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The theory of these sections of the Code is that when the court which issues the attachment is satisfied that the same has been wrongfully issued, it will proceed in the manner pointed out in the statute to ascertain the loss and damages proper, filing the corresponding complaint within twenty days after the levying of the attachment. Upon the expiration of this period without the action having been instituted or a ratification of the seizure having been requested, the latter shall be null de jure, and shall be without effect at the instance of the defendant without the plaintiff being heard. A petition for a rehearing may be made against this ruling, and if it should not be granted, an appeal for a stay and review of the proceedings may be interposed.

ART. 1410. Notwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing article, if the debtor should be included in any of the cases of article 1398, the provisional seizure may also be ordered after the institution of the action, a separate record being made thereof. The provisions contained in articles 1399 to 1410, inclusive, shall be applicable to this case, and after the attachment has been levied the proceedings thereupon shall be continued as prescribed for incidental issues. When an attachment is vacated by a final ruling, because it is not included in any of the cases of said article 1398, the plaintiff shall be taxed all the costs and be adjudged to indemnify the defendant for any losses or damages he may have suffered, which shall be recovered in the manner prescribed in article 1415.

ART. 1411. When the provisional seizure becomes of no effect by reason of its having become null de jure, in accordance with Article 1409, the surety shall be ordered cancelled in the same ruling, if any should have been furnished, or what may be proper shall be ordered for vacating the attachment and cancelling the cautionary notice, in a proper case, and all costs shall be taxed against the plaintiff, who shall also be adjudged to indemnify the defendants for any losses and damages he may have incurred. If the attachment should be vacated for any other reason, the ruling thereupon shall also determine what may be proper according to the cases with regard to costs and the indemnification of losses and damages which may have been suffered.

ART. 1412. If the acknowledgment of a signature or of the written evidence of a debt should not be made or be delayed through the fault of the debtor, and if the filing of the complaint and the ratification of the attachment should depend thereupon, the time lost in obtaining said acknowledgment shall not be included in the period of time prescribed in article 1409. ART. 1413. If the owner of the property seized should request it, the attachment creditor must file his complaint within the period of ten days, unless any of the circumstances mentioned in the foregoing article is attendant. Should he not do so, the attachment shall be vacated, and the costs, losses, and damages shall be taxed against him.

ART. 1414. After the provisional seizure has been levied the debtor may

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which the defendant has suffered, and in the same action to tax the costs against the plaintiff and to adjudge him to indemnify the defendant for such losses and damages. And these losses and this recovery are adjudicated in the manner pointed out in articles 927 et seq. of the Code of Civil Procedure. These articles are found in title VIII of that Code, entitled "Execution of Judgments. The defendant in the attachment having been declared entitled to recover damages, proceedings follow for the purpose of ascertaining the amount thereof. Section 927 et seq. provide for the manner of making up an issue, taking testimony and hearing witnesses, and, upon final order or decree made by the court, an appeal can be prosecuted. This full and comprehensive statutory method of ascertaining and adjudging the damages to be recovered in cases where attachments are wrongfully issued and vacated for any cause, would seem to preclude the application of general provisions of the Code giving a right of recovery for acts of fault or negligence.

We are not cited to any decision of the Supreme Court of Spain expressly adjudicating this matter, but are referred by counsel on both sides to a treatise on the law of civil procedure, "Commentarios á la Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil," p. 412, by Señor José Maria Manresa y Navarro, said to be a text-writer of the highest authority in Spain. The English translation of his text is given as follows: "We do not think that this rule [relating to independent actions for damages under the mortgage law] is applicable to attachments, because on the motion to vacate an attachment no discussion or proof of the

object thereto and request that it be vacated, with indemnification of losses and damages, if not included in any of the cases of article 1398. He may make this petition within the five days following that of the notice of the ruling ratifying the seizure, or before that time, if he should deem it proper, and it shall be heard and determined in a separate record in accordance with the procedure prescribed for incidental issues.

ART. 1415. In cases in which there is an adjudication of losses and damages, as soon as the ruling thereupon becomes final, they shall be recovered according to the procedure established in Articles 927 et seq.

