Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/234/91
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 22:44:16+00:00

Document:
Argued: March 12 and 13, 1914.
Messrs. William R. Harr and Clement L. Bouv e for plaintiffs in error.
On November 5, 1908, an information was filed in the court of first instance of the city of Manila, charging plaintiffs in error, with others, as editors, proprietors, owners, directors, writers, managers, administrators, printers, and publishers of the newspaper 'El Renacimiento,' with publishing in that city a libel against Dean C. Worcester, then a member of the Philippine Commission. The information was subscribed and sworn to by the acting prosecuting attorney, and appended to it, and likewise sworn to by him, was the following declaration: 'A preliminary investigation has been conducted under my direction, having examined the witnesses under oath, in accordance with the provisions of § 39 of act 183 (Manila charter), as amended by § 2 of act 612 of the Philippine Commission.' Both affidavits were made before the judge of the court of first instance, who thereupon issued warrants of arrest, pursuant to which the parties accused were on the same day brought before the court. The information was read to them, and the court allowed them until November 7th to answer. Their attorney, being present, asked that they be furnished with a copy of the information, which request was granted, and a copy was delivered to each of the accused. Thereafter, and on November 7th, before entering any demurrer or answer, they moved to vacate the order of arrest, upon the ground that it was made without any preliminary investigation held by the court, and without any tribunal, was probable cause to believe the defendants having first determined that the alleged crime had been committed, and that there was provable cause to believe the defendants guilty of it; the procedure adopted being, as was claimed, in violation of §§ 12 and 13 of General Orders, No. 58, issued by the military governor April 23, 1910, and of paragraphs 1, 3, 11, and 18 of § 5 of the Philippines bill, enacted by the Congress of the United States on July 1, 1902; and it was insisted that § 2 of act No. 612 of the Philippine Commission, which took from accused persons in the city of Manila the right to a preliminary investigation, was contrary to the cited paragraphs of the Philippines bill, because it provided that accused persons in that city might be deprived of their liberty without due process of law, denied to the inhabitants of that city the equal protection of the law, deprived persons detained there to answer for a criminal offense of the 'proper judicial proceedings,' and violated the guaranty against arbitrary detention.
Defendants then asked the court to hold a preliminary investigation before calling upon them to either demur to or answer the complaint. This motion being denied, demurrers were filed, which were overruled, and the defendants were called upon to plead to the information. They stood mute, and a plea of not guilty was entered for each of them. Upon their request, separate trials were granted. Ocampo was found guilty, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment and to pay a fine of 2,000 pesos and one fifth of the costs of the action. Kalaw was also found guilty, and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment and to pay a fine of 3,000 pesos and one fifth of the costs. Upon their writ of error, the supreme court of the Philippine Islands affirmed the judgment as to Ocampo, and modified the sentence imposed upon Kalaw so as to increase the period of his imprisonment to twelve months. 18 Philippine, 1. The present writ of error was then sued out.
'See 5. That no law shall be enacted in said islands which shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law or deny to any person therein the equal protection of the laws.
* * * * * 'That no person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense without due process of law; . . .
Section 44 provided for two justices of the peace for the city of Manila, to exercise within the city the civil jurisdiction conferred upon justices of the peace in act No. 136; but they were debarred from exercising any criminal jurisdiction, such jurisdiction within the city being confined to courts of first instance and the municipal courts.
Section 5 of the act of Congress contains no specific requirement of a presentment or indictment by grand jury, such as is contained in the 5th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. And in this respect the Constitution does not, of its own force, apply to the Islands. Hawaii v. Mankichi, 190 U. S. 197, 47 L. ed. 1016, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 787, 12 Am. Crim. Rep. 465; Dorr v. United States, 195 U. S. 138, 49 L. ed. 128, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 808, 1 Ann. Cas. 697; Dowdell v. United States, 221 U. S. 325, 332, 55 L. ed. 753, 757, 31 Sup. Ct. Rep. 590.
That the requirement of an indictment by grand jury is not included within the guaranty of 'due process of law' is, of course, well settled. Hurtado v. California, 110 U. S. 516, 28 L. ed. 232, 4 Sup. Ct. Rep. 111, 292; McNulty v. California, 149 U. S. 645, 37 L. ed. 882, 13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 959; Dowdell v. United States, 221 U. S. 325, 332, 55 L. ed. 753, 757, 31 Sup. Ct. Rep. 590; Lem Woon v. Oregon, 229 U. S. 586, 589, 57 L. ed. 1340, 1341, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 783, and cases cited.
