the present Constitution, and such other inferior tribunals and courts as may be created by secondary legislation. The Supreme Court of Justice holds its sessions in the Capital of the country, and is composed of a president (chief justice) and six magistrates (associate justices) of the two Chambers of Third Instance. Decisions are valid when rendered by a vote of the majority of the justices. Article 114 creates two Chambers of Third Instance in civil and criminal matters, with residence in the Capital, each one composed of three justices. In addition, six Chambers of Second Instance of two justices each are created to hold court in various parts of the country.

To qualify as a justice of the Supreme Court or of one of the Chambers of Second Instance, one must be a native-born Salvadoran, of secular status, enjoying full rights of citizenship without having lost them during the 5 years preceding the election, not less than 35 years of age, and a lawyer who has served at least 4 years as a judge of first instance or has actively practiced law for 8 years. Justices of the Supreme Court and those of the Chambers of Second Instance are elected by the National Assembly; they hold office for 3 years, and may be reelected. Their terms of office commence on April 1, every 3 years.

The Chamber of Second Instance of the First Section of the Center in the civil division takes initial jurisdiction in all matters filed against the State; on appeal, the Chamber of Third Instance in the same division takes jurisdiction. Although the right to a jury trial exists with respect to those delinquencies coming before courts of first instance of the common forum, the National Assembly may amplify or restrict the use of a jury; a secondary law will regulate jury procedure.

THE FISCAL MINISTRY

The Public or Fiscal Ministry is the representative of the State and of society. It is composed of an Attorney General, the Judge Advocate General of the Army, the representative of the Supreme Court and the Chambers, by the representatives of the courts of common forum, representatives of special courts, and by municipal syndics and collective autonomous entities created by the Government. The Attorney General is appointed by the President and must possess the same qualifications as those required to be a justice of the Supreme Court; he is under the immediate control of the Ministry of Justice.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

The Constitution itself, as well as those laws known as constitutive laws, may be amended in three ways: (1) By a constituent assembly convoked in accordance with plebiscitary acts authorized by at least two-thirds of the citizens capable of voting; (2) by a constituent assembly called every 25 years to introduce those innovations which experience demands, the assembly in this and the preceding case having no limitation of powers; or (3) by two consecutive Legislative assemblies, but in this case, the first assembly, by a vote of at least two-thirds of the deputies, must specify the article or articles to be suppressed or amended, publishing their resolution in the Diario Oficial, and the second, with the same number of votes, if it ratifies the proceedings of the former, will then decree the amendments, which in order to be of effect, should likewise be published in the same

official periodical. However, the present Constitution expressly provides that the articles contained in Titles I, V, VI, VII, VIII, and XII, as well as in this Title (XV), may not be amended by the third method, but only by a Constituent Assembly. Constitutive laws are four in number, the Law of Imprinting, State of Siege, Appeals (Amparo), and the Electoral Law.

The present Constitution enters into effect from the day of its publication (January 20, 1939); all public officials must take an oath to obey it. As a result, the Political Constitution of August 13, 1886, is revoked in all of its parts.

BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE

Analysis of Functions and Services

XVII

DIVISION OF FOREIGN TRADE STATISTICS

This Division compiles the statistics relating to the trade of the United States with foreign countries and the noncontiguous territories of the United States and prepares statements and publications in regard thereto. Copies of documents filed at the customhouses by importers and exporters are assembled and statements tabulated monthly by the Section of Customs Statistics at New York and forwarded to the Washington office where the official monthly report, the Monthly Summary of Foreign Commerce of the United States, is issued. The Division also publishes the annual report Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States.

More than 200 mimeographed statements showing exports and imports of certain commodities are issued each month and sent to more than 6,000 paying subscribers representing hundreds of different industries, and about 250 special monthly typewritten statements are prepared for about 400 paying subscribers.

The Division prepares the statistical classification schedules of exports and imports for the guidance of Collectors of Customs and exporters and importers and issues regulations and instructions in regard thereto. It handles the correspondence and inquiries relating to the foreign trade of the United States.

THE

WORKMEN'S

COMPENSATION

LAW O F JAMAICA

By Harry J. Daniels, Division of Commercial Laws

The Workmen's Compensation Law of Jamaica is quite similar to legislation of this type in effect in other Crown colonies. Compensation is provided for workmen who suffer personal injuries by accident arising out of and in the course of their employment and employers are liable to pay compensation as follows:

(a) Where death results from the injury and

(i) the workman leaves a dependent or dependents wholly dependent upon his earnings, a sum equal to 30 months' wages or £250, whichever is less;

(ii) the workman does not leave a dependent or dependents wholly dependent upon his earnings, but leaves a dependent or dependents in part so dependent, such sum not exceeding the amount of compensation payable under (i) as may be agreed upon, or in default of agreement as may be awarded by the court to be reasonable and proportionate to the injury to the dependent or dependents.

