Ruiz de Val v. Virella
Ruiz de Val v. Virella
Opinion of the Court
after making the foregoing statement of facts, delivered the opinion of the court.
We accept the statement of facts contained in the judgment appealed from. •
It further appears that in the document which was attached to the complaint, and which appears at folio No. 1 of this record, and which is entitled ‘£ settlement of accounts of the personnel of the municipality of Arroyo between Eugenio Euiz de Val, creditor, for payments made to the said personnel, and the depositary, Pedro Virella Uribe,” executed in Guayama before the witnesses Antonio Grrau and Au-reo Alvarez, who signed the same, on the 4th of January, 1894, and by which said Virella Uribe agreed to pay to Eugenio de Val the amounts set down in the said document as soon as he could obtain the signatures of the interested parties to the warrants for salaries and services due up to September, 1893, there being incorporated thereafter in the said document a list of the employees of the municipality and the amounts due each one according to the liquidation of accounts made, amounting to a total of two thousand nine hundred and forty-eight pesos and ninety centavos provincial .money. The depositary, Virella Uribe, furthermore agreed to pay Euiz del Val, by warrants signed by the interested parties, the amounts which appear to the credit of the said
It appears from the certificate issued by the Treasurer of Porto Rico, found on folio 75 of this record, and introduced at the request of the plaintiff during the time allowed for the introduction of evidence, that according to the accounts of the municipal funds for the municipality of Arroyo, for the fiscal years 1891-92, 1892-93 and 1893-94, which were kept in that office, Miguel Jeannot, José María Alcaide, Juan Maria Saavedra, Casimiro Llabrés, Ana Valdejuly de Cintrón, Antonio Arquel Iglesias, Agapito Virella, Eugenio Maman-tón, José Marti Vail, Luis Mener, Clemente Iglesias and Cán-dido García, employees of the municipality of Arroyo, had respectively signed the warrants which appear in the said accounts, for salaries and services due and rendered in all or in part for the fiscal years 1891-92, 1892-93 and- the months of July to September of the year 1893-94, with the following. exceptions: The warrants including the salaries of Antonio ' Arquel Iglesias, as municipal policeman during the years 1891-92 and 1892-93, are signed by the corporal of the municipal police, Arquel Iglesias appearing in the list attached to the warrant, the said warrant being issued for a total amount of the salaries due to the persons
At the oral hearing counsel for the defendant acknowledged that the document executed on January 4, 1894, and which appears on folio No. 1 of this record is legitimate and correct.
In accordance with article 1091 of the old Civil Code, the provisions of which are reenacted in section 1058 of the Civil Code now in force, obligations arising from contracts have the force of law between the contracting parties and must be fulfilled according to their stipulations.
Pedro Virella Uribe having agreed in the document found • on folio No. 1 to pay Eugenio Ruiz del Val the amounts there
This is not the case with the warrant issued in favor of the policeman Cándido García for ninety-six pesos, and therefore it cannot be placed to the credit of the account of Eugenio Ruiz del Val, since according to the certificate of the Treasurer the' receipt at the bottom of the said warrant does
Although in the said certificate of the Treasurer there appear other warrants of the municipality of Arroyo, to which the said certificate refers, they are not signed by the respective interested parties either for themselves or by other persons in their names, such as those for salaries of the municipal policeman, Antonio Arquel Iglesias, for the years 1891-92 and 1892-93, which appear to be signed by the' corporal of the municipal police; but the said Arquel appears nevertheless in this list attached to each warrant, and these warrants being issued for the total amount of the salaries due the persons composing the municipal police corps. And another warrant issued in favor of the said urban policeman Cándido García, for his salary and that of his fellow policeman Ramón Rodríguez, which is signed only by the latter, must be deemed to be subject to payment to Eugenio Ruiz del Val, inasmuch as during the long time which has passed, there appears to have been no claim or protest made by any
Costs should be taxed against the litigant who loses his case on all points; but in other cases the courts should tax them in accordance with equity.
In view of the. articles of the old Civil Code and the Civil Code now in force, which have been cited, and section 63 of General Order No. 118, of 1899, and other provisions of general application, we adjudge that we should reverse and do reverse the judgment appealed from, condemning Pedro Virella, Uribe to pay to Eugenio Ruiz del Val the amounts set down in the first part of the document at folio No. 1, in so far as they do not exceed the amount of the warrants issued in favor of the employees of the municipality of Arroyo, a list of which appears in the said document at folio No. 1, for salaries due and services rendered during the years 1891-92, 1892-93 and the months of July, August and September of the year 1893-94, to which the certificate. of the Treasurer of Porto Rico refers, and which certificate is to be found on folio 75, and appears to have been signed by the interested parties themselves, or by other, persons for them, with the exception of the one issued in favor of the urban policeman Cándido García, for the sum of ninety-six pesos, to which reference is made in the said certificate of the Treasurer, after a proper liquidation which shall be made in accordance with the provisions of articles 922 et seq. of the Law; of Civil Procedure, and the amount so arrived at shall be reduced to the official.money at the established rate of exchange. And we dismiss the complaint against Pedro Virella Uribe with respect to the two hundred and sixty-four pesos and thirty-one centavos, the amount of the credit acknowledged in. his favor in the document on folio No. 1, for supplying light and
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