Act No. 1519




[ Act No. 1519, August 03, 1906 ] AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR INSPECTING AND SEALING WEIGHTS AND MEASURES AND TO REGULATE THEIR USE. By authority of the United Stales, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that: Section 1. The fundamental system of weights and measures throughout the Philippine Islands shall, subject to the qualifications hereinafter contained, be the system known as the metric system, with the following units: (a) The unit of length shall be the length at the temperature of zero degrees centigrade of the standard measure Numbered Seventy-one, now preserved in the Bureau of Science and certified to by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, or the length, at the temperature of zero degrees centigrade, of standard meter established by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, and now kept at Sevres, France. This length shall be known as the meter. (b) The unit of area shall be either the square meter, or an area of one hundred square meters known as the are. (c) The unit of cubical contents or capacity shall be either the cubic meter, or the one-thousandth part thereof known as the liter. (d) The unit of weight shall be the weight at Manila of one-millionth of a cubic meter of pure water at the temperature of four degrees centigrade, or the one-thousandth part of the standard kilogram certified to by the Internationa Bureau of Weights and Measures, designated by the symbol "L" and now preserved in the Bureau of Science. The unit of weight shall be known as the gram. Section 2. The use of these weights and measures, with all their decimal multiples and submultiples, together constituting the metric system, is hereby authorized. Section 3. Until the first day of January, nineteen hundred and nine, the use of the following is authorized : (a) As a unit of weight, the Spanish avoirdupois ounce of twenty-eight and seventy-rive hundredths grams. (b) As a unit of weight, the Spanish avoirdupois pound of six-teen ounces-that is, of four hundred and sixty grams. (c) As a unit of weight, the arroba of twenty-five Spanish avoir-dupois pounds-that is, of eleven thousand five hundred grams. (d) As a unit of weight, the quintal of one hundred Spanish avoirdupois pounds-that is, of forty-six thousand grams. (e) As a unit of weight, the picul (or pico) of one hundred and thirty-seven and one-half Spanish avoirdupois pounds-that is, of sixty-three thousand two hundred and fifty grams. (f) As a unit of weight, the International carat or quilate of two hundred and five milligrams. (g) Any scale or balance graduated in the above units. (h) As a unit of capacity, the cavan of seventy-five liters. It is the volume of a cube each side of which is four thousand two hundred and seventeen ten thousandths of a meter. (i) As a unit of capacity, the ganta of three liters. It is the volume of a cube each side of which is one thousand four hundred and forty-two ten thousandths of a meter. (j) As a unit of capacity, the chupa of three hundred and seventy-five thousandths of a liter. It is the volume of a cube each side of which is seven hundred and twenty-one ten thousandths of a meter. (k) As a unit of capacity, the apatan of nine thousand three hundred and seventy-five hundred thousandths of a liter. It is the volume of a cube each side of which is four thousand five hundred and forty-three hundred thousandths of a meter. (l) As a unit of capacity, the arroba of sixteen liters. It is the volume of a cube each side of which is two thousand five hundred and twenty-one ten thousandths of a meter. (m) As a unit of length, the Spanish inch of two hundred and thirty-two ten thousandths of a meter. (n) As a unit of length, the Spanish foot of twelve inches- that is, of two hundred and seventy-nine thousandths of a meter. (o) As a unit of length, the vara of three Spanish feet-that is, of eight hundred and thirty-six thousandths of a meter. (p) As a unit of length, the braza of two varas-that is, of one and six hundred and seventy-two thousandths meters. (q) As a unit of area, the square braza of two and seven hundred and ninety-five thousandths square meters. (r) As a unit of area, the loan of one hundred square brazas-that is, of two hundred and seventy-nine and five-tenths square meters. (s) As a unit of area, the balita of one thousand square brazas- that is, of two thousand seven hundred and ninety-five square meters. (t) As a unit of area, the quatation of ten thousand square brazas-that is, of twenty-seven thousand nine hundred and fifty square meters. (u) As a unit of area the cavan of three thousand six hundred square brazas-that is, of ten thousand and sixty-two square meters. Section 4. In all measurements involving the fixing of internal of value revenue on alcohol or its purchase and sale, the basis for calculating the value of said alcohol shall be its percentage purity by weight as determined by its specific gravity: Provided, however, That the Gay-Lussac alcoholometer, which is standardized at fifteen degrees centigrade and which reads in percentages of ethyl alcohol by the volume at fifteen degrees centigrade, may be used in determining