Neither shall notaries permit any documents to be taken from their archives which are under their charge by reason of their office, nor shall they permit it or the protocol to be examined, in whole or in part, without a previous judicial decree, except by the interested persons who have an acquired right, or their heirs or legal representatives. However, in the cases determined by law and by virtue of a judicial mandate they shall exhibit in their archives the protocol or protocols, in order to attend by virtue thereof to the proceedings that may have been agreed upon.

ART. 33. Notaries shall forward through the judge of first instance to the presiding judge of the audiencia, within the first eight days of each month, indices of the original instruments executed during the previous month, stating the ordinal numbers which the latter bear in the protocol.

In the indices there shall be stated, with regard to each instrument, the name of the parties thereto, that of the attesting witnesses, that of the witnesses of identification, in a proper case, the date of the execution, and the purpose of the instrument or contract.

ART. 34. Notaries shall keep a private book, in which they shall enter with the proper numeration a copy of the wrappers of sealed wills and codicils the execution of which they may have authenticated, and the protocols of the open wills when the testators request it, and they shall forward a private index to the presiding judge of the audiencia, through the judge of first instance, as prescribed in the preceding article. It is not necessary that there be one book for each

year.

ART. 35. They shall further keep a private protocol, in which they shall enter original instruments recognizing illegitimate children when the persons interested do not desire to have them appear in the general protocol. They shall also transmit a private index of the instruments thus recorded to the presiding judge of the audiencia through the channel mentioned, and they shall not be required to form a different protocol for each year.

TITLE IV.-Ownership and custody of proctocols and inspection of notarial offices.

ART. 36. The protocols are the property of the State. Notaries shall keep them, in accordance with the laws, as archivists thereof, and under their responsibility.

ART. 37. There shall be in each notarial district general archives of public instruments, subject to the prescriptions of the regulations.

ART. 38. In the case of the vacancy of a notarial office and of the disability or incapacity of a notary, the person who, in accordance with article 6, is to take charge of the office, shall receive the protocols and other documents in accordance with an inventory, in order to return them, with the same formalities to the said notary, if he is reinvested in his office, or otherwise to his successor in office. The judges of first instance in seats of subdistricts and the justices of the peace in other towns shall be present when the inventory is taken. and at the delivery.

ART. 39. In case of a partial or complete destruction of a protocol, the notary shall make a report to the judge and to the promotor fiscal

of the subdistrict, and the latter to the presiding judge and fiscal of audiencia respectively, in order that the proper proceedings having been instituted with a citation of the parties, the indices and the books compared, and any other data which may be proper, examined. the protocols and books be restored as far as practicable.

ART. 40. Judges of first instance shall, whenever they consider it advisable, inspect the notarial offices situated within their subdistricts. The government and presiding judges of the audiencias may order extraordinary inspections, for which they shall only appoint associate justices, judges or representatives of the department of public prose

cution.

TITLE V.-Government and discipline of notaries.

ART. 41. All the notaries of the jurisdiction of each audiencia shall form notarial associations.

ART. 42. The associations shall be directed by boards, and the judicial authority, the department of public prosecution, delegated by the Government, shall have the authority therein which will be established by the regulations.

ART. 43. For offenses against discipline and others which may affect the honor of the profession, the boards of directors of the associations may censure the notaries, reprimand them in writing, and administratively punish them by fines not to exceed 50 pesos. In cases of second offenses they shall report to the audiencias, which may impose fines not to exceed 200 pesos, besides advising the colonial department thereof, in order that a memorandum may be made in the respective records of the notaries, all without prejudice to any proceedings which may be just and other disciplinary powers of the judges and audiencias.

ART. 44. Notaries can not be suspended or removed from office by governmental order.

TITLE VI.-Fees and remuneration of notaries.

ART. 45. Notaries shall receive the fees fixed in the notarial schedule which shall be arranged for the purpose.

ART. 46. A notary who is incapacitated from exercising his profession on account of rescuing the protocols from flood, fire, or other force majeure, shall be entitled to a pension."

Should he die for the same reason, his widow and minor children shall have the same right.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

ART. 47. All that is prescribed in the foregoing articles and in the annexed regulations shall be observed in the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico from April 1, 1874.

The laws, provisions, and customs relating to the organization of notarial offices shall cease from this date to be observed and shall be considered repealed.

a See Official Gazette, Porto Rico, No. 22, Jan. 26, 1899, concerning maintenance of notarial pension fund; also No. 23, Jan. 27, 1899.

TEMPORARY PROVISIONS.

1. All persons who, at the time of the publication of these provisions, are, by virtue of the proper certificate, issuing both judicial and extra-judicial certifications, shall continue to exercise the same duties.

2. Proceedings actually being held pending decision, shall be decided in accordance with the laws and provisions in force at the time they were instituted.

Madrid, October 29, 1873.

The Colonial Secretary,

SANTIAGO SOLER.

ORGANIC NOTARIAL REGULATIONS FOR CUBA AND PORTO RICO.

TITLE I.-Notarial offices.

ARTICLE 1. In notarial offices there shall not be comprised territory located in different judicial subdistricts, with the exception of towns where there is more than one court of first instance, which shall be considered as one only.

ART. 2. All the notarial offices of each judicial subdistrict shall form a notarial district.

ART. 3. Notarial districts constitute the jurisdiction of the notarial association of each of the audiencias of the islands, respectively.

ART. 4. The number of notarial offices and their seat or place of residence of each notary shall be the ones designated in a special decree.

