Title
Ling Su Fan vs. United States
Case
G.R. No. 20
Decision Date
Nov 14, 1910
Ling Su Fan convicted for exporting Philippine silver coins; court upheld Law No. 1411 as a valid exercise of police power to maintain currency parity, rejecting due process claims.
A

Case Digest (G.R. No. 145915)

Facts:

  • Parties and procedural posture
    • Ling Su Fan was the plaintiff in error.
    • The opposing party was United States as defendant in error.
    • The case reached the court on a writ of error.
  • Criminal charge and conviction
    • Ling Su Fan was convicted of the offense of “exporting from the Philippine Islands, Philippine silver coin”.
    • The conviction rested on Philippine Law No. 1411, specifically Sections 1998 and 1999 of the Compiled Acts of the Philippine Commission, title 3, chapter 194.
  • Statutory provisions applied
    • Section 1, Law No. 1411 prohibited the exportation from the Philippine Islands of Philippine silver coins coined by authority of the Act of Congress approved March 2, 1903, or bullion made by melting or otherwise mutilating such coins.
    • Section 1 provided forfeiture under due process of law for exported (or attempted to be exported) coins or bullion contrary to the Act, and apportioned the forfeited value such that one third was payable to the person who gave information leading to seizure, while other two-thirds accrued to the Philippine Government and accrue to the gold standard fund.
    • Section 1 contained a passenger exemption: the prohibition did not apply to sums of twenty-five pesos or less, carried by passengers leaving the Philippine Islands.
    • Section 2, Law No. 1411 declared that exportation or attempted exportation of Philippine silver coins or bullion made from such coins from the Philippine Islands, contrary to law, constituted a criminal offense.
    • Section 2 prescribed punishment, in addition to forfeiture, of a fine not to exceed ten thousand pesos, or imprisonment not to exceed one year, or both, in the court’s discretion.
  • Assignments of error and the evidentiary limitation
    • The plaintiff in error raised assignments of error challenging the sufficiency of the evidence to warrant conviction.
    • The court...(Subscriber-Only)

Issues:

  • Whether the Philippine prohibition against exporting Philippine silver coins violated due process of law under the Organic Act of July 1, 1902
    • Whether the export prohibition deprived the owner of silver pesos of property without due process of law.
  • Whether Congress authorized the Philippine Government to enact the export prohibition as a measure to maintain parity between silver and gold pesos
    • Whether the legal authority for the prohibition lay in the Congressional acts establishing and governing coinage in the Philippine Islands, particularly measures intended to maintain the value of the silver peso at the rate of the gold peso.
  • Whether the export prohibition was within police power and a permissible regulation of property
    • Whether the means employed by the statute were reasonably...(Subscriber-Only)

Ruling:

  • (Subscriber-Only)

Ratio:

  • (Subscriber-Only)

Doctrine:

  • (Subscriber-Only)

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