a lie; his brown paper visage maintains the same stolid appearance, whether words of truth or falsehood are proceeding from his lips. Recently a woman took the witness stand in behalf of her husband in a criminal case; her story was told with all appearance of candor and veracity, but in some respects contradicted the statements of preceding wit nesses for the defence. The witness was pre sumably unaware of this, as the witnesses were excluded from the court room until called in to testify. The accused, thinking his wife might be injuring his case, finally in terrupted, saying that she was sick at the time and knew nothing about the matter. The dutiful spouse cheerfully assented to the statement, but added that she wanted to help her husband, and so came to the court to tell the story best adapted for that laud able purpose. Certain offences under the existing code partake of the nature of personal actions which may be prosecuted and punished or not, depending on the will or whim of the individual interested. Included in the list is the offence of rape, which is prosecuted at the will of the offended party, as she is called. If at any time, or for any reason, the woman grants pardon to the offender, the prosecu tion ceases, whether the trial of the case has begun or not; if, after trial and conviction, such pardon be extended, the prison doors at once open and the condemned goes free. In practice, in the majority of instances, the in jured party grants pardon after the accused is brought to trial; whether forgiveness is in her heart, or whether she is reluctant to appear relentless before the court, or whether the crime has been condoned through lapse of time, the offence having very different moral import in this country than in the States, is matter of doubt; but whatever the motive, forgiveness is generally granted, and the parties go from the court room some times to be married, and in nearly all cases none the less friends.
The accused does not always, however, escape so easily. Some time since four persons were accused as principals and abet tors to the crime of rape, one of the defend ants being a woman. The offended party proved obdurate, positively refusing forgive ness to any of the participants in the crime. All were found guilty; the two principal of fenders, including the woman, were sen tenced to terms of fourteen years, eight months and one day each, of imprisonment, the others to five and six years respectively. The convicted may serve out the entire time or may not, whether they pass a large por tion of their lives in prison depending on the pleasure of a young woman, who by a word can open the prison doors to two of its in mates today, or by keeping silence close them till the year 1916. In cases wherein the complaining witness has sustained pecuniary loss, as larceny and like offences, he may recover damages in addition to the penalty affixed by the crim inal code to the crime. It is not unusual to employ private counsel to assist the Pro vincial Fiscal, whose particular duty it is to recover as large a measure of damages as possible. Permitting the recovery of dam ages in a criminal action is continued by the military order hereinbefore referred to, which contains a special clause providing for such recovery. The civil code of procedure now in force was introduced by the Philippine Commis sion repealing the pre-existing Spanish code. The new code in its general features resem bles that in force in most of the States. The Civil Code remains substantially unchanged, and will probably for an indefinite period continue the law of the land, probably some what modified to adjust it to changed polit ical conditions. The law in certain respects could not be substantially modified without causing serious public detriment, as in the law of inheritance and like subjects, nor is there necessity for any radical modification
