Page:United States Reports, Volume 209.djvu/126

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10o OCTOBEE TEP. M? 1?07. Op/nlon o! t? ?our?. ?0? U. 8. who has been admitted to practice in any of the courts of the United States. It seems clear from the provisions of General Orders, No. 29, and of the code, that the intention was, and has beeh from the first, to require all members of the bar to be either citizens of the United States or those enjoying the status of natives of the Philippines, and to exclude all foreigners from the legal profession in the islands. If it be conceded that plaintiff in error possessed the privilege of practicing his profession in the islands at the t/me Spain surrendered her sovereignty over them, the enjoyment of that privilege ceased by virtue of the stipulations of the Treaty. of Paris and the sul?quent laws and regulations of the new sovereignty inconsistent therewith; and the effect of 'the de- cision in the present instance was not to deprive plaintiff in error of that privilege. counsel for plaintiff in error cite va- rious scet/ons of the code which prcecribe ? the grounds upon which a lawyer may be deprived of the right to practice, but they relate to the removal or suspension from the bar of torneys already practicing, and have no application to the case of one who has been denied admission to practice at all. The eighth article of the Treaty of Paris declares that the ceylon of sovereignty "cannot in any respect impair the prop- erty rights which by law belong to the peaceful possessioa of property of all kinds," etc., but that stipula?on does not re- hte to the rights connected with trades and professions. The word "propiedad" used in the Spanish text is defined by Esoriche as the right to enjoy and dispose freely of one's ?hings in so far as the laws do not prohibit it. 4 Eseriche, 736. The same word appears in Article IX, providing that Spanish sub- jects may retain, whether they remain or remove from the territory, "all their rights of property, including the right to sell or disposo of such property or of its proceeds." Clearly the right to practice law was not referred to as "property" there, and they are followed by the words "and they shall also have the right to carry on their industry, commerce and professions,