UNITED STATES V.

PONS
Section 16.
X X X
4. Each House shall keep a Journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may,
in its judgment, affect national security; and the yeas and nays on any question shall, at the request of onefifth of the !embers
present, be entered in the Journal. Each House shall also keep a "ecord of its proceedings.
Doctrine: (a.) When the legislative journals show with certainty the time of
adjournment of the Legislature and are clear and unambiguous respecting the same
they are conclusive; and etraneous evidence cannot be admitted to show a
di!erent date of adjournment.; (b.) "he courts in the #hilippines are bound$
judicially to ta%e notice of what the law is and to enable $ &'&( them to determine
whether the legal re)uisites to the validity of a statute have been complied with$ it
is their right$ as well as their duty$ to ta%e notice of the legislative journals.
FACTS
Pons, one of the accused who were found guilty by the court for the crime of illegal
importation of opium, fled a motion through his counsel for its reversal contending
that the court erred in denying his motion dated May 6, 1915 and reproduced on
July !, 1915" #he counsel alleged and o$ered to prove that the last day of the
special session of the Phil" %egislature for 191& was the '
th
day of (ebruary) that
the *ct under which Pons must be punished if found guilty, was not passed or
approved on the '
th
of (ebruary but on March 1 of 191&) and that therefore, the
same is null and void"
ISSUES
*" +ow was the date of the ad,ournment be proved, whether by the legislative
,ournals or e-traneous evidence)
." /01 the court can ta2e ,udicial notice of the ,ournals" 345678
HELD
*" #he 9ules of the %egislative Procedure of the Philippine :ommission provides,
among other things, ;that the proceedings of the :ommission shall be brie<y and
accurately stated on the ,ournal,; and that it shall be the duty of the 6ecretary ;to
2eep a correct ,ournal of the proceedings of the :ommission"; Moreover, the *ct of
:ongress provides, among other things that the Philippine *ssembly ;shall 2eep in
,ournal of its proceedings, which shall be published"
0=cial documents may be proved as follows>
38 #he proceedings of the Philippine :ommission, or of any legislative body that
may be provided for the Philippine ?slands, or of :ongress, by the ,ournals of those
bodies or of either house thereof, or by published statutes or resolutions, or by
copies certifed by the cler2 or secretary or printed by their order"
." ?t is well settled that such ,ournals may be noticed by the courts in determining
the @uestion whether a particular bill became a law or not" ?t is the courtAs duty to
ta2e ,udicial notice of the legislative ,ournals of the special session of the Philippine
%egislature of 191&" #hese ,ournals are not ambiguous or contradictory as to the
actual time of the ad,ournment" #hey show, with absolute certainty that the
%egislature ad,ourned sine die at 1 oBcloc2 midnight on (ebruary ', 191&"
Moreover, (rom the very nature and ob,ect of the records of the %egislature, these
are as important as those of the ,udiciary, and to in@uiry into the veracity of the
,ournals of the Philippine %egislature, when they are, as we have said, clear and
e-plicit, would be to violate both the letter and the spirit of the organic laws by
which the Philippine Covernment was brought into e-istence, to invade a coordinate
and independent department of the Covernment, and to interfere with the
legitimate powers and functions of the %egislature"