Ex parte Hernández
Ex parte Hernández
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Aniceto Hernández applied to the District Court of San Juan for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that he was imprisoned in the jail of this district by virtue of a warrant in execution of a sentence of the justice of the peace for the city of San Juan. The writ was issued and return thereon' made by José C. Berrios, the alcaide of the district jail, substantially admitting the facts of the petition. The ground of the application is that the original complaint was sworn to before
The justice of the peace of San Juan, it is provided, shall perform all the duties and functions of police judge. The latter officer had power to name his own secretary and the duties of such secretary were defined by section 101 of the Bevised Statutes. Similarly section 15 of the Code of Criminal Procedure permits the justice of peace to name his secretary and the powers of the latter officer are defined, by that section. When the Legislature deemed it necessary it defined the powers of the secretary in the law fixing the jurisdiction of the court to which he belonged, but we cannot deduce an intention to abolish such powers from the silence of the Act of March 10, 1904. We think section 15 aforesaid is the source from which the secretary derives his right to swear a complainant, although the secretary to the police judge had the same right.
At the argument some reference was made to section 14 of the Act defining jurisdiction, but it is unnecessary to consider what are the powers of secretaries other than those appointed by reason of section 6, as this proceeding was begun and prosecuted in a court defined and considered under section 3 to 6 of said act.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.