicial districts, and in towns having more than four
thousand inhabitants, and every three months in other towns, the secretary shall draw up an extract of the resolutions adopted by the
municipal council during the same period, and after having been




38
approved by the corporation it shall be forwarded by the mayor to the
Governor-General for insertion in the Gaceta de Puerto Rico.
ART. 115. The foregoing rules shall be applied to the minutes and sessions of the municipal board. Their minutes shall be kept in different
books from those of the municipal council, and with similar formalities,
precautions, and requisites, unless otherwise ordered by this law.
ART. 116. The proceedings of examination and discussion shall never
give rise to excuses to the municipal council to delay the fulfillment of
the obligations imposed upon them by the laws.
CHAPTER IV.-Administrative functions of mayors, deputies, syndics,
aldermen, and ward mayors.
ART. 117. Every resident shall have a right to request that an
official certificate of the minutes, resolutions, data, and documents
which he may expressly designate be issued to him which exist in the
municipal archives, provided they are not of a private character, in the
judgment of the corporation.
ART. 118. The mayor, who is the president of the municipal corporation, bears its name and represents it in all matters, with the exception
of the powers granted syndics.
ART. 119. The mayor shall1. Preside over sessions and direct discussions, with a right of vote.
2. Take care, under his liability, that the laws and provisions of its
hierarchical superiors are fulfilled by the municipal council.
3. Communicate, in the name of the municipal council, with the
necessary authorities and private parties.
ART. 120. The mayor shall also, as the chief of the municipal administration1. Publish, execute, and order the resolutions of the municipal council complied with when they are final and there is no legal reason for
their suspension; proceeding, if it is necessary, by judicial compulsion,
and imposing fines, which shall in no case exceed those established by
article 81, and arrest in cases of insolvency.
2. Suspend the execution of resolutions of municipal councils in the
cases prescribed by articles 180 and 181 of this law.
3. Forward to the delegate of the Governor-General the resolutions
of the municipal council which require the superior approval to become
final, and publish, execute, and order them observed after they obtain
said approval.
4. Forward statements made by municipal councils in accordance
with the provisions of article 86.
5. Direct all that relates to the town and rural police, issuing for the
purpose the proclamations and provisions he may deem proper in
accordance with the ordinances and general regulations relating to the
matter.
6. Direct and supervise the conduct of all the employees of the city




39
and rural police, punishing them with suspension from office and salary,
not to exceed thirty days, and recommend their removal to the municipal council when they can not do so in person.
7. Exercise all the duties proper to the office of supervisor and chief
of the investment of municipal funds, and of its accounting system.
8. Inspect, expedite, and direct, financially and administratively, the
works, charitable institutions, and establishments of public instruction
paid for by municipal funds, subject to the laws and provisions governing the matter.
9. Take care that the services relating to army equipages and lodgings and other public charges are faithfully rendered.
10. Preside over public sales and auctions for sales, leases, and
municipal services in accordance to law.
11. Communicate with the Governor-General and with the authorities
and corporations of the province in all questions of their governmental and administrative competency, and discharge all the special
duties conferred upon them by the Governor-General or his delegate
and the laws and regulations.
ART. 121. Where there is only one deputy, the mayor shall divide
with him the subdistricts into which the municipal district has been
divided.
Where there is more than one deputy, the subdistricts shall only be
divided among the deputies.
ART. 122. The deputy mayors shall each one of them discharge in
their district the functions entrusted by the law to the mayor, under
the direction of the latter, as the superior chief of the municipal administration.
Ward mayors are under the orders of the deputies, and shall discharge that part of the administrative functions which the latter may
delegate to them.
ART. 123. Before absenting himself from his district for more than
eight days, a mayor requires permission from the delegate of the Governor-General; and if in granting the same he should not appoint a
temporary mayor, the proper deputy, according to his numeration, shall
substitute the former during his absence.
In cases of absences for less than eight days, it is sufficient for the
mayor to summon in writing the person who is to substitute him and
place the office in his charge, and to communicate this fact to the municipal council and to the delegate of the Governor-General, also in writing.
Deputies and aldermen require the permission of the municipal council to absent themselves from their district for more than eight days;
but in urgent cases the mayor may authorize the absence of the deputies, informing those who are to replace them.
Even though the absence is to be less than eight days, the deputies
and councilors shall communicate it to the mayor in writing.




40
ART. 124. Ward mayors can never absent themselves from the ward
in their charge for more than twenty-four hours without permission
from the mayor, who shall appoint a person to replace them during
their absence.
ART. 125. Deputy mayors shall be replaced by the oldest aldermen,
and the rest, according to the order established by article 105.
ART. 126. Councilors can not absent themselves without permission
from the municipal council on days of ordinary or extraordinary sessions, nor for a longer period than that intervening between two
ordinary sessions.
Leave of absence shall only be granted simultaneously to one-fourth
of the total number of councilors.
ART. 127. Councilors shall discharge their functions within the
municipal district to which they belong, without being obliged to leave
the same in the discharge thereof.
CHAPTER V.-Secretaries of municipal councils.
ART. 128. Every municipal council shall have a secretary, to be
remunerated from its funds.
The appointment shall be made by the municipal council after
competition.
ART. 129. In order to be a secretary it is necessary to be a Spaniard,
of age, to be in the full enjoyment of civil and political rights, and to
possess an elementary education.
The following can not be regular nor temporary secretaries:
1. Councilors of the same municipal council.
2. Notaries and public clerks, as long as they discharge the functions
proper to these offices.
3. Employees in office of all classes.
4. Private parties or professional people who have contracts or
engagements for services with the municipal council or with a community of residents.
5. Those who, directly or indirectly, are interested in services, contracts, or in the furnishing of supplies within the municipal district on
account of the latter or on account of the province.
6. Those who have an administrative or judicial question pending
with the municipal council or with the establishments under its dependency or administration.
7. Debtors to the municipal funds as taxpayers.
The office of secretary is incompatible with all other municipal offices.
ART. 130. Mayors may suspend secretaries by giving to the delegate
of the Governor-General a report with the necessary documents for his
information and approval.
The delegate of the Governor-General, for grave reasons, may also
suspend or remove secretaries of the municipal councils, reporting to
the Governor-General.




