Cariño v. Insular Government

delivered the opinion of the court.

This was an application to the Philippine Court of Land Registration for the registration of certain land. The application was granted by the court on March 4, 1904. An appeal was taken to the Court of First Instance of the Province of Benguet, on behalf of the Government of the Philippines and also on behalf of the United States, those Governments having taken possession of the property for public and military purposes. The Court of First Instance found the facts and dismissed the application upon grounds of law. This judgment was affirmed by the Supreme Court, 7 Philippine, 132, and the case then was brought here by writ of error.

■ The material facts found are very few. The applicant and plaintiff in error is an Igorot of the Province of Benguet, where' the land lies. For more than fifty years before the Treaty of

Before we. deal with the merits we must dispose of a technical point. The Government has spent some energy in maintaining that this case should have been brought up by appeal and not by writ of error. We are of opinion, however, that the mode adopted was right. The proceeding for registration is likened to bills in equity to quiet title, but it is different in principle. It is a proceeding in rem under a statute of the type of the Tormns Act, such as was. discussed in Tyler v. Court of Registration, 175 Massachusetts, 71. It is nearer to law than to equity, • and is an assertion of legal title; but we think it unnecessary to put it into either pigeon hole. A writ of error is the general method of bringing cases to this court, an appeal the exception, confined to equity in the main. There is no reason for not applying the general rule to this case. Ormsby v. Webb, 134 U. S. 47 , 65; Campbell v. Porter, 162 U. S. 478 ; Metropolitan R. R. Co. v. District of Columbia, 195 U. S. 322 .

We come then to the question on which the case was decided below, namely, whether the plaintiff owns the land. The position of the Government, shortly stated, is that Spain assumed, asserted and had title to all the land in the Philippines except so far as it saw fit to permit private titles to be acquired; that there was no prescription against the Crown, and that if there was, a decree of June 25, 1880, required registration within a limited time to make the title good; that the plaintiff’s land was not registered and therefore became, if it was not always, public land; that the United States succeeded to the title of Spain, and so tliat the'plaintiff has no rights that the Philippine Government is bound to respect.

If we suppose for the moment that the Government’s contention is so far correct that the Crown of Spain in form asserted a title to this land at the date of the Treaty of Paris, to which the United States succeeded, it is not to be assumed without argument that the plaintiff’s case is at an end. It is true that Spain in its earlier decrees embodied the universal feudal theory that all lands were held from the Crown, and pérhaps the general attitude of conquering nations toward people not recognized as entitled to the treatment accorded to those

The Province of Benguet was inhabited by a tribe that the Solicitor General, in his.argument, characterized as a savage tribe that never was brought under the civil or military government of the Spanish Crown. It seems probable, if not cer-. tain, that the Spanish officials would not have' granted to any one in that province the registration to which formerly the plaintiff was entitled by the Spanish laws, and which would have made his title beyond question good. Whatever may have been the technical position of Spain, it does not follow that, in the view of the United States, he had lost all rights and was a mere trespasser yrhen the present Government seized his land. The argument to that effect seems to amount to a denial of native titles throughout an important part of the island of Luzon, at least, for the want of ceremonies which the Spaniards would not have .permitted and had not the power to enforce.

' The acquisition of the Philippines was not like the settlement.of thé white race in the United States. Whatever consideration may have been shown to the.North American Indians, the dominant purpose of- the whites in America was to occupy .the land. It is obvious that, however stated, the reason for our taking over the Philippines was different. No one, we suppose, would deny that, so far as consistent with paramount necessities, our first object m the internal administration of the islands is ■.to do justice to the natives, not to exploit their country for private gain. By the organic act of July 1, Í902, c.-1369, § 12, 32 Stat. G91, -all the property and rights acquired , there by the

It is true that by § 14 the 'Government of the Philippines is empowered to enact rules and prescribe terms for perfecting titles to public lands where some but not all Spanish conditions had been fulfilled, and to issue patents to natives for not more than sixteen hectares of public lands actually occupied by the. native or his ancestors before August 13; Í898. But this section‘ perhaps might be satisfied if eonifined to cases where the occupation was of land admitted to be public land and had not continued for such a length of time and. under such circumstances as to give rise to the understanding that the occupants were ¶ owners at that date. ’ We hesitate to suppose that it was intended to declare every native who had not a paper title a tres- . passer and to set the claims of all the wilder tribes afloat. It is true again that there is excepted from the provision .that, we have quoted as'to the administration of the property and rightsJ acquired by the United .States, such land and property as shall be designated by the President for military or other resec

