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US v. Pons
US v. Pons
Pons
Facts:
Gabino Beliso, Juan Pons and Jacinto Lasarte were charged with the crime of
illegal importation of opium.
They brought from Spain on board the satemer Lopez y Lopez and import into
Manila 520 tins containing 125 kg of opium of the value of P62,400.
Juan Pons and Gabino Beliso were both found guilty and both appealed.
Beliso withdrew his appeal and the judgment as to him became final.
Pons’s motion:
1. The last day of the special session of the Philippine Legislature for 1914
was February 28
2. Act No. 2381 (under which Pons must be punished if found guilty) was not
passed or approved on February 28, but on March 1.
3. Therefore, null and void.
Vital question: DATE OF ADJOURNMENT OF THE LEGISLATURE
Issues:
1. WoN the court can take judicial notice of the journals
YES
While there are no adjudicated cases in this jurisdiction upon the exact
question whether the courts may take judicial notice of the legislative
journals, it is well settled in the United States that such journals may be
noticed by the courts in determining the question whether a particular bill
became a law or not.
The result is that the law and the adjudicated cases make it the Court’s duty
to take judicial notice of the legislative journals of the special session of the
Philippine Legislature of 1914.
These journals are not ambiguous or contradictory as to the actual time of
the adjournment. They show, with absolute certainty, that the Legislature
adjourned sine die at 12 o'clock midnight on February 28, 1914.