41


From the decision of the Governor-General in the two cases mentioned, the person interested may appeal to the colonial secretary, who
shall decide, hearing the council of state, without firther remedy.
ART. 131. The following are the obligations of secretaries of municipal councils:
1. To take part, without the right of speech nor vote, at all the sessions of the municipal corporation, to inform the same of the correspondence and proceedings, in the manner and order prescribed by the
president.
2. To draft the minutes of each session, read them at the beginning
of the following one, and, after having been approved, have them transcribed faithfully in the book destined for this purpose, taking care to
collect the signatures, as prescribed by article 112, and placing his full
signature in the proper place.
3. To prepare the proceedings for the works of the committees and
the resolution of the municipal council.
4. To make-a note above his signature on each record of proceedings
of the decision of the municipal council.
5. To draft the minutes of the orders and resolutions of the municipal
corporation and of the committees in a proper case.
6. To prepare the proceedings, make memoranda of the resolutions,
and draft the minutes of the decisions of the mayor when there is
no special secretary for the purpose.
7. To issue certifications of all the official acts of the municipal corporation, and of the mayor when he has no special secretary, and to
issue any other certifications which may be proper.
The latter, however, in order to be valid, require the countersignature
of the mayor.
8. To direct and supervise the employes of the office of the secretary,
of which he is the chief.
9. To assist boards of experts, without special remuneration, in the
formation of assessments and restorations.
10. Any other duties entrusted to them by the laws or which the
municipal council confers upon them within the sphere and purpose of
their office.
ART. 132. Where there is no archivist, the municipal archives shall
be under the custody of the secretary. He shall draw up an inventory
of the papers and documents and shall complete it each year with an
appendix, of which, as well as of the inventory, he shall forward a copy,
with the countersignature of the mayor, to the provincial deputation.
ART. 133. In municipal councils where there is no auditor, it shall be
the duty of the secretary to keep the books of receipts and expenditures of funds, authorize warrants, and enter drafts.
ART. 134. Municipal councils may impose upon their secretaries the
disciplinary corrections which they may deem proper and which are
within their powers for the offenses or abuses which they may commit




42


in the discharge of their office and which do not give rise to criminal
proceedings.
ART. 135. The secretaries of the municipal councils shall also be
those of the mayors, but in the capital of the province and in towns of
an equal or higher number of inhabitants the mayor has the power to
appoint a special secretary, whose salary shall be fixed by the municipal board.
ART. 136. The secretaries of mayors, where there are such, shall, in
so far as their liability is concerned, be equal to those of the respective
municipal council, with the exception of the differences consequent
upon their duties.
ART. 137. The secretary of the municipal council shall also be the
secretary of the municipal board.
TITLE IV.
THE MUNICIPAL TREASURY.
CHAPTER I.-lMunicijpal budgets.
ART. 138. The provisions of the decree of September 12th and the
instructions of October 4, 1870, issued for the government of the financial administration and accounting of the colonies, are applicable to
the municipal treasury.
The municipal fiscal year shall be the same as the one in force for the
budgets and general accounts of the island of Puerto Rico.
ART. 139. The municipal councils shall each year draw up a budget
which shall include all the expenses to be made for any reason whatsoever and the revenues to cover the same. For this purpose they
shall establish from among their members one of the permanent committees mentioned in article 62.
ART. 140. The municipal councils and the boards of associates shall
enjoy all the latitude of powers compatible with the tax system of the
State, for the purpose of fixing the financial resources and to adopt
the means preferred in each town in order to cover the services and
obligations of the municipality without prejudice to the legal resources
authorized by this law and by any other special one.
ART. 141. The provincial deputation has the power of revision of the
decisions of municipal corporations relating to the formation or alteration of their budgets, in so far as the proportion of the expenses with
the revenues is concerned, as well as the character or nature of the
expenses, so that, without diminishing the discretional power of said
corporations, it takes care that no expense is authorized which exceeds
the cash resources, and that before any other requirement, the debits
or arrears which may have gone over from one year to another be
covered, as well as the obligations which may have been declared as
final by the competent courts.
ART. 142. The Governor-General and his delegates have the power
to intervene, in so far as necessary, in the resolutions of municipal




