CRIMPRO

Question 1

A Criminal action is judicially commenced by the?

Answer 1

Filing of a criminal complaint or information and that such complaint or information is much more than a mere written accusation.

Question 2

Complaint vs Information

Answer 2

Complaint is a sworn written statement subscribed by the persons mentioned in the Rules, while an information is a written accusation subscribed by the prosecutor

Question 3

Conferred by law means

Answer 3

This means that it is the law, not the Rules of Court, which designates the court which has jurisdiction over a particular offense.

Question 4

An arrest is legitimate, of course, if effected by virtue of a warrant of arrest. Even without a warrant, an arrest may also be lawfully made by a peace officer or a private person:5

Answer 4

(a) when, in his presence, the person to be arrested has committed is actually committing, or is attempting to commit an offense;

(b) When an offense has in fact just been committed, and he has personal knowledge of facts indicating that the person to be arrested has committed it; and

(c) When the person to be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped from a penal establishment or place where he is serving final judgment or temporarily confined while his case is pending, or has escaped while being transferred from one confinement to another.

Question 5

Probable cause has been defined as

Answer 5

Probable cause has been defined as such facts and circumstances which could lead a reasonable, discreet and prudent man to believe that an offense has been committed, and that the objects sought in connection with the offense are in the place sought to be searched. The required probable cause that will justify a warrantless search and seizure is not determined by any fixed formula but is resolved according to the facts of each case.9

Question 6

Monte v. Savellano, Jr., 287 SCRA 245, enumerates the requirements of due process in a criminal proceeding, to wit:

Answer 6

a) that the court or tribunal trying the case is properly clothed with judicial power to hear and determine the matter before it;
(b) that jurisdiction is lawfully acquired by it over the person of the accused;
(c) that the accused is given opportunity to be heard; and
(d) that judgment is rendered only upon lawful hearing.

Question 7

A. Requisites For The Exercise of Criminal Jurisdiction
Requisites
A reading of jurisprudence and treatises on the matter discloses the following basic requisites before a court can acquire jurisdiction over criminal cases (Cruz v. Court of Appeals, 388 SCRA 72):

Answer 7

(a) Jurisdiction over the subject matter;
(b) Jurisdiction over the territory; and
(c) Jurisdiction over the person of the accused.

Question 8

Jurisdiction over the subject matter versus jurisdiction over the person of the accused

Answer 8

1. Jurisdiction over the subject matter refers to the authority of the court to hear and determine a particular criminal case. One case, Antiporda, Jr. v. Garchitorena, 321 SCRA 551, mandates that the offense is one which the court is by law authorized to take cognizance of.
2. Jurisdiction over the person of the accused refers to the authority of the court, not over the subject matter of the criminal litigation, but over the person charged. This kind of jurisdiction requires that “the person charged with the offense must have been brought in to its forum for trial, forcibly by warrant of arrest or upon** his voluntary submission to the court**” (Antiporda v. Garchitorena, 321 SCRA 551; Cruz v. Court of Appeals, 388 SCRA 72; Cojuangco v. Sandiganbayan, 300 SCRA 367).

Question 9

“Criminal Jurisdiction”

Answer 9

is necessarily the authority to hear and try a particular offense and impose the punishment for it. 6