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    PP V Wong Cheng Digest

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    Santiago Andres Laigo
    This case involves a man named Wong Cheng who was accused of illegally smoking opium aboard a British merchant vessel anchored in Manila Bay within Philippine territorial waters. The key issue is whether Philippine courts have jurisdiction over crimes committed on foreign merchant vessels within Philippine waters. The court rules that they do have jurisdiction, as smoking opium within Philippine territory disturbs public order, even if done aboard a foreign ship. The court follows the English rule of territorial jurisdiction rather than the French rule of not prosecuting crimes on foreign ships unless they affect territorial security.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    PP V Wong Cheng Digest

    Uploaded by

    Santiago Andres Laigo
    35 views2 pages
    This case involves a man named Wong Cheng who was accused of illegally smoking opium aboard a British merchant vessel anchored in Manila Bay within Philippine territorial waters. The key issue is whether Philippine courts have jurisdiction over crimes committed on foreign merchant vessels within Philippine waters. The court rules that they do have jurisdiction, as smoking opium within Philippine territory disturbs public order, even if done aboard a foreign ship. The court follows the English rule of territorial jurisdiction rather than the French rule of not prosecuting crimes on foreign ships unless they affect territorial security.

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    Pp v Wong Cheng Digest

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    This case involves a man named Wong Cheng who was accused of illegally smoking opium aboard a British merchant vessel anchored in Manila Bay within Philippine territorial waters. The key issue is whether Philippine courts have jurisdiction over crimes committed on foreign merchant vessels within Philippine waters. The court rules that they do have jurisdiction, as smoking opium within Philippine territory disturbs public order, even if done aboard a foreign ship. The court follows the English rule of territorial jurisdiction rather than the French rule of not prosecuting crimes on foreign ships unless they affect territorial security.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    35 views2 pages

    PP V Wong Cheng Digest

    Uploaded by

    Santiago Andres Laigo
    This case involves a man named Wong Cheng who was accused of illegally smoking opium aboard a