43
corporations relating to the formation or alteration of their budgets to
insure the observance of the laws and the compatibility of the resources
of the municipal council with the revenues of the State.
ART. 143. The ordinary annual budgets shall necessarily contain the
requisite sections, according to the resources of the municipality, in
order to attend to and fill the obligations referred to in the first para.
graph of article 78 of this law; the services established between those
which, according to article 75, come under the jurisdiction of municipal
councils; the expenses which, by virtue of the second paragraph of the
said article 78, are clearly and finally designated in the laws as obligatory, besides the following:
1. Personnel and material of the dependencies and offices.
2. Pensions, annuities (censos), and judicial expenses, which are to
be paid from municipal funds, as well as acknowledged and liquidated
debts, and interest and consequences of contracts.
3. Protection of trees.
4. Preventive measures and measures for the extinguishment of fires
and life-saving measures in maritime populations.
5. Subscription to the Gaceta de Puerto Rico.
6. Allotment of the municipality in the provincial assessment.
7. One section for emergencies and public calamities, not to exceed
ten per cent of the budget for expenses.
8. Printing, announcements and other necessary expenses to make
municipal acts public.
ART. 144. The expenses included in the municipal budgets shall be
covered with the income, penalties, and means authorized by this law
and other provisions in force.
ART. 145. The revenues shall be:
Rents and products accruing from property, rights or capitals which,
for any reason whatsoever, belong to the municipality or to the charitable institutions or institutions of instruction and other similar ones
depending on the same.
Municipal taxes or imposts on determined services, works or industries, as well as the benefit of city and rural police, and fines and
indemnifications for the infraction of the municipal ordinances and
police regulations.
A general assessment among all the residents and property owners
in proportion to the means or powers of each one, to cover the municipal services wholly, or in the part not covered by the foregoing
resources.
Taxes on articles of food, drink, and fuel.
ART. 146. For the fulfillment of the second paragraph of the foregoing article the following rules shall be observed:
1. The establishment of taxes can only be authorized on those works
and services paid with the municipal funds, the benefit of which will
not redound to the residents in common, but to determined persons
or classes, provided the persons interested have not previously acquired




44


the same for a valuable consideration, as well as on industries which
are established in public ways or on land or properties of the town, it
being understood that the municipal council can not secure the monopoly nor any privilege whatsoever over said services except in so far
as necessary for the public health.
2. In accordance with the provisions of the foregoing article, the
establishment of taxes on the following objects may be authorized:
Benefit and provision of waters for private use.
Sewers, bathing establishments in public waters.
Rural police.
Institutions of secondary, superior, or special instruction.
Licenses for the construction of buildings.
Slaughter houses.
Public booths and chairs in squares, streets, fairs, markets, and
promenades.
Rental of weights and measures.
Inspection of weights and measures or reweighing.
Interment in municipal cemeteries.
Public carriages and hearses and wagons for transportation in the
interior of the towns.
Issue of certifications of acts of the municipal council or of documents existing in its archives.
Shares granted by the laws in the issue of documents of surveillance,
hunting and fishing licenses, and navigation and freight transportation on rivers, and water privileges.
And other similar ones.
3. In no case can the following services be subjected to taxation:
Benefit and provision of waters for communal use,
Public lighting.
Sidewalks and paving.
Public surveillance.
Charity.
Public instruction.
Street cleaning, without prejudice to the benefits which may result.
And others of a similar character.
4. In the same manner, the establishment of taxes on the sale of spirituous or fermented drinks may also be authorized, either in establishments or fixed places, or by peddlers, carriers, or by the manufacturers
or proprietors themselves; on cafes, restaurants, saloons, inns, boarding
houses, and other establishments of the same character; on bathing
establishments; on all kinds of public spectacles, and on permitted
gambling and raffles, in so far as granted by the laws to municipal
councils.
5. The taxes on the slaughterhouses shall come under the heading
of consumption taxes, should there be any, and can not altogether
exceed twenty-five per cent, in accordance with the second paragraph,
rule 1, article 151; where there is no consumption tax on meats, there




45
can only be imposed by way of slaughter tax an amount which shall
never exceed ten per cent of the value of the head of cattle.
6. The taxes mentioned in rule 4 of this article, with the exception of
those relating to bathing establishments, public spectacles, gambling,
and raffles, shall not be authorized when any consumption taxes exist,
but the establishments mentioned may at any rate be subjected to a
special tax on account of surveillance, which shall not exceed five per
cent of the amount they pay as a direct tax.
7. The taxes on industries which are carried on in public roads shall
not exist jointly with the general assessment, without prejudice to
which the quotas which correspond for this reason to the manufacturers may be charged with five per cent by reason of rental or use of
the road.
8. The quotas imposed on the industries mentioned in this law, which
are included in the schedules of the industrial, commercial, and professional tax, shall not exceed twenty-five per cent of the amount indicated in the latter; and
9. The payment of fines and indemnifications shall be made in the
special paper which the treasury shall issue for the case. and which it
shall deliver to the municipal councils who request it, charging on the
same by reason of the stamp a tax not exceeding ten per cent of its
nominal value.
ART. 146. The creation of any of the taxes mentioned shall be resolved
upon by the municipal councils in union with the board of associates,
the record of proceedings being forwarded through the mayor to the
delegates of the governor, who shall transmit it, after a report, to the
Governor-General for the proper resolution, according to article 142.
The Governor-General shall forward said record of proceedings to the
provincial deputation for the purposes of article 141.
ART. 148. In order that the general assessment referred to in the
third paragraph of article 145 may be authorized, the municipal council
shall institute proceedings in accordance with the following rules:
1. The assessment shall be extended to the following persons for all
the utilities they may have in the district, irrespective of their nature:
First. To the residents of the municipal district.
Second. To owners living in other towns who, according to article
27, are considered residents.
Third. To those who, according to the same article, have the character and are considered as owners.
Fourth. To farmers, lessees, or coproprietors of agricultural estates
who do not reside in the district.
The profits accruing from pensions, interest on capitals, salaries, or
state revenues in the town where they reside shall be imputed to their
possessors.
Persons who have been declared paupers, those taken care of in charitable institutions, and members of the army and navy are exempted
from the assessment.




