Article by Efraín González Tejera
Dramatic socio-economic changes during the last century have shaken the foundations of the successions laws of Spain and Puerto Rico. The 1889 Spanish Civil Code, obsolete in part even for the Spanish society of the late nineteenth century, was brought to Puerto Rico in 1890 and, except for minor changes, remains in force there today.
When in the 1850s the Spanish legislature (Cortes) was discussing the bill that three decades later became the Civil Code, Puerto Rico's economy was mainly one of subsistence agriculture. Barter was the prevailing means of commercial exchange, and land was tilled through a system of exchange of labor. Cash crops were just beginning to emerge: sugar in the coastal areas and coffee in the highlands.
In the last quarter of the nineteenth century the world market for sugar and coffee expanded. The increase in the price of these products made possible the development of incipient technology and credit on the Island. Land was readily available and population growth provided the needed labor. Large-scale production of coffee led to the Hacienda culture of the highlands, and sugar production led to the Ingenio culture of the lowlands. The single cash-crop farm, dependent on trade with the outside world, especially the United States, began to emerge.
The American military occupation of Puerto Rico in 1898 imposed economic and political patterns that had far-reaching effects on the lives of the people. The economic, political, and religious trends prevailing at that time changed substantially, so that in the first few decades after the Spanish-American War, crop exports, capitalization of agriculture and technological developments all expanded significantly. Puerto Rico became dependent on the United States for currency, foreign trade, and credit. That dependency led the economy to maximize development of the sugar, tobacco, and needle industries, while the production of livestock and coffee declined. The changes in the political arena were even more substantial. Puerto Rico, the eternal colony, shifted masters in 1898; with the political change Protestantism gained a foothold in the predominantly Catholic culture. Both federal and local government activity expanded.
The end of the Second World War marked another turning point, as the sugar, tobacco, and needle industries began to decline. Industrial activity slowly replaced agriculture as the main base of the Island's economy, which, together with state and federal government entitlements, describe the present condition of the Puerto Rican economy. Rapid urban growth completes the current picture.
These changes have produced a transformation of the family unit, not only in its basic structure, but also in the roles of its members. As Puerto Rico evolved from a rural and agrarian society to a fundamentally urban and industrial one, the basic family structure changed as well; the family is no longer an extended unit, self-sufficient and providing for the economic and psychological needs of its members. The extended family structure, common to the landowner, sharecropper, and laborer of the last century, was slowly transformed into the nuclear or conjugal family, a consumer rather than a producer of goods and services. Governmental intervention in functions that were formerly performed by the family has been a determinant in the allocation of roles among its members and in the decrease of their economic interdependence.
A second substantial change in the last century has been the appearance of new forms of wealth, common today but almost unknown when the civil codes of the hispanic countries were written. Readily available money, the enormous proliferation of movable goods, and government grants, subsidies, franchises, and other entitlements have altered both the economy and the economic concerns of the family.
Third, the family dominion over real property that determined political and economic power in the nineteenth century no longer monopolizes the sources of authority and prestige. Family members need not depend on family ties to achieve those goals. Furthermore, a new social elite has emerged, which controls wealth but does not actually own it. These are the public and private managers and executives who determine the distribution of the new forms of wealth: salaries and fringe benefits.
Fourth, the transfer of wealth from generation to generation faced constitutional objections unknown in the nineteenth century. Notions of liberty, dignity, and privacy molded in the Bill of Rights have altered profoundly the foundations of Puerto Rico's successions law. Discrimination against women and illegitimate children and the power to impose conditions on the transfer of wealth, whether inter vivos or mortis causa, sheltered by the Civil Code of the late nineteenth century, cannot withstand scrutiny under Puerto Rico's Constitution of 1952. The older attitudes were due in part to the class-oriented governments that sponsored the French and Spanish codifications in the nineteenth century. These authoritarian systems elevated the interests of the ruling landowners, merchants, and clergy to the category of public interest.
Fifth, in addition to new social structures and forms of wealth, there are now new forms of property transfer having mortis causa effect. These forms of transfer were unknown when the Spanish and Puerto Rican Civil Codes were codified and promulgated. Inter vivos trusts, joint bank accounts, and options to acquire corporate shares did not exist in either country in 1890. In fact, the corporate share itself was unknown, since the corporation is an economic phenomenon of the Anglo-Saxon world. Deferred compensation, profit-sharing plans, retirement or disability pensions, social security, and similar employee benefits were also nonexistent.
The profound transformation of the Puerto Rican social fabric has rendered obsolete many of the private law institutions contained in the Civil Code. Family and successions law has been especially affected. Thus, as in Louisiana, the legal agenda for the twenty-first century in Puerto Rico must include a complete revision of the private law.
About the Author
Efraín González Tejera. Professor of Law, University of Puerto Rico.
Citation
60 Tul. L. Rev. 1231 (1986)