instance in the Philippine Islands and the District Court of the Canal Zone shall have jurisdiction of offenses committed within their respective districts, and concurrent jurisdiction with the District courts of the United States of offenses under this Act committed upon the high seas and of conspiracies to commit such offenses as defined by section thirty-seven of the Act entitled "An Act to codify, revise, and amend the penal of the United States," approved March fourth, nineteen hundred and nine, and the provisions of such section for the purpose of this Act are hereby extended to the Philippine Islands and to the Canal Zone.13 Courts of First Instance shall have appellate jurisdiction over all causes arising in justices" and other inferior courts in their respective provinces." 14 "A judge of First Instance shall have power to issue writs of injunction and to make orders appointing receivers in causes pending in the Court of First Instance within his district, and all other preliminary and interlocutory orders, when he is within the district but without the province; and to hear and determine, when within the district but without the province, any interlocutory motion or issue after due and reasonable notice to the parties; but all final hearings shall be had within the province unless the parties by their counsel consent in writing to a hearing at a place not within the province. On the filing of a petition for the writ of habeas corpus or for release upon reduction of bail in any Court of First Instance, the bail or risdiction" did not put in force in 13 40 St. at L. 425, § 18, Comp. St., § 3112ii. 14 § 2206, Compilation Acts of the Philippine Commission 1908, Part VIII. the Judiciary, Title 39, Ch. 209. hearing may be tried at any place in the judicial district which the judge shall deem convenient. All criminal trials must be tried at the place designated in the law as the place at which the court having jurisdiction thereof shall be held, unless the Secretary of Finance and Justice shall otherwise order, as provided in section twenty-two hundred and twenty-seven hereof." 15 "In every province in which there now is, or shall hereafter be established, a Court of First Instance, courts of justices of the peace shall be maintained in every organized municipality.” 16 "In all civil actions including those mentioned in sections twenty-six hundred and ninety to twentyseven hundred, inclusive, hereof, arising in his municipality and not exclusively cognizable by the Court of First Instance, the justice of the peace shall have exclusive original jurisdiction where the value of the subject-matter or amount of the demand does not exceed two hundred pesos, exclusive of interest and costs; and where such value or demand exceeds two hundred pesos but is less than six hundred pesos the justice of the peace shall have jurisdiction concurrent with the Court of First Instance. In forcible entry and detainer proceedings the justice shall have original jurisdiction but he may receive evidence upon the question of title therein solely for the purpose of determining character and extent of possession and damages for detention. A justice of the peace shall have no jurisdiction to adjudicate questions of title to real estate or any interest therein, and whenever a case requiring such adjudication is brought before him it shall be his duty, upon discovering the same, to suspend further proceedings therein and certify the cause forthwith to the Court of First Instance. The jurisdiction of a justice of the peace shali not extend to civil actions in which the subject of litigation is not capable of pecuniary estimation, except in forcible entry and detainer cases; nor to those which involve the legality of any tax, impost or assessment; nor to actions involving admiralty or maritime 15 § 2229, Compilation Acts of the Philippine Commission 1908, Part VIII. the Judiciary, Title 39, Ch. 209. U. S. v. Tan Bauco, 4 Phil. Rep. 325. 16 § 2234, Compilation Acts of the Philippine Commission 1908, Part VIII. the Judiciary, Title 39, Ch. 210. 18 jurisdiction; nor to matters of probate, the appointment of guarelia ns, trustees, or receivers; nor to actions for annulment of mariage. 17 "The territorial jurisdiction of a justice of the peace, except in the case of ex officio justices and in other speciza 1 cases provided by existing law, shall be coextensive with his municipality, and the civil process of his court shall not run beyond the same except to summon a defendant impleaded with one who resides and has been served therein as provided in section twenty-four hundred and seventy-nine hereof. Arcible entry and detainer actions shall be brought in the nicipality where the subject-matter thereof is situated. All other proceedings shall be instituted in the municipality wherein a defendant resides or may be served with summons. "Just i‹-es of the peace, except in the city of Manila, shall have original jurisdiction to try parties charged with misdemeanors, offenses, and infractions of municipal ordinances, arising within the nunicipality, in which the penalty provided by law does not exceed six months' imprisonment or a fine of two hundred pesos, or both such imprisonment and fine." 19 "Concurrent jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the justices of the peace for the municipalities of Iloilo and Buenavista over causes arising in the barrio now known as Sanao, on the Island of Guimaras, in the Province of Iloilo, anything in existing law contrary notwithstanding: Provided, however, That the justice of the peace first acquiring jurisdiction over any cause have exclusive jurisdiction thereof." 