46
2. In order to fix the income of each taxpayer, the following bases
shall be observed:
First. On owners of city property there shall be assessed as taxable
income the amount of the rents they receive or may hereafter receive
for this purpose, taking into consideration the nature and conditions of
the estates, if they are occupied by them personally, or by others who
do not pay rent.
Second. Owners who cultivate agricultural estates, or in the proper
case the farmers, lessees, or coproprietors, shall be assessed a sum
amounting to one and a half times the amount of the rent produced by
the estate, or which it might hereafter produce, according to the
average rents of the town, should said estate be rented.
Third. When the owners of estates, be they either rural or town, are
not residents of the district, the assessment shall be reduced by onefifth of the sum which, according to the foregoing bases, it should have
amounted to.
Fourth. To those who receive salaries, pensions, annuities (censos),
or interests of any class or from any source, the amount of these sums
shall be assessed as net income.
Fifth. Persons included in the industrial, commercial, and professional
tax shall be assessed the net profit assessable in proportion to the quota
they pay by reason thereof, which shall not be less than five nor exceed
twenty times the amount of said quota, in accordance with the scales
approved for each class.
Sixth. Day-laborers and journeymen, and in general all those who
live upon a fortuitous salary, shall be assessed upon a third part of the
sum which, according to the customs of each locality, their income
may reach during the year, on an average.
Seventh. When it is not possible to ascertain the income of any resident, the assessment shall be made without prejudice to the provisions
of article 27 and rule 3 of this article, taking into consideration the
external marks of wealth, such as the value of the furniture, rental of
the house, number of servants, and other similar ones.
Eighth. From the assessed income of each resident or property
holder, there shall be deducted in every case the amount of the direct
tax he pays the State.
3. The determination of the taxable income shall be made by the
taxpayers themselves, divided into sections in the manner prescribed
by chapter 3, title 2, of this law.
Each section shall draw up a statement, including the profits of all
its members, specifying, in so far as possible, the nature and number
of the objects which produce the same.
ART. 149. After the proceedings have been instituted in the manner
stated, the municipal council shall issue the proper resolution, without
prejudice to the powers appertaining to the provincial deputation and
to the Governor-General, in accordance with this law.




47
ART. 150. After the assessment has been approved its collection
shall be proceeded with, the following rules being observed:
1. The members of each section of taxpayers, proceeding as syndics
and meeting with the municipal council, shall examine and compare
the statements of income, deciding the complaints which may arise and
fixing the total amount assessable.
The board shall assess the amount corresponding to each section
either by so much per cent in proportion to the total appraised income
or by fixed classes.
2. The syndics of each section shall make and communicate the
assessment to the members of the same. The municipal council shall
decide the complaints which this assessment may cause.
3. All the operations of appraisement and assessment shall be published in the ordinary manner, and shall furthermore be communicated
in the office of the secretary of the municipal council to every person
interested who requests it.
4. From the decisions of the municipal council and of the board of
appraisement an appeal lies to the provincial deputation. The appeal
must be instituted within the fifteen days following the publication,
and it shall not hinder the payment of the quota assessed until a definite resolution is reached.
These complaints, as well as those which may be brought on account
of the work of each section, must be based on concrete, precise, and
determined facts, adducing the proofs necessary for their justification.
5. The assessment shall include an increase, not to exceed six per
cent of the total quota, for expenses of distribution, collection, and
quotas which can not be collected.
Taxpayers who pay their quotas every three months, six months, or
every year in advance into the treasuries of the respective municipalities are exempted from the payment of this increase, and in the second
and third cases they shall be credited so much per cent per annum,
which may be fixed by reason of the advanced payment.
6. Owners and farmers, lessees, coproprietors, or tenants shall arrange
by means of private contracts the proportion to be paid by each one of
the quota assessed the latter, on the estates, and the manner and time
of reimbursing each other for this quota.
ART. 151. For the fulfillment of the fourth paragraph of article 145,
proceedings shall be instituted, the following rules being observed:
1. The municipal council and the associates united in a board shall
determine the subjects which are to be the object of the consumption
tax, as well as the schedules which are to govern its collection and the
manner of doing so.
The schedules shall in no case exceed twenty-five per cent of the
average of the article in the respective locality, according to its class.
2. The tax can only be placed upon the articles of food or of drink
which are consumed in each town. Any other tax on the same which