the value of distilled spirits as defined in section seventy-one of Act Numbered Eleven hundred and eighty-nine: And provided further. That nothing in this Act contained shall ho construed to repeal any of the provisions of Act Numbered Eleven hundred and eighty-nine. Section 5. Until the first day of January, nineteen hundred and nine, the use is authorized of any scale or balance graduated in English avoirdupois pounds, together with the necessary set of weights therefor: Provided, That scale or balance can be shown to have been in use in the Philippine Islands before the date of the passage of this Act. Section 6. The Secretary of the provincial Interior, at the request of the id in that province, may extend in that province, for not more than two years beyond January first, nineteen hundred and nine, the time during which any of the above-mentioned scales or balances, weights and units of weights and measures shall be authorized, or may such province fix the value of any other weights or measures now in common local use, and authorize their use, until not later than two years after January first nineteen hundred and nine. Section 7. The weights and measures herein authorized together with such simple multiples and sub-multiple thereof as are expressly designated and authorized as such, shall be the only legal weights and measures in the Philippine Islands. These, and no others, shall be officially sealed and licensed. Section 8. The metric system shall be used in all official documents. No weights or measures except those of the metric system shall be employed in any contract, deed, or other document, publicly and officially attested: Provided always. That in ordering commodities or articles from other countries the standards of weights and measures commonly used in such countries in selling such commodities or articles may be employed. Section 9. The Collector oi Internal Revenue, with the approval of the Secretary of Finance and Justice, shall decide what dies, stamps, brands, stencils, tags, or other appliances shall be used for sealing and marking weights and measures and shall procure the same together with such apparatus for sealing weights and measures as are necessary for carrying out the purpose of this Act and shall distribute the same to inspectors and sealers of weights and measures as they may be required. Such primed forms and blank certificates as may be necessary shall be prepared, furnished, and distributed to inspectors and sealers of weights and measures by the Collector of Internal Revenue. Section 10. The fundamental standard weights, measures, and instruments for determining specific gravity for the Philippine Islands shall be deposited in the Bureau of Science and shall be kept under the care and direction of the Director of the Bureau of Science. The Collector of Internal Revenue shall call upon the Director of the Bureau of Science for such comparisons of secondary standards with the fundamental ones as he may deem necessary, and such comparisons having been made in the Bureau of Science the secondary standards shall then be stamped with or otherwise designated by ' an appropriate mark or seal to be selected by the Director of the Bureau of Science, and shall be accompanied by a certificate setting forth the variation of these secondary standards from the fundamental ones. If in the judgment of the Director of the Bureau of Science such variation in any instance is of sufficient magnitude to warrant the condemnation of any such secondary standard, it shall be condemned and destroyed in the presence of the Director of the Bureau of Science or his authorized deputy. A full set of secondary standards shall be kept, subject to the use of the public, m the provincial building by each provincial treasurer. Section 11. The Collector of Internal Revenue shall provide for the frequent testing of all balances, scales, weights, and measures used in the Government work or maintained for public use by any province or municipality, either causing them to be tested at the Bureau of Science or by such persons as shall be designated as inspectors of weights and measures by the Governor-General or as shall, after due authorization by the Philippine Commission, be appointed inspectors of weights and measures. He shall also be responsible for the inspection and calibration of all provincial and municipal standards of weight and measure. Section 12. The Purchasing Agent shall keep in stock a reasonable number of such weights and measures as the Director of the Bureau of Science shall decide arc best adapted to serve as provincial and municipal standards, and shall sell such standards to provinces and municipalities at cost plus ten per centum. Section 13. It shall be the duty of the inspectors of weights and measures to inspect and test balances or scales, weights and injures, and to report upon the condition thereof in the districts assigned to them and according to instructions given them by the Collector of Internal Revenue, and it shall be their duty to collect evidence of any infringement of this Act or of fraud in the use of weights and measures or of neglect of duty on the part of any officer