Under the Spanish régime justices of the peace did not receive salaries, nor was there any appropriation for the payment of necessary clerical assistance, for office supplies, or for rental of their court rooms. The fees which the law allowed them to charge were their only compensation. These were fifty cents for each civil case tried and twenty-five cents when no trial was held on account of failure to appear on the part of either the plaintiff or defendant or of both.
In criminal cases the fees were seventy-five cents for each case tried, but they could be collected only if the defendant was adjudged to pay the costs and was solvent.
The compensation of justices of the peace was in practice limited to the paltry fees in civil cases, which in many municipalities amounted to almost nothing owing to the small number of such cases tried. Justices of the peace were burdened with orders from the courts of first instance for the service of process, and for this no compensation was given them.
The only appropriations for office, personnel and supplies of the courts of first instance were the following: two Chinese interpreters and sixteen bailiffs, drawing a yearly salary of $48 for the four courts at Manila; interpreters drawing the following ridiculous salaries: $48 per annum in some courts, $36 in others and in still others $24; amanuenses whose salaries in some courts were $48 and in others $36 per annum, while in yet other courts there was no amount appropriated for their salaries. No appropriation was made for clerks, officers, messengers or bailiffs of the courts, for necessary office supplies or for court-houses. The clerks of courts had to pay all subordinate employees. They also had to pay for the building of a court-house out of the money collected as fees from litigants, and in many instances they were compelled to pay for the dwelling place of the judge, who ordinarily lived in the court-house.
The salaries of judicial officers and fiscals were also very meager. The prosecuting attorney of a court de entrada was paid $750 per annum; the judge of a court of first instance de entrada, the prosecuting attorney de ascenso, and the secretaries of the audiencia de lo criminal, all of whom had the same rank, drew salaries of $937.50 per annum. The judge of first instance de ascenso, the prosecuting attorney de termino and the secretaries of the audiencia territorial de Manila were paid $1125 per annum. The judges of courts of first instance de termino and the attorneys of the audiencia territorial of Manila and the assistant attorneys of the audiencias de lo criminal of Vigan and Cebu drew a salary of $1375 per annum. The assistant fiscal of the audiencia territorial of Manila and the justices of the audiencias de lo criminal of Vigan and Cebu, $1750. The justices of the audiencia territorial of Manila and the presidents and fiscals of the audiencias de lo criminal of Vigan and Cebu received $2125 per annum. The president of the audiencia territorial of Manila and the presidents of the departments of said court and its fiscal received $25 per annum. The president of the audiencia territorial of Manila had an additional allowance of $750, and the presidents of the departments and fiscal of said court had $250 each for entertainment expenses.
At present, justices of the peace in first, second, third, and fourth class municipalities receive yearly salaries of $480, $420, $360 and $300, respectively. The justice of the peace of Manila receives $1800. The justices of the peace of Iloilo and Cebu receive $1200 each; those of the provincial capitals of Albay, Ambos Camarines, Batangas, Bulacan, Ilocos Sur, Occidental Negros, Pampanga, Pangasinán and Tayabas, $900 each; those of Cagayan, Capiz, Cavite, Ilocos Norte, Laguna, Rizal, Samar and Sorsogon, $750 each; those of the remaining provincial capitals and of any municipalities considered as capitals of provinces organized under the provincial government act, $600 each.
Every municipality is required to provide the justice of the peace with an adequate court room and the necessary office furniture, light, and janitor service. Office supplies, such as stationery, stamps, printed forms, books, etc., are furnished by the bureau of justice and paid for from the appropriation for said bureau.
Clerks and other subordinate employees of the courts of first instance now have regular salaries prescribed by law, and the salaries of judges are sufficient to allow them to live comfortably and with the independence and decorum which befit their official positions. Judges at large and some district judges receive $4500 per annum; other district judges, $5000 per annum; judges in the city of Manila, $5500. The judge of the court of land registration receives $5000 and the assistant judges are paid $4000 each with promotion to $4500 after two years of service. The chief justice and associate justices of the supreme court receive $10,000 each.