48


might embarrass traffic, circulation, and sale, no matter under what
name it may be desired to establish the same, is absolutely prohibited.
3. In towns where customs houses are established foreign articles,
after being nationalized by the payment of the customs duties, may be
subjected to the municipal consumption tax within the prescriptions of
this law, and on the value which they have in the market, by deducting
the amount of said customs duties.
ART. 152. After the consumption tax on any of the provisions
approved has been established the municipal council shall fix the
individual quotas and their collection. The assessment shall include
an increase not to exceed six per cent of the total quota for the
expenses of distribution, collection, and quotas that can not be collected.
Against the decision of the municipal council and the board of
associates an appeal lies in the shape and manner prescribed by rule 4
of article 150.
ART. 153. At the end of the fiscal year the open credits which have
not been invested during the course of the same are annulled.
During the period of extension the operations of collection of the
budget incomes shall be concluded, as well of those for the liquidation
and payment of the services effected during the year. The balances
remaining after this period shall be the subject of an additional budget,
after the consequent liquidations which shall be concluded during the
following month.
ART. 154. When, in order to cover unforeseen expenses, satisfy some
debt, or for any other important object not determined in the ordinary
budget, the resources included in the same are not sufficient, the
municipal councils shall draw up an extraordinary budget in the same
manner and with the same procedure fixed for the ordinary ones.
ART. 155. The debts of towns which are not secured by pledges or
mortgages can not be judicially demanded of municipal councils.
When any town is sentenced to the payment of a sum, the municipal
council, in the period of ten days after the sentence has been carried
out, shall draw up an extraordinary budget, unless the creditor agrees
to postpone the collection, in order to permit the entry in the ordinary
following budgets, of the sums necessary for the payment of the principal and interest stipulated.
ART. 156. If the resources at the disposal of a town are not sufficient
to cover its debts, or the municipal council does not consider it possible
to collect the increased quotas imposed upon the residents, and the
creditors are not satisfied with the means offered them to liquidate
their debts, the proceedings shall be forwarded to the provincial deputation, which shall order what is proper so that the payments can be
made without prejudice to the competency of the superior and ordinary
inferior courts to decide regarding the legality and preference of the
credits.
ART. 157. Resources originating from means of a fortuitous and




49
transitory character can not be applied to the payment and fulfillment
of permanent services or obligations.
ART. 158. The project of the budget, either ordinary, additional, or
extraordinary, with the report of the syndic, shall be exhibited to the
public in the office of the secretary of the municipal council for the
period of fifteen days from the date on which the announcement is
made in the ordinary form.
ART. 159. The municipal council shall draw up the budget, which
shall be approved by the municipal board without prejudice to the
provisions of article 162.
ART. 160. The municipal boards shall meet, after a personal citation
and announcement, at the times and in the manner prescribed by
article 71.'
ART. 161. In order to adopt resolutions, the vote of an absolute
majority of the total number of members who compose the board is
necessary. If this number does not meet at the first session a new
call shall be issued for eight days later, at which a majority of those
present may adopt resolutions.
In towns of less than eight hundred inhabitants the vote of one over
half of those present shall form a quorum, if they reach at least the
fourth part of the total number of residents who have a right to compose the board. In case this number should not assemble, the provisions of the foregoing paragraph shall be observed.
ART. 162. The resolutions of the board relating to the budgets may
be appealed from to the Governor-General by the persons who are
injured thereby, when any provisions of the law are infringed by the
same, but only in so far as the infraction is concerned.
The governor shall decide, without loss of time, first hearing the
council of administration.
ART. 163. The mayor may authorize the execution, making a report
to the provincial deputation and to the delegate of the GovernorGeneral, without prejudice to the subsequent appeals which may be
proper according to this law, of the budgets drawn up to attend to the
sanitary requirements of absolute urgency, in time of public calamity,
and others of a peremptory character, when the amount does not
exceed two pesetas and fifty centimos for each resident, nor one-third
of the ordinary budget.
ART. 164. In order to effect the collection, the judicial means regarding direct and indirect taxpayers issued in favor of the treasury shall
be applicable.
CHAPTER II.- Collection, distribution, and accounting of municipalfunds.
ART. 165. The collection and administration of the municipal funds
are in charge of the respective municipal councils, and shall take place
through its agents and delegates.
4080   4:




50
ART. 166. The distribution and investment of the funds shall be
resolved upon every month by the municipal council, subject to the
budgets.
ARTX. 167. Payments shall be ordered by the mayor.
The supervision shall be in charge of the auditor, where there is one,
and in his absence the office shall be filled by an alderman elected by
tile municipal council.
In towns the budget of expenses of which is not under one hundred
thousand pesetas there shall be an auditor of municipal funds
appointed by the municipal council from among the persons who possess the qualifications determined by special regulations.
The same regulations shall prescribe all that refers to the classes and
salaries of said officials.
The removal of municipal auditors who are appointed in accordance
with its provisions shall appertain to the municipal councils, but it shall
not be ordered, except for serious reasons and after proceedings. The
persons interested may appeal from the decision to the delegate of the
Governor, who shall decide, hearing the provincial committee.
ART. 168. The municipal councils shall appoint and freely remove
the treasurers and agents for the collection of all the revenues and
means of the municipality.
The same corporations shall also fix the remuneration which said
employees are to enjoy and the guarantees they are to give.
If there should not be in the town any person wishing to take charge
of the custody of funds, the office of depositary shall be declared as
appertaining to the council and obligatory, but it shall not require the
giving of a guarantee, and the expenses which may arise shall be for
the account of the municipality.
ART. 169. The agents for the municipal collection are liable to the
municipal council, and the latter is civilly liable to the municipality in
case of negligence or omission duly proven without prejudice to the
rights which may be exercised against the agents.
ART. 170. All the municipal funds shall necessarily be deposited in
the treasury of the municipal council, the three keys of which shall be
in the custody of the depositary, the comptroller, and the supervisor.
ART. 171. The auditor or supervising councilor, assisted if necessary
by the secretary and other clerks of the municipal council, shall draw
up the accounts of each term at the proper time, which shall be submitted, with the documents justifying them, to the municipal council
after having been audited by the syndic.
ART. 172. After the accounts have been definitely fixed by the
municipal council they shall be forwarded, with a report of the syndic
and the documents justifying them, for auditing and revision to the
municipal board.
The latter, on the first working day of the second quarter of the fiscal year, shall assemble in the building of the municipal council, under