engaged in sealing weights and measures, and to present such evidence at once to the Collector of Internal Revenue and also to the proper prosecuting officers. Section 14. The sealing and licensing of weights and measures shall be the duty of the provincial treasurers and their deputies and of the inspector of weights and measures of the city of Manila and his deputies, in their respective territories, under rules and regulations prescribed by the Collector of Internal Revenue with the approval of the Secretary of Finance and Justice. For the purposes of this Act these officers shall be termed "sealers of weights and measures." Section 15. Sealers of weights and measures shall be prepared to seal and license without undue delay any scale or balance, weight or measure which fulfills the requirements of the law, and they shall furthermore appoint and publish the period during which they will be present in each of the municipalities or districts within their territory, prepared to seal and license scales or balances, weights and measures. Such period shall be sufficiently long to enable the duty to be performed without undue interference with the business of the municipality. Section 16. Whenever the Collector of Internal Revenue learns that the weights and measures in any place are not promptly and satisfactorily sealed, or that any abuses connected with the sealing of weights and measures exist, he shall notify the treasurer of the province in which these conditions exist, or the inspector of weights and measures of the city of Manila, as the case may be, and he shall report such notification and the causes thereof to the Executive Secretary. Section 17. All correct scales or balances, weights and measures authorized by this Act, and of such manufacture and in such condition that they furnish as little opportunity as possible for the commission of fraud, and satisfying all other requirements prescribed and published by the Collector of Internal Revenue, shall be sealed upon presentation to the authorized sealer of weights and measures and upon the payment of the proper charges. Section 18. Charges for sealing weights and measures shall be made according to the following schedule: (a) For a linear measures: Not over one and one half meters, te4n centavos; over one and one half meters, twenty centavos: Provided: that for a linear measure not in the metric system the charge shall be doubled. (b) For a measure of capacity : Not over ten liters, twenty centavos; over ten liters, thirty centavos: Provided , That for a measure over one liter that does not contain an even numbers of liters, and for a measures between one liter and one deciliter the charge shall be doubled. (c) For a scale or balance graduated solely in the metric system: With a capacity of over three thousand kilograms, Three pesos; with a capacity of over three hundred and not over three thousand kilograms, one peso and twenty centavos; with a capacity of over thirty and not over three hundred kilograms, sixty centavos; with a capacity not over thirty kilograms, thirty centavos: Provided, That for an apothecary balance or other balance of precision the charge shall be doubled. (d) For a scale or balance graduated wholly or partly in any other system than the metric the charge shall be fifty per centum greater than for a scale or balance of the same capacity wholly in the metric system. (e) With each scale or balance a complete set of weights for use therewith shall be sealed free of charge. For each extra weight the charge shall be five centavos. Section 19. All fees collected for sealing and inspecting weights and measures shall be considered as internal revenue and shall be disposed of as provided in section one hundred and forty-nine of Act Numbered Eleven hundred and eighty-nine for the disposition of the proceeds of the poll or cedula personal tax. Section 20. After the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred seven, no person who makes a practice of buying and selling goods of any description may procure the sealing of any linear measure of any other system than the metric, unless he has had sealed within twelve month a linear measure of the metric system, nor she shall procure the sealing of any measure of capacity of any other system than the metric, unless he has had sealed within twelve months one measure of capacity of the metric system. Section 21. Payment for the sealing of scales and balances, weights and measures shall be made according to the schedule herein contained by internal-revenue stamps, which shall be affixed to the proper certificate or receipt in such a manner and by such persons as shall be prescribed by the Collector of Internal Revenue. The certificate or receipt so prescribed shall serve as a license to use for one year from date of sealing said scales and balances, weights and certificate provided that they suffer no deterioration or damage. Said certificate or receipt shall be kept by the person to whom it has been issued and shall be exhibited on the demand of any authorized sealer or inspector of weights and measures. Section 22. No scale, balance, weight, or measure offered for sealing, which is found by