And see Hayes v. Missouri, 120 U. S. 68, 72, 30 L. ed. 578, 580, 7 Sup. Ct. Rep. 350; Chappell Chemical & Fertilizer Co. v. Sulphur Mines Co. 172 U. S. 474, 43 L. ed. 520, 19 Sup. Ct. Rep. 268; Mallett v. North Carolina, 181 U. S. 589, 598, 45 L. ed. 1015, 1020, 21 Sup. Ct. Rep. 730, 15 Am. Crim. Rep. 241.
It is, however, further contended that act No. 612 only undertakes to deny to the inhabitants of the city the right to a preliminary investigation when the prosecuting attorney sees fit to conduct an ex parte examination, and that it does not cover the subject of probable cause for the arrest of the accused, or affect the right accorded by §§ 12 and 13 of General Orders, No. 58, and by that paragraph of § 5 of the act of Congress of July 1, 1902, which declares 'that no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation.' In overruling this contention the supreme court of the Philippine Islands followed its previous rulings in United States v. Wilson, 4 Philippine, 317, 322; United States v. McGovern, 6 Philippine, 621, 623; United States v. Raymundo, 14 Philippine, 416, 436.
The evidence abundantly supports the conclusion of the courts below that Coampo was the administrator, manager, and one of the owners of the newspaper known as 'El Renacimiento,' and there was no error in holding him to be a proprietor within the meaning of § 6.
Finally, it is contended that the supreme court of the Philippines had no jurisdiction to increase the punishment of Kalaw. The court was established by act No. 136 of the Philippine Commission (June 11, 1901), with original and appellate jurisdiction. By § 18 it was given appellate jurisdiction over the courts of first instance; and by § 39 it was enacted that 'the existing audiencia or supreme court is hereby abolished, and the supreme court provided by this act is substituted in place thereof.' It is in effect conceded that under the Spanish system the courts of first instance were deemed examining courts, having a sort of preliminary jurisdiction, and that their judgments of conviction or acquittal were not final until the case had been passed upon in the audiencia or supreme court. But it is contended that this was so far changed by General Orders, No. 58, §§ 42, 43, 44, and 50, and by act No. 194 of the Philippine Commission, § 4 (August 10, 1901), that the judgments of the court of first instance are final unless an appeal be taken. And so it was held, with respect to cases other than capital, in Kepner v. United States, 195 U. S. 100, 121, 49 L. ed. 114, 121, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 797, 1 Ann. Cas. 655. But this does not settle the question of the jurisdiction of the supreme court of the Islands where an appeal is taken. In the acts referred to, the right of the government, as well as of the defendant, to appeal from the judgment in a criminal case, was recognized. In the Kepner Case it was held that § 5 of the act of Congress of July 1, 1902, in declaring that 'no person for the same offense shall be twice put in jeopardy of punishment,' prevented an appeal by the government from a judgment of acquittal in the court of first instance. But in Trono v. United States, 199 U. S. 521, 50 L. ed. 292, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 121, 4 Ann. Cas. 773, where the defendants appealed from a judgment of the court of first instance, which, upon an indictment for murder, had found them guilty of the lower crime of homicide, it was held the supreme court of the Islands had power to reverse the judgment and find the accused guilty of the higher crime of murder; distinguishing the Kepner Case. In Flemister v. United States, 207 U. S. 372, 52 L. ed. 252, 28 Sup. Ct. Rep. 129, a judgment of the insular supreme court, increasing the sentence imposed by the court of first instance, was affirmed. See also Dowdell v. United States, 221 U. S. 325, 327, 55 L. ed. 753, 756, 31 Sup. Ct. Rep. 590; Pico v. United States, 228 U. S. 225, 230, 57 L. ed. 812, 814, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 482. In short, the appellate jurisdiction of the supreme court of the Philippine Islands in criminal cases is not confined to mere errors of law, but extends to a review of the whole case. And such is the settled practice of that court. United States v. Abijan, 1 Philippine, 83, 85; United States v. Atienza, 1 Philippine, 736, 738.

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