51
the presidency of the mayor, with the presence of the secretary, an d
shall appoint a committee from its members, who, after examining the
accounts, shall make a report within a period not to exceed fifteen days.
During the fifteen days preceding the assembly, the accounts shall
be exhibited in the office of the secretary, and any resident may examine them and put his observations in writing, which shall be communicated to the board.
ART. 173. The sessions which the board dedicates to the discussion
of the report of the committee shall be presided over by a member
elected by the same.
ART. 174. After the accounts have been examined and discussed
and all the proceedings instituted and the data procured which may be
considered necessary by the board, it shall assemble to resolve upon
and adopt its definite decision by a vote of the absolute majority.
This report shall be subscribed by all those present, no matter what
their private opinion may be, which they may, however, record by
means of a written vote, the original of which shall be attached to the
record of proceedings, this fact being stated in the minutes.
ART. 175. The municipal board shall assemble in the first fifteen days
of February, in order to revise and audit the accounts of the previous
fiscal year in the manner prescribed by the foregoing articles.
ART. 176. The annual accounts of the mayors, comprising the receipts
and ordinary and extraordinary expenditures, shall be published in the
locality, revised and audited in view of the objections, by the delegate
of the region, hearing the persons responsible regarding the objections,
and definitely approved or disapproved by the provincial deputation.
ART. 177. The provincial deputation may declare without further
appeal the administrative liabilities which may be proper, with the
exception of those which come under the jurisdiction of the ordinary
courts.
ART. 178. The municipal council shall publish, at the beginning of
each quarter, a statement of the collection and investment of its funds
during the preceding one.
In public works which may be made by administration, there shall
be published every week a memorandum of the expenses incurred,
detailing the amount paid for wages, material, traders, contractors, site
of the work, and other similar circumstances.
In the office of the secretary there shall be exhibited all the year
round, on working days and during office hours, to any resident, and
specially to the associate members of the municipal boards, the original
documents and accounts, from which the municipal council shall permit
memoranda to be made, as well as copies of the same.
Accounts which involve more than one hundred thousand pesetas
shall be printed in an abstract, which shall include the report of the
board and the remarks of the municipal council, which shall be sold to
the public.




52
ART. 179. The municipal councils shall forward to the delegate of the
region a full copy, certified by the secretary, with the counter signature
of the mayor, as well as copies of the budgets and accounts definitely
approved, with the literal minutes of the municipal board.
TITLE V.
APPEALS AND LIABILITIES ARISING FROM THE ACTS OF MUNICIPAL
COUNCILS.
CHAPTER I.-Appeals from the decisions of municipal councils.
ART. 180. Without prejudice to the provisions of article 120, the
mayor is obliged to suspend in person or at the instance of any resident of the town, the execution of decisions of the municipal council in
the following cases:
1. When questions are involved which, according to this law and
other special ones do not come under the jurisdiction of the municipal
council.
2. For delinquency.
The reasons for the suspension shall be given in either case, stating
concretely and precisely the legal provisions on which it is based.
In cases of incompetency, want of jurisdiction, infraction of the law,
prejudice of the general interests, or danger to public order, the mayor
shall suspend the decisions of the municipal council, reporting thereon
to the delegate of the Governor for the proper resolution.
ART. 181. The mayor shall also suspend the execution of the decisions
referred to in the first paragraph of the foregoing article when thereby
the civil rights of a third person might be damaged, be he a resident or
not of the municipal district.
The suspension in such case shall only be granted when requested
by the person interested, complaining at the same time against the
decision.
ART. 182. The complaint authorized by the foregoing article shall be
brought before the mayor within a period of thirty days, counted from
the date of the publication of the decision.
The mayor, under his personal liability, shall forward the appeal
with his report within the period of eight days to the Governor-General,
who shall decide, hearing the provincial committee.
ART. 183. Persons who consider themselves damaged in their civil
rights by the decisions of the municipal councils, even though their execution has been suspended or not suspended in virtue of the provisions
of the foregoing articles, may object to the same by means of a complaint made to the judge or court of competent jurisdiction, according
to what may be provided by the laws, taking into consideration the
nature of the question.
The judge or court taking cognizance of the matter may suspend the
execution of the decision appealed from at the petition of the person




