Although he had the right
to compel witnesses for the prosecution to ratify over their signatures
the evidence against him given during the _sumario_, as the defence of
the majority of the accused was in the hands of attorneys _de officio_
they nearly always renounced this privilege of the defendant, and,
as has already been said, bail was not admitted in any grave offence
during the trial.
No sentence of acquittal in a criminal case can now be appealed from
by the government. Under the Spanish system sentences of acquittal of
courts of first instance had to be referred for review to the proper
_audiencia_ and the fiscal of the latter could appeal from a sentence
of acquittal by it.
The Philippine Bill grants to the inhabitants of the islands other
important individual rights which they did not formerly possess.
The Spanish constitution was not in force here, and although the
Penal Code contained provisions for punishing, in a way, officials who
violated certain rights granted by the Spanish constitution, citizens
had no expeditious method of securing their punishment. Now the Code of
Civil Procedure grants them certain special remedies by which their
rights can be made good. To illustrate: Under the Spanish regime
the only remedy for a man illegally detained was to bring a criminal
action against the person illegally detaining him.
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