Whatever the law upon these points may be, and we mean to go no further than the necessities of decision demand, every presumption is and ought to be against the Government in a case like the present. It might, perhaps, be proper and sufficient to say that when, as far back as testimony or memory goes, the land has been held by individuals under a claim of private ownership, it will be presumed to have been held in the same way from before the Spanish conquest, and never to have been public land. Certainly in a case like this if there is doubt or ambiguity in the Spanish law we ought to give the applicant the benefit of the doubt. Whether justice to the natives and the import of the organic act ought not to carry us beyond a subtle examination of ancient texts, or perhaps even beyond the attitude of Spanish law, humane though it was, it is unnecessary ■to decide. If, in a tacit way, it was assumed that the wild tribes of the Philippines were to be dealt with as the power and inclination of the conqueror might dictate, Congress has not yet sanctioned the same course as the proper one “ for the benefit of the inhabitants thereof.”

If the applicant’s case is to be tried by the law of Spain we do not discover such clear proof that it was bad by that law as to satisfy us that he does not own the land. To begin with, the older decrees and laws cited by the counsel for the plaintiff in error seem to indicate pretty clearly that the natives were recognized as owning some lands, irrespective of any royal grant. In other words, Spain did not assume to convert all the native inhabitants of the Philippines into trespassers or even into tenants at will. For instance, Book 4,. Title 12, Law 14 of the Recopilación de Leyes de las Indias, cited for a contrary conclusion in Valenton v. Murciano, 3 Philippine, 537, while it commánds viceroys and others, when it seems proper, to call for the exhibition of grants, directs them to confirm those who hold by good grants or justa prescripción. It is true that it

Prescription is mentioned again in. the royal cédula' of October 15, 1754, cited in 3 Philippine, 546: “ Where such possessors shall not be able to produce title deeds it shall be sufficient if they shall show that ancient possession, as a valid title by prescription.” It may be that this means possession from before 1700, but at all events the principle is admitted. As prescription, even against crown lands, was recognized by the laws of Spain, we see no sufficient reason for hesitating to admit that it- was recognized in the Philippines in regard to lands over which Spain had only a paper sovereignty.

The question comes however on the decree of June 25, 1880, for the adjustment of royal lands wrongfully occupied by private individuals in the Philippine Islands. This begins with the usual theoretic assertion that for private ownership there must have been a grant by competent authority, but instantly descends to fact by providing that for all. legal effects those who have been in possession for certain times shall be deemed owners. For cultivated land, twenty years uninterrupted is enough. For uncultivated, thirty. Art. 5. So that when this decree went into effect the applicant’s father was owner of the land by the very terms of the decree. But it is said, the object of this law was to require the adjustment or registration proceedings that it described, and in that way to require every one to get a document of title or lose his land. That purpose may have been entertained; but it does not appear clearly to have been applicable to all. The .regulations purport to have been made “ for the adjustment of royal lands wrongfully occupied by private individuals.” (We follow the translation in the Government’s brief.) It does not appear that this land ever was royal land or wrongfully occupied. Iñ art. 6 it is provided that ‘‘interested parties, not included within the two preceding

■It is true that the language of-arts. 4 and 5 attributes title to those “who may prove” possession for the necesssary time, and we do not overlook the argument that this means may prove in registration proceedings. It may be that an English conveyancer would have recommended an application under the foregoing decree, but certainly it was not calculated to convey to the mind of an Igorot chief the notion that ancient family possessions, were in danger, if he had read every, word of it. The words “may prove,” {acrediten), as well, or better, in view of the other provisions, might be taken to mean when called upon to do so in any litigation. There are indications that registration was expected from all, but none sufficient to show that for want of it -ownership actually gained would be lost! •

It will be perceived that the rights of the applicant under the Spanish law present a problem not without difficulties for courts of a different legal tradition. We have deemed it proper on that account to notice the'possible effect of the change of sovereignty and the act of Congress establishing the fundamental principles now to be observed. Upon a consideration of the whole case we are of opinion that law and justice require that the applicant should be granted what he seeks, and should not be deprived of what, by the practice and belief of those among whom he livéd, was his property, through a refined interpretation of an almost forgotten law of Spain.

Judgment reversed.