53


interested, by means of a preliminary ruling, if it has not already been
suspended, according to the provisions of article 181, when in his judgment it is proper and convenient in order to avoid a grave and irreparable damage.
In order to make this complaint a period of thirty days is granted
after the notification of the decision or the communication of the suspension in a proper case, and if said period has elapsed without any
complaint having been made, this suspension is raised as of course and
the decision adopted.
ART. 184. If any decision has been suspended or appealed from by
virtue of the provisions of the foregoing articles, the mayor shall forward the data to the delegate of the Governor-General within the
period of eight days, for the proper ends.
In all cases in which the governmental suspension has been ordered
by reason of delinquency, the delegate shall immediately forward the
question for the information of the ordinary court.
ART. 185. If the reason for the suspension was that the resolution
related to questions absolutely foreign to the municipal jurisdiction, or
for having infringed the laws, the matter shall be forwarded to the provincial deputation for its confirmation or revocation.
ART. 186. The delegates of the Governor-General may suspend the
resolutions of municipal corporations when they extend over the limit
of their jurisdiction, forwarding the data at once to the GovernorGeneral for his decision.
CHAPTER II.-Dependency and liability of councilors and their agents.
ART. 187. The Governor-General of the Island of Puerto Rico is the
superior chief of the municipal councils of the province.
The municipal councils are also subordinate to the provincial deputation in so far as determined by the laws.
ART. 188. The municipal councils, mayors and councilors incur
liability:
1. For a manifest infraction of the law in their acts or resolutions,
either making use of powers to which they have no right or abusing
their own.
2. For disobedience or disrespect to their hierarchical superiors.
3. For negligence or omission which may result in damage to the
interests or services which are under their custody.
ART. 189. The liability shall be demandable before the administration or before the courts, according to the nature of the action or
omission which gave rise thereto, and shall only be extended to the
members who took part in the same.
ART. 190. Without prejudice to the provisions of articles 52 and 54,
regarding mayors and deputies, when the latter or the aldermen of a
municipal council are guilty of acts or omissions administratively
punishable, they shall incur, according to the cases, the penalties of
warning, reprimand, fine, or suspension.




54


ART. 191. A warning is proper in cases of error, omission, or slight
negligence, which is not repeated and if the damage caused thereby
can be easily repaired.
Reprimands are proper in cases of second offenses, already corrected,
and in cases of extra limitation of power, and abuse of faculties, and
negligence, the consequences of which are not irreparable or serious.
A fine is proper, provided the laws and general provisions in accordance to the same fix it, and in cases of repetitions of offences, punished
with reprimands, and in extra limitations, abuse of authority, serious
negligence or disobedience, which do not require suspension nor produce criminal liability.
ART. 192. The delegates of the Governor-General may warn, reprimand, fine, and suspend from office the mayors, deputy mayors, and
aldermen who compose the municipal corporations when they go beyond
the limit of their municipal competency.
ART. 193. The maximum of the quota of the fines which the delegate
of the Governor-General may impose on mayors, deputy mayors, and
aldermen for the offences which they respectively commit, and according to the provisions of the present law, shall be in proportion to the
number of councilors of each town, as follows:
Number of councilors       Mayors. Aldermen.
Pesetas. Pesetas.
5 to 7......................................  50  10
8 to 10.....................................   75  12
11 to 14............................  100  25
15 to 18...................................  125  40
19 to 21;..........-.........................  150  50


ART. 194. For the imposition and collection of fines the following
rules shall be observed:
1. No fine shall be imposed without a resolution in writing stating
the reasons therefor.
2. The ruling shall be communicated in writing to the person fined,
and a receipt shall be issued him on its payment.
3. The fines and penalties shall be collected in the corresponding
stamped paper.
4. The fines must necessarily be paid from the personal funds of the
persons fined.
5. The fines shall be extended to all the members of the municipal
council who, according to this law, are responsible for the act or the
resolution which gave rise thereto.
ART. 195. For the payment of all fines a period shall be granted in
proportion to the amount of the same, and which shall not be less than
ten days nor more than twenty, at the expiration of which judicial




55
compulsion against the delinquent persons is proper. The delinquency
shall be fined by not more than five per cent daily of the total amount
of the fine, without ever exceeding double the amount of the latter.
ART. 196. The person interested may complain against the imposition
of a fine to the same delegate of the Governor-General, requesting that
it be appealed from, with the reasons which justify it.
Against a ruling confirming the fine imposed an appeal lies on account
of an error of form to the court of competent jarisdiction in administrative litigation of the province, subject to the laws in force.
After the fine has been definitely delared as improper, the return of
the amount thereof to the person interested shall be ordered.
ART. 197. No writs of attachments for the collection of fines shall be
administratively issued.
When the persons fined do not pay the fine notwithstanding the
judicial compulsion, the delegate of the Governor-General shall address
a communication to the judge of first instance of the judicial district,
stating the cause which gave rise to the imposition of the fine and the
amount and liquidation of the latter, and requesting his authority to
enforce the same.
The judge shall proceed to the collection of the fine through the proceedings of judicial compulsion.
ART. 198. The Governor-General may freely suspend mayors.
ART. 199. He may also suspend deputy mayors and aldermen when
they commit serious acts of extra limitation of a political character,
and especially in the following cases:
1. To have given publicity to the act.
2. For inciting other municipal councils to commit the same.
3. For causing a disturbance of the public order.
He may also order the suspension when the deputies and aldermen
commit serious acts of disobedience, insisting therein after having been
reprimanded and fined.
ART. 200. The suspension of deputies and aldermen shall not exceed
four months.
If this period has elapsed without the institution of a suit or administrative removal having been ordered, the persons suspended shall
return to the discharge of their functions, the persons who took their
place discontinuing the same.
ART. 201. The Governor-General shall forward to the colonial department the records of proceedings of suspension by the first mail after
they have been ordered.
When the colonial secretary believes that the suspension of mayors,
deputies, aldermen, and syndics is not proper, he shall immediately
raise the same, annulling the resolution of the Governor.
In a contrary case the record of proceedings shall be forwarded to
the council of state, which, after hearing his opinion, shall decide what
may be proper.