20 "The governor to the shall of the of the of the Province of Palawan is hereby made ex officio justice. peace with authority to perform all the duties of a justice. peace throughout the whole of the Province of Palawan. His jurisdiction as justice of the peace shall be concurrent in municipality and in every part of said province with of the proper justice of the peace of the municipality. every that 19 § 2239, Compilation Acts of the Philippine Commission 1908, Part VIII. the Judiciary, Title 39, Ch. 210. 20 $ 2240, Compilation Acts of the Philippine Commission 1908, Part VIII. the Judiciary, Title 39, Ch. The fees that would accrue to a justice of the peace shall, in all cases where the provincial governor acts as justice of the peace, be covered into the treasury of the province for the general purposes of the province." 21 "The governor of the Province of Mindoro is hereby made ex officio justice of the peace with authority to perform all the duties of a justice of the peace throughout the whole of the Province of Mindoro. His jurisdiction as justice of the peace shall be concurrent in every municipality and in every part of said province with that of the proper justice of the peace of the municipality. The fees that would accrue to a justice of the peace shall, in all cases where the provincial governor acts as justice of the peace, be covered into the treasury of the province for the general purposes of the province. "The Governor-General is authorized, with the advice and approval of the Philippine Commission, to appoint a justice of the peace and auxiliary justice of the peace, from time to time, for the Island of Basilan, notwithstanding said island has been included within the municipality of Zamboanga by Act Numbered Twenty-one of the legislative council of the Moro Province. The justice of the peace and auxiliary justice of the peace appointed by virtue of this section shall have jurisdiction throughout the Island of Basilan to the same extent and with the same effect as though the Island of Basilan constituted a regular municipality. The justice of the peace and auxiliary justice of the peace for the municipality of Zamboanga shall not have jurisdiction within the Island of Basilan." 23 >> 22 "The commission has also passed statutes regulating the practice in these courts in civil 24 and criminal procedure.25 The power to enact such legislation is given by the Act of July 1, 1902.26 21 § 2241, Compilation Acts of the Philippine Commission 1908, Part VIII. the Judiciary, Title 39, Ch. 210. 22 § 2242, Compilation Acts of the Philippine Commission 1908, Part VIII. the Judiciary, Title 39, Ch. 210. 23 § 2443, Compilation Acts of the Philippine Commission 1908, Part VIII. the Judiciary, Title 39, Ch. 210. 24 Ibid. Title 41, chaps. 29-275, §§ 2403, 3248. 25 Ibid. Title 42, chaps. 276–290, § 3249, 3375. 26 39 St. at L. 691, 695; unchanged in this respect by Act of "The Act of February 6, 1905, after providing for the guarantee by the Philippine Government of the payment of interest on certain railroad bonds and of the security for the same by lien upon the railroad and the company's other property, subsequent to the mortgage, under which the bonds were issued, continues "The Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction in all actions, proceedings or suits at law or in equity brought by the Philippine government against any person or corporation involving the construction of this section or any right existing under, duty enjoined, or act prohibited by said section or any contract made in pursuance thereof; and jurisdiction is hereby vested in the supreme court to make such order, to enter such judgment or decree and to take such proceedings in enforcement thereof as may be proper. During the vacations of said court the chief justice or any judge thereof shall have all the power to grant restraining orders, orders of injunction, to appoint receivers, or to do any other act under authority herein granted, that a judge of a court of general jurisdiction may do in the vacation of court." 27 It also has jurisdiction to determine adverse claims to land.28 The Constitution of the United States does not guarantee to the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands the right to trial by jury. 29 It has been said that this right cannot exist until these Islands have been by Congress formally incorporated into the United States, 30 § 73. Jurisdiction of the United States Court for China. The United States Court for China has exclusive jurisdiction in all cases and judicial proceedings whereof jurisdiction might on June 30th, 1906,1 "be exercised by Unted States consuls and ministers by law and by virtue of treaties between the United States and China, except in so far as the said jurisdiction is qualified by section two of this act. The said court February 6, 1905, Ch. 453, 33 St. at L. 689, 691. Quoted supra, note 2. 27 Ch. 453, 84, 33 St. at L. 689, 691. 28 Ibid. § 39. 29 Dorr v. U. S., 195 U. S. 138, 24 Sup. Ct. 808, 49 L. ed. 129. 30 Dorr v. U. S., 195 U. S. 138, 149, 24 Sup. Ct. 808, 49 L. ed. 129. $ 73. 1 This jurisdiction is shown in U. S. R. S., §§ 4083-4130, quoted infra, $74, and the treaties with China of Dec. 31, 1846, by Malley's Treaties, I, 196. |