the sealer to be incorrect, or which otherwise fails to satisfy the requirements prescribed and published by the Collector of Internal Revenue, shall be sealed until corrected or made to satisfy the above-mentioned requirements. Sealers and inspectors of weights and measures shall render to owners of scales, balances, weights, or measures found to be incorrect or otherwise failing to satisfy the requirements prescribed and published by the Collector of Internal Revenue, such assistance in correcting or modifying such scales, balances, weights, or measures as they may be able to give. Section 23. Sealers of weights and measures shall procure Internal revenue stamps from the Collector of Internal Revenue in suitable quantities, shall give receipts therefore, and shall be responsible for the return of said stamps or their face value in money on the demand of the Collector of Internal Revenue. Section 24. Sealers of weights and measures shall keep a record of by all scales or balances, weights or measures sealed or rejected by them and of all licenses and certificates issued and of the names of the licensees and of all charges paid by the affixture of internal-revenue stamps, and they shall permit the inspection of this record by any -inspection, inspector of weights and measures or any authorized representative of the Insular Auditor. They shall furnish such information to the Collector of Internal Revenue or the Insular Auditor as may from time to time be required. Section 25. If at any time the purposes of this Act are frustrated by the lack of suitable weights and measures for sale by public dealers at reasonable prices, the Collector of Internal Revenue may, with the approval of the Secretary of the proper Department, obtain through the Purchasing Agent such accurate weights or measures as may be needed, and cause them to be distributed and offered for sale by sealers and inspectors of weights and measures at a price not to exceed twenty per centum above their cost to the Bureau of Internal Revenue at the place of delivery. Sealers and inspectors shall, however, make it distinctly understood that the purchase of said weights or measures is in no sense compulsory, and that no inducement for their purchase is offered except such as is apparent from their price or construction. No regulations or restrictions shall be made in favor of said weights and measures to the detriment of other vendors of weights and measures. Section 26. Any Insular, provincial, or municipal officer or employee charged with the inspecting or sealing of weights and measures who attempts, commits, aids, knowingly permits, or suffers through neglect of his duties any infringement of this Act, or the perpetration of any fraud in the inspecting, or sealing, or use of weights and measures, or who fails to report to the proper authorities his knowledge or reasonable suspicion that any such infringement or fraud has been, is being, or is to be practiced or attempted, or who sells or furnishes internal-revenue stamps at more or less than their face value, or who knowingly demands the affixture of internal-revenue stamps in greater or less amount than that required by law, or who practices any other extortion or unfair discrimination, or who asks or accepts, in connection with the discharge of his official duties, any money, gift, or privilege, except money taken in exact payment for internal-revenue stamps as herein provided, or who makes use for the gain of himself or another of any information obtained in the discharge of his duties, or of any power derived from his official position, or who knowingly makes any false official report, or who is interested in the manufacture or sale of any scale or balance, weight or measure, except as herein provided, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand pesos or by imprisonment for not exceeding two years, or by both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. Section 27. Any person who fraudulently imitates any mark, stamp, brand, tag, or other characteristic sign used to indicate that weights and measures have been officially sealed; or who alters in any way the certificate given by the sealer as an acknowledgment that the weights and measures mentioned therein have been duly sealed, or who makes or knowingly sells or uses any false or counterfeit stamp, certificate or license, or any die for printing or making stamps, certificates or licenses, which is an imitation of or purports to be a lawful stamp, certificate or license of the kind required by the provisions of this Act, or who erases the cancellation marks on any stamp, certificate, or license previously used, or who alters the. written or printed figures or letters or cancellation marks on any stamp, certificate, or license used or issued, or who has in his possession any such false, counterfeit, restored, or altered stamp, certificate, or license for the purpose of use or reuse of the same in the payment of fees or charges imposed in Ibis Act. or in securing an}7 exemption or privilege conferred by the provisions of this Act, or who procures the commission of any such offenses by another, shall for each such offense he lined