56


In cases of urgency, it shall decide alone without requiring such
procedure.
The resolution shall always state the reasons therefor and shall be
published in the gazettes of Madrid and Puerto Rico.
If the Government does not agree with the opinion of the council of
state, the report of the latter body shall be published at the same time
and in the same manner as the resolution of the Government.
ART. 202. The Governor-General may administratively remove
mayors, deputy mayors, and aldermen, in the cases determined by law.
In order to do so, it must previously and necessarily hear the council
of administration.
Against this resolution a litigative administrative appeal lies.
ART. 203. In case criminal liability exists, the Governor-General
shall forward the record to the court of first instance of the judicial
district to which the municipal council of which said persons are members belongs.
The judges and courts shall apply in these cases the provisions of the
penal code.
ART. 204. After the suspension has been raised in accordance with
article 201, or the persons interested have been absolved from criminal
responsibility, they shall retake possession of their offices, if during the
proceedings it would not have been proper for them to have discontinned therein in accordance with article 45, the provisions of article
200 being observed with regard to them.
ART. 205. Councilors judicially or administratively removed shall
be disqualified to discharge similar functions again for six years at
least.
ART. 206. The vacancies which occur in the municipal council on
account of legal suspension and removal shall be filled in the manner
prescribed by article 46.
ART. 207. The suspension and removal of ward mayors appertains
exclusively to mayors.
The suspension shall not exceed fifteen days; the fines which may
be imposed upon the same shall be reduced to half of those prescribed
for councilors.
The criminal liability which they may incur by reason of their acts
shall be enforced before the judge of first instance, according to the
provisions of article 203.
The raising of the suspension or the judicial absolution in a proper
case does not give them a right but only qualifies them again to be
reinstated in office.
ART. 208. All the employees and agents of the municipal council
appointed and paid by the same shall obey its orders and are administratively liable to the same in accordance with this law, and judicially
to the courts for the crimes and offenses which they may commit.
ART. 209. Besides the administrative appeals established by this




57


law, any resident or property owner of the town has a right of action
to the courts of justice in order to denounce and criminally prosecute
mayors, deputy mayors, or aldermen and associates, whenever in the
establishment, distribution, and collection of taxes and imposts they
have been guilty of fraud or of illegal exactions, and more especially
in the following cases:
1. If any of the councilors or associates, during the year they are
such, pay a quota lower by way of assessment, tax, or license, compared
with the year preceding the discharge of their office, the total amount
assessable being equal or higher, unless they prove that their wealth
has diminished sufficiently to justify such reduction.
2. When the total products of the assessments and taxes distributed
exceed the amount mentioned in the budget and six per cent extra
authorized by rule 5 of article 150 of this law.
3. When the quotas determined by the means are higher than the law
allows.
4. Whenever any kind of imposts not included in the budget are
established and collected.
The courts of justice, after the act has been proved, and without
prejudice to the provisions of the penal code, shall make the following
declarations:
First case. Imposition of a double quota upon the guilty parties.
Second and third cases. Annulment of the assessment, in so far as it
exceeds the amount authorized, and return of the taxes collected, with
a fine equal to the excess conjointly imposed upon the guilty councilors
and associates.
Fourth case. Annulment of the tax imposed, and return of the
amounts collected, with a fine equal to their value, demanded in the
manner mentioned in the foregoing case.
ART. 210. Every member of a municipal corporation who may have
made a ruling or voted for a resolution injurious to the rights of private
parties shall be liable for indemnification or for restitution to the
persons prejudiced before the courts which, according to the cases, are
of competent jurisdiction, during the time said liability is not extingtiished according to ordinary legal rules.
TITLE VI.
POLITICAL GOVERNMENT OF MUNICIPAL DISTRICTS.
FIRST AND LAST CHAPTER.
ART. 211. Mayors, besides the administrative functions which appertain to them as executors of the resolutions of municipal councils, have
the representation and delegation of the government, and in this character they shall discharge all the duties entrusted to them by the laws,
working under the direction of the Governor-General, as said laws may
4080-   5




58


determine, in all that refers to the publication and execution of the
laws and general provisions of the government or of the GovernorGeneral and provincial deputation, as well as in all that refers to public
order and to the other functions entrusted to them.
ART. 212. In all that relates to the political government of the municipal district the authority, duties, and liability of the mayor are
independent of the respective municipal council.
ART. 213. Deputy mayors, in their respective sections, shall always
act by delegation and under the direction of the mayor as the representatives of the government in the same manner as the mayor does in
the municipal district.
ART. 214. Ward mayors, in their respective wards, exercise the
functions of the political government when, in accordance to law,
they are delegated thereto by the mayors or deputy mayors, in all
cases complying with the provisions of the former and of the delegate
of the governor.
ART. 215. The Governor-General and the colonial secretary, in the
respective cases, exercise the high inspection over all the services of
the island, no matter in what shape they may be rendered, in accordance with the powers inherent to the sovereignty reserved by the laws
to the government of the nation.
ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS.
1. All prior laws and provisions relating to the municipal government of the island of Puerto Rico are hereby repealed.
2. The laws, decrees, royal orders, and regulations in force in the
Peninsula which decide special points of municipal administration, or
which are a complement or development unforeseen in this law, shall
govern as suppletory legislation, in so far as they may be applied
to the special case in question, and in the lack of a legal precept or
administrative provision issued to the contrary for the island of Puerto
Rico.
3. The Government shall issue, in accordance with this law, the provisions necessary for its execution.
Madrid, December 31st, 1896.
Approved by Her Majesty.
CASTELLANO.
0




THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
DATE DUE


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