TITLE II.-Applicants for notarial offices, declaration of vacancies, and their provision.

ART. 5. In order to aspire to the diploma to act as a notary, besides the qualifications prescribed by article 10 of the law, it is necessary to have no permanent physical impediment or defect preventing a full discharge of the duties of said office.

ART. 6. Notarial offices become vacant

1. By transfer.

2. On account of the existence of permanent physical disability or moral incapacity, declared by virtue of administrative proceedings. 3. By a final judgment sentencing to perpetual, absolute, or special disqualification for the office of notary.

4. By the abandonment of the office.

5. By an accepted resignation.

6. By death.

ART. 7. After a notarial office has been declared vacant, its provision shall be announced in the official newspapers of the provinces included within the jurisdiction of the notarial association."

ART. 8. Vacancies, no matter what reason causes them, shall be filled, one by competitive examination, and another by transfer, two series within the jurisdiction of each notarial association being established for this purpose.

In all cases the applicants shall present their written applications to the dean of the notarial association, within the period of thirty current days, to be counted from the day following the publication of the last announcement of the call.

ART. 9. The competitive examinations shall be held in the seat of the association and in the building designated for the purpose by the presiding judge of the audiencia.

The board of examiners shall be composed of:

An associate justice, who shall preside as the delegate of the presiding judge of the audiencia, by whom he shall be appointed.

A professor of notarial law, or in his place a professor of another branch of law, appointed by the rector of the university.

A practicing lawyer, selected by the presiding judge of the audi

encia.

In the absence of the professor another lawyer.

The dean of the notarial association.

The secretary of the board of directors of the said association, who shall also act as secretary of the board.

ART. 10. Applicants shall be admitted to the competitive examinations in the order of presentation of their applications, for which purpose the secretary of the board shall make a signed memorandum on the former, stating the day and hour of presentation. The board shall call the opponents by stating the day, hour, and location in advance and giving the announcement due publicity. The applicant who, for any reason whatsoever, does not appear, shall lose his turn and be the last one. Should he not present himself then, he shall be considered as having abandoned it; but if he should duly prove that he was ill, or any other creditable cause, another period shall be granted him, which can not be extended.

ART. 11. The competitive examination shall consist of two partsa theoretical one and a practical one. Both parts shall be public. For the theoretical examination 100 questions shall be placed in a box referring to theory and practice of notarial legislation, Spanish civil law, colonial legislation, mortgage legislation, duties of notaries, and general principles regarding the drafting of public instruments. The competitor shall draw eight questions by lot and shall answer them immediately, being allowed forty minutes for this examination; and should he conclude before they have elapsed, he may enlarge on the points he may select.

For the practical examination the opponent shall draw by lot one of fifty slips of paper contained in a box, which shall include the same number of subjects, in order to execute a public instrument to be drafted at once by the opponent, and when delivering it to the president he shall state what is to be done until the instrument is included in the protocols and the first copy is issued.

The examiner of the board shall make no announcement or observation to, nor ask any question of, the opponent regarding the subjectmatter of the examinations.

ART. 12. At the end of the competitive examination the board shall make the classification behind closed doors, and, taking into consideration the results of the examination, shall designate the competitors approved of as excellent, very good, good, or fair.

A classification shall be made for each notarial office, and also a list of three persons, both of which shall be forwarded to the colonial department through the presiding judge of the proper audiencia.

ART. 13. The Government shall appoint one of the three persons contained in the list.

ART. 14. The proceedings for the filling of vacancies in notarial offices by competition for promotion or transfer, shall be instituted in the colonial department. The applicants shall present their petitions through the board of their respective association within the period of the call, which, besides the announcement prescribed in article 7, shall be published in the Gaceta de Madrid.

The Government shall be free to select one of the applicants; but in no case shall they appoint a notary who has not served in his office for four years at least, to a vacancy of a higher class.

Notaries of Cuba and Porto Rico, as well as those of the Peninsula and the Balearic and Canary Islands, may apply for said transfers. ART. 15. All appointments of notaries made by virtue of competitive examinations or by competition for promotion shall be published in the official newspapers of the territory of the proper association, stating the article of the law or of the regulations by virtue of which the appointment was made.

TITLE III.-Diplomas, lapse of appointments, bonds, possession, and official insignia of notaries.

ART. 16. Notaries-elect shall be allowed three months to secure their diplomas, computed from the date of the official publication of their appointment.

Should they not do so, they shall be understood to have renounced their right, and their appointments shall lapse, unless they have obtained an extension for just cause.

ART. 17. After the appointment of a notary has lapsed, in case of a competitive examination as well as that of a transfer, said vacancy shall be filled by one of the other applicants who applied at the time the first one was appointed.

Should the last appointment also lapse, the vacancy shall be announced and filled according to the series to which it corresponds.

ART. 18. A notary-elect shall not obtain his diploma without previously constituting the guaranty referred to in article 14 of the law, and presenting the document proving said constitution.

ART. 19. Diplomas of notaries shall be prepared in accordance with the form which shall be adopted for this purpose by the colonial department.

ART. 20. A new diploma shall be issued to every notary transferred, who shall annex it to the one he may have previously obtained, at the foot of which the presiding judge of the audiencia shall make a memorandum of cancellation.

ART 21. When the notary obtains the diploma he shall present it as soon as possible to the board of directors of his association, which shall give possession to the notary-elect at a public meeting and on the day fixed by the dean.

ART. 22. On the same day of taking possession the notary shall appear, after the proper permission, before the presiding judge of the