not less than two thousand pesos nor more than ten thousand pesos and shall he imprisoned for not less than one year nor more than five years, in the discretion of the court. Section 28. Any person who, uses in the purchase or sale of anything any scale or balance, weight or measure that has not been officially sealed within twelve months, or who fails to exhibit his license on the demand of any authorized sealer or inspector of weights and measures, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred pesos or by imprisonment in the discretion of the court: Provided however, That if the judge shall ascertain that the person using such unsealed scale or balance, weight or measure or failing to exhibit a license as above provided has lived in such remote regions that it has been impracticable for him to procure the official sealing or to obtain the license required, no penalty shall be imposed. Section 29. Any person making a practice of buying or selling by weights or measures, who has in bis possession any scale or balance, weight or measure which has not been presented for sealing at the first official opportunity therefor, or who fails to exhibit all the scales or balances, weights or measures in bis possession at the demand of any authorized sealer or inspector of weights and measures, shall be fined not exceeding one thousand pesos; this fine to be additional to any penalty which may be imposed by the application of the section next preceding: Provided, hover, That the Secretary of Finance and Justice may, in his discretion grant a permit to a merchant or dealer who has scales, balances, weights, or measures in bis possession at the time of the passage of this Act for the purposes of sale only to retain in his balances, weights, or measures without so; be sold or otherwise disposed of for actual use. Section 30. Any person who. with fraudulent intent, alters any scale or balance, weight or measure after it is officially sealed, or who knowingly uses any false scale or balance, weight or measure, whether sealed or not, or who fraudulently represents the weight or measure of anything to be greater or less than it is, shall be punished by a fine of not less than two hundred pesos nor more than four thousand pesos or by imprisonment for not less than three months nor more than two years, or by both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. Section 31. Any person, except an internal-revenue agent or officer or other public official engaged in scaling or inspecting weights and measures, who voluntarily gives information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone violating this Act shall be rewarded in the sum of twenty pesos or in the sum of one hundred pesos if the person convicted is a public officer or employee concerned with the sealing or inspecting of weights and measures, or any officer or employee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The informer shall be ascertained and stated in the judgment of the court, and the reward shall be paid by the provincial treasurer of the province in which the arrest and conviction is had out of collections accruing to that province by virtue of the provisions of this Act, and the sums so paid shall be deducted from the receipts before the same are distributed between the province and its municipalities. Section 32. No contract made before this Act goes into effect shall be affected by the provisions hereof. Section 33. All Acts or parts of Acts in conflict with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed. Section 34. This Act shall take effect on January first, nineteen hundred and seven. Enacted, August 3, 1906. APPENDIX. AN EXPRESSION IN METRIC DECIMALS OF THE WEIGHTS AND MEASURES AUTHORIZED IN SECTIONS 3 AND 5. Units of weight winch may he used until the 1st day of January, 1909. Section 3: Equivalent in grams (a) The Spanish avoirdupois ounce 28.75 (b) The Spanish avoirdupois pound of 16 ounces 460 (c) The arroba of 25 Spanish avoirdupois pounds 11,500 (d) The quintal of 100 Spanish avoirdupois pounds 46,000 (e) The picul (or pico) of 137A Spanish avoirdupois pounds 63,250 (f) The International carat or quilate 205 Units of capacity which may he used until the 1st day of January, 1909' It is the volume of a cube each side of which is in meters. (h) The cavan of 75 liters 0.4217 (i) The ganta of. 3 liters 1442 (j) The chupa of 0.375 liter .0721 (k) The apatan of 0.09375 liter 04543 (I) The arroba of 16 liters 2521 Units of length which may be used until the 1st day of January, 1909. Equivalent in meters. (m) The Spanish inch 0.0232 (n) The Spanish foot of 12 inches 279 (o) The vara of 3 Spanish feet 836 (p) The braza of 2 varas 1. 672 Units of area which may be used until the 1st day of January, 1909. Equivalent in meters. (q) The square braza 2.795 (r) The loan of 100 square brazas 279.5 (s) The balita of 1,000 square brazas 2,795 (t) The quifion of 10,000 square brazas 27,950 (u) The cavan of 3,600 square brazas 10,062 Unit of weight which may be used until the 1st day of January, 1909. Section 5: Equivalent in grams. The English avoirdupois pound 453.6 The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation