G.R. No. 2733. March 27, 1906.

THE UNITED STATES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. NICOLAS ARCEO, Defendant-Appellant.

Alfredo Chicote, for Appellant.

Solicitor-General Araneta, for Appellee.

SYLLABUS

1. JURISDICTION; JUDGES AND COURTS. Jurisdiction is the power conferred by law upon a court or judge
to take cognizance of a case, to the exclusion of all other courts.

2. ORGANIZATION OF COURTS; COURTS OF FIRST INSTANCE. Courts of justice shall be maintained in

very province in which civil government has been or shall be organized, as well as in the city of Manila.
(Secs. 1, 48, and 49 of the Organic Act, No. 136.)

3. JUDICIAL DISTRICTS. Act No. 140 provides that the city of Manila shall constitute one judicial district
and that the other 14 districts shall severally consist of the provinces and islands of the Archipelago as
stated in said act.

4. JURISDICTION; LIMITS. The judge presiding over the Court of First Instance of a district shall exercise
his jurisdiction within the territorial limits of his province, and no farther. He can not assume jurisdiction
over a case the cognizance of which pertains to another court.

5. ID.; CRIMINAL CASES. All criminal cases shall be tried at the place designated by law for the holding of
the regular sessions of the proper court. (Sec. 6, Act No. 140.)

6. ID.; PLACE OF COMMISSION OF CRIME. It is a general principle of law that the place where a crime is
committed is the first thin to be ascertained in determining the jurisdiction of judge or court.

7. JUDICIAL DISTRICTS; BOUNDARIES; INFERENCE. Judicial divisions and boundaries of provinces and
districts are always fixed by law, so that any changes or alteration of the same can only be effected by
express legislative enactment and not by mere inference or deduction.

8. JURISDICTION; CITY OF MANILA; COURTS OF FIRST INSTANCE OF MANILA AND PROVINCE OF RIZAL.
The enlargement of the administrative jurisdiction of the city of Manila for police not change or modify the
provisions of Act No. 140 in regard to the jurisdiction and territorial limits of the Court of First Instance of
the city of Manila and the Province of Rizal.

9. ID.; CRIMINAL CASES; NULLITY; PROCEEDINGS. Proceedings had in a criminal case before a judge
acting without jurisdiction are void, but this fact will not preclude the filing of a new complaint upon the
dismissal of the former prosecution. (Sec. 23 of General Orders, No. 58.)

DECISION

TORRES, J. :

In a written complaint dated October 15, 1903, Nicolas Arceo Tanuco was charged by the assistant
prosecuting attorney of the city of Manila with the crime of illegal marriage. The complaint as filed sets forth
the following facts : That on or about May 1, 1901, the defendant, being the legal husband of one
Tranquilina Arcilia, willfully and illegally did enter into a second matrimonial bond with one Teodora de Guia
in the Province of Rizal within the police and court jurisdiction of Manila, the former matrimonial bond not
having been legally dissolved at the time.

The case having been tried upon the said complaint, it was shown, especially by the documentary evidence
introduced and which forms a part of the record, that according to a certificate of marriage (fol. 20) signed
by the pastor of the church at Bacolor, Pampanga, the defendant, Nicolas Arceo, did marry Tranquilina
Arcilia on February 3, 1897, in accordance with the rites of the Roman Catholic Church. The ceremony was
performed by Gregorio Dizon, a priest, in the presence of witnesses, in the parochial church of said pueblo
of Bacolor.

It was further shown that, according to a certificate signed by the secretary to the archbishop of Manila,
attached to the record (fol. 37), by a decree dated April 29, 1901, signed by the archbishop, the last two
banns were ordered suppressed at the request of the defendant in order to expedite his marriage with
Teodora de Guia, and in view also of the report from the pastor of Tambobong, which stated that the first
ban proclaimed in his church met with no opposition. The certificate further sets forth that the defendant
appeared before the pastor at Tambobong and declared that he was unmarried.

By virtue of said decree from the archbishop of Manila, the defendant was married on the 1st of May, 1901,
to Teodora de Guia, in accordance with a the rites of the Roman Catholic Church and in the presence of
witnesses in the church of Tambobong. The defendant signed the marriage papers as an unmarried man
(fol. 21), as testified by the Rev. Mateo Evangelista.

It was thus proved that the defendant did enter into a second marriage with Teodora de Guia while his first
wife, Tranquilina Arcilla, still lived (for. 98 of the record); that the marriage ceremony took place in the
pueblo of Tambobong, which is now included in the Province of Rizal, but formerly was part of the city of
Manila.

Assuming that article 471 of the Penal Code has been violated, and considering that the crime was
committed in the pueblo of Tambobong, which is now included in the territory of Rizal Province, the first
point to be determined is whether or not the judge who presided at the trial had jurisdiction to try the case.
The defense raised this point and questioned the right of the Court of First Instance of Manila to hear and
determine this case.

The decision of this court in the case of the United States v. C. M. Jenkins 1 (4 Off. Gaz., 523), wherein it
was held that the Court of First Instance of the city of Manila had no jurisdiction over crimes committed in
the Province of Rizal and within the 5-mile limit, as fixed by section 3 of Act No. 183, for police purposes,
has definitely settled the question of jurisdiction. The proceedings had in the lower court therefore void.

It is a general principle of law that the place where a crime is committed should be first ascertained in order
to determine the jurisdiction of the court of judge.

Act No. 140 fixes the territorial jurisdiction of the various courts of the Islands, including the Court of First
Instance of Manila. Although Act No. 183, section 3, extended the jurisdiction of the city government to a
radius of 5 miles for police purposes, it was never intended to confer upon the Court of First Instance of the
city of Manila jurisdiction over it. No other view can be taken, since Act No. 183, section 3, does not amend
or modify the jurisdiction of the courts prescribed in Act No. 140.

Any change in the territorial jurisdiction of a court enlarging or restricting the same can never be established
by mere deduction or inference. Judicial divisions and boundaries of provinces and districts are always fixed
by law. So that alterations of such boundaries can only be made in express terms by the legislative body.
Nothing to this effect is contained in Act No. 183, section 3, amending Act No. 140; therefore it is the
opinion of this court that the judgment of the court below should be, and it is hereby, set aside and the case
dismissed with costs de oficio.

It is also ordered that, in the event of the filing of a new complaint, the judge of the Court of First Instance
of Rizal shall proceed in accordance with law.

The court below and the Solicitor-General shall be notified of this decision and the record returned to the
interior court with a certified copy of this opinion and of the judgment to be entered in accordance herewith
for its execution. So ordered.

Arellano, C.J., Mapa, Johnson, Carson, Willard, and Tracey, JJ., concur.