(b) Where permanent total incapacity results from the injury (i) in case of an adult, a sum equal to 42 months' wages or £350, whichever is less; and

(ii) in the case of a minor, a sum equal to 84 months' wages or £350, whichever is less;

(c) Where permanent partial incapacity results from the injury (i) in the case of an injury specified in the schedule appended hereto, such percentage of compensation which would have been payable in the case of permanent total capacity as is specified therein as being the percentage of the loss of earning capacity caused by that injury; and

(ii) in the case of an injury not specified in the schedule, such percentage of the compensation payable in the case of permanent total incapacity as is proportionate to the loss of earning capacity permanently caused by the injury; Where more injuries than one are caused by the same accident, the amount of compensation payable under this head is aggregated but not so in any case as to exceed the amount which would have been payable if permanent total incapacity had resorted from the injuries;

(d) Where temporary incapacity, whether total or partial, results from the injury, a half-monthly payment payable on the 16th day from the date of incapacity, and thereafter half-monthly during the incapacity or during the period of five years, whichever period is shorter

(i) in the case of an adult of a sum equal to one-fourth of his monthly wages;

(ii) in the case of a minor of a sum equal to one-third of his monthly wages or, after he has attained the age of 17 years to one-half of his monthly wages.

In fixing the amount of any compensation the court shall have regard to any payment, allowance or benefit which the workman may have received from the employer after the date of the accident, and

no half-monthly payment can in any case exceed the amount, if any, by which half the amount of the monthly wages of the workman before the accident exceeds half the amount of such wages as he is earning or is able to earn in some suitable employment or business after the accident.

On the ceasing of the incapacity before the date on which any half-monthly payment falls due, there shall be payable in respect of that half month a sum proportionate to the duration of the incapacity in that half month.

CALCULATION OF WAGES

If the workman has during a continuous period of not less than 12 months immediately preceding the accident, been in the service of the employer who is liable to pay compensation, the monthly wages of the workman is one-twelfth of the wages which have fallen due for payment to him by the employer in the last 12 months of that period. In other cases the monthly wages are 30 times the total wages earned in respect of the last continuous period of service immediately preceding the accident from the employer who is liable to pay compensation, divided by the number of days comprising such period.

In all cases, if the amount of the monthly wages arrived at is more than £12.10, such wages are assumed to be £12.10.

DISTRIBUTION OF COMPENSATION

Compensation payable by reason of the death of a workman resulting from injury must be paid into court and any sum so paid is apportioned among the dependents of the deceased workman or any of them in such proportion as the court thinks fit, or may, in its discretion, be allotted to any one such dependent, and the sum so allotted to any dependent must be paid to him or be invested, applied or otherwise dealt with for his benefit in such manner as the court may decide. Employers may satisfy their obligations under the Compensation Law by making the required payments to the court and the receipt of the clerk of the court is sufficient discharge of any amount paid in under the provisions of the law.

CONDITIONS OF COMPENSATION

Proceedings for the recovery of compensation from an injury cannot be maintained unless

(a) written or oral notice of the accident has been given as soon as practicable after its occurrence;

(b) written or oral notice of the accident was given before the Workman has voluntarily left the employment in which he was injured; (c) the claim for compensation has been made within 6 months of the accident;

(d) in the case of death the claim for compensation has been made within 6 months after the date of death or within 6 months after the date of the accident;

(e) in the case of death occurring more than 6 months after the accident causing injury, a claim for compensation has been made by the workman within 6 months of the accident.

143707 0-39-2

AGREEMENTS FOR PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION

The employer and the workman may, after the injury, agree in writing as to the amount to be paid by the employer as compensation in respect of the permanent partial incapacity or permanent total incapacity of the workman resulting from the injury.

Where any amount of compensation has been agreed upon or where the amounts of half-monthly payment have been agreed upon or have been varied, suspended, or ended, or where any other matter under this law has been determined by agreement, the court may, if application is made by any person interested within 3 months after the date of the agreement, cancel it and may make such order (including an order as to any sum already paid under the agreement) as in the circumstances may be thought just, if it is proved

(a) that the sum paid or to be paid was or is grossly inadequate or excessive; or

(b) that the agreement was obtained by such fraud, undue influence, misrepresentation or other improper means, as would in law be sufficient grounds for avoiding the agreement; or

(c) that the agreement was entered in ignorance of or under a mistake as to the true nature of the injury.

An agreement of this kind may on application to the court be made a judgment of the court. In order to have this effect, it is necessary that the memorandum thereof be sent to the clerk of the court who must on being satisfied as to its genuineness record it in a special register and thereupon it is for all purposes enforceable as a judgment.

SUB-CONTRACTORS

If any person (principal) for the purposes of his business or trade contracts with any other person (contractor) for the execution by or under the contractor of the whole or any part of any work undertaken by the principal the latter is, provided notice of accident is given to him, liable to pay to any workman employed in the execution of the work any compensation which he would have been liable to pay if the workman had been immediately employed by him.

Where compensation is claimed from or proceedings are taken against the principal, then in the application of the compensation law references to the principal are substituted for references to the employer except that the amount of compensation is calculated with reference to the earnings of the workman under the employer by whom he is immediately employed.

In the case of contracts relating to threshing, shelling, ploughing or other agricultural work and the contractor provides and uses machinery driven by mechanical power he alone is liable to pay compensation for injuries sustained by workmen.

The principal is entitled to be indemnified by any person who would have been liable to pay compensation to workmen.

INSOLVENCY OR BANKRUPTCY OF EMPLOYER

Another interesting phase of the Jamaican law is where the employer has entered into a contract with insurers in respect of liability for injuries to his workmen, then, in the event of his insolvency or