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existence of losses and damages is allowed, and because the law itself provides, in addition to this, that, when by final order of the court, an attachment is vacated, the plaintiff be adjudged to pay the defendant his losses and damages, they being ascertained in the manner provided in article 1417,1 that is, according to the procedure in article 928 et seq. Such a proceeding permits of a discussion, if the issue is made, not only of the amount but of the existence of losses and damages. It follows that the court can decide on both questions without the necessity of a new suit, which is precisely what the law has sought to avoid." This seems to be a direct authority for the proposition that this plan of recovery of damages for wrongful attachments is exclusive. In the absence of authority to the contrary, and in view of the plain provisions of the Code, we accept it as properly declaring the existing law upon the subject. We reach the conclusion that the Porto Rican system in force at the time of the passage of the Foraker Act, and binding until changed or amended, provided in the state of affairs shown by this record, a recovery for damages in the method pointed out in the attachment suit, by the special statutory method provided for, and not otherwise.

The difference between the liability of one wrongfully levying an attachment at common law and the assessments of costs and damages under these provisions of the Porto Rican Code is not one of form merely. The former action is substantially one for malicious prosecution, and can be maintained only upon proof of malice and want of probable cause. Under the Code remedies given in Porto Rico the court is required to assess damages, although malice or want of probable cause in suing out the attachment may not be expressly shown. The remedy given seems to cover all cases, where the attachment is vacated, irrespective of the motive in suing it out.

This brings us to briefly inquire as to the nature and extent of the jurisdiction and practice of the United States courts in Porto Rico. Section 34 of the Foraker Act established a

1 Art. 1415, Porto Rican Code.

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United States District Court for Porto Rico and gave to it, in addition to the ordinary jurisdiction of a District Court of the United States, jurisdiction of all cases cognizant in the Circuit Courts of the United States, and provides that it shall proceed therein in the same manner as a Circuit Court, the intention of Congress obviously being to establish a United States court in Porto Rico, having like jurisdiction of both District and Circuit Courts of the United States in the States. Section 914 of the Revised Statutes of the United States provides: "The practice, pleadings, and forms and modes of proceeding in civil causes, other than equity and admiralty causes, in the Circuit and District Courts, shall conform, as near as may be, to the practice, pleadings, and forms and modes of proceeding existing at the time in like causes in the courts of record of the State within which such Circuit or District Courts are held, any rule of court to the contrary notwithstanding." The act of August 13, 1888, 25 Stat. 433, provides that the Circuit Courts of the United States shall have original jurisdiction concurrent with the courts of the several States in suits at common law and in equity. We think it was the intention of Congress in the Porto Rican act to require the District Court exercising the jurisdiction of a Circuit Court, in analogy to the powers of the Circuit Courts in the States, to adapt themselves, save in the excepted cases in equity and admiralty, to the local procedure and practice in Porto Rico. This conclusion is in accord with the policy of the United States, evidenced in its legislation concerning the islands ceded by Spain, and secures to the people thereof a continuation of the laws and methods of practice and administration familiar to them, which are to be controlling until changed by law.

In the Revised Statutes of the United States, section 915, it is provided as to attachments: "In common law causes in the Circuit and District Courts the plaintiff shall be entitled to similar remedies, by attachment or other process, against the property of the defendant, which are now provided by the laws of the State in which such court is held for the courts thereof; VOL. CCII-7

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and such Circuit or District Courts may from time to time, by general rules, adopt such state laws as may be in force in the States where they are held in relation to attachments and other process: Provided, That similar preliminary affidavits or proofs, and similar security, as required by such state laws, shall be first furnished by the party seeking such attachment or other remedy." By analogy it would seem that the District Court of Porto Rico, exercising the juristliction of a Circuit Court in its practice as to the issuing of attachments, is to adapt itself to the local practice recognized and established in Porto Rico. Circuit Courts of the United States are not governed by any separate attachment law, but are required to administer the remedy in attachment provided in the laws of the State in which the courts are held. Bates et al. v. Days, 17 Fed. Rep. 167.

It is further objected on the part of the defendant in error that Porto Rican procedure can have no application to this action against Fernandez, because he was not a party plaintiff to the attachment suit, and the statute provides that the costs of the attachment and damages shall be assessed against the plaintiff in the action. We do not perceive that this fact affects the determination of the question as to the proper remedy in such cases. There is nothing in this action to show that Fernandez was not authorized to bring the suit and take out the attachment in behalf of the plaintiff in that suit, in which event Aguerria would be liable for the acts of his agent in that behalf. Nor is there any reason why Fernandez might not be made a party to the attachment proceeding if damages were to be assessed against him alone.

It is further objected that the United States court has no method by which it can assess these damages in the manner required in the Porto Rican Code. In giving the remedies provided therein and assessing the damages we see no reason why that court cannot adapt itself to the requirements of the local code and administer the remedies therein provided. In Traction Company v. Mining Company, 196 U. S. 239, it was held

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