Colón v. Registrar of Property of Ponce
Colón v. Registrar of Property of Ponce
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Respondent Registrar maintains that Act No. 62 of 1937 —4 L.P.R.A. § § 921-27— requires that the powers of attorney executed prior to its effectiveness be registered in the Register of Powers of Attorney established by that Act, in order that they may be considered for the purpose of accrediting the powers of the attorney-in-fact in the execution of acts or contracts subsequent to that effectiveness. Is the Registrar’s contention correct?
Before considering the question raised, we will dispose of the Registrar’s objection to our jurisdiction. He invokes the rulings in Noriega v. Registrar of Property, 15 P.R.R. 657 (1909), and Barreras v. Registrar of Property, 15 P.R.R. 542 (1909), according to which no appeal may be taken from a second note denying record when the first one has been consented to. However, that is not the situation in this appeal. On December 18, 1961 the Registrar denied record, notice of which was given the following day, of a deed of sale on the ground that the power of attorney
The Act provides in § 3 —4 L.P.R.A. § 922 (Supp. 1962) —that “it shall be the duty of every notary before whom a deed to constitute, modify, extend, substitute, renounce, revoke, or renew a power of attorney is executed, to send to the Secretary of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, within the 72
The Act made no express provision as to the powers of attorney executed or protocolized prior to its effectiveness.
The Registrar invokes the case of Rosario v. Registrar, 59 P.R.R. 430 (1941). In that case we held that the powers of attorney executed outside of Puerto Rico before the effectiveness of the Act of 1937 had to be protocolized. The situation presented in this case is different from that which we considered in that case. As stated in Rosario, “what the act provides is that from and after its approval, no instrument of this character shall be effective in Puerto Rico unless it is first protocolized and recorded in the Register of Powers of Attorney.”
The Act did not distinguish between powers of attorney executed prior to its effectiveness and those subsequent thereto. From and after the effectiveness of the Act, every power of attorney executed outside of Puerto Rico which is not protocolized must be protocolized and registered in the Register of Powers of Attorney in order that it may be considered for the purpose of accrediting the powers of the attorney-in-fact.
It is clear that powers of attorney executed in Puerto Rico prior to August 6, 1937, when the Act took effect, need not be notified to the Secretary of the Supreme Court to be recorded in the Register of Powers of Attorney.
The decision appealed from will be reversed and it is ordered that the deed presented be recorded.
The Act, as originally enacted, provided a period of 48 hours.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.