Note 4 — Spanish-Philippine Finances

Availing oneʼs self of the dilatoriness of the Spanish law, it was possible for a man to occupy a house, pay no rent, and refuse to quit on legal grounds during a couple of years or more. A person who had not a cent to lose could persecute another of means by a trumped-up accusation until he was ruined, by an “informacion de pobreza”—a declaration of poverty—which enabled the persecutor to keep the case going as long as he chose without needing money for fees.4 A case of this kind was often started at the instigation of a native lawyer. When it had gone on for a certain time, the prosecutorʼs adviser would propose an “extra-judicial arrangement,” to extort costs from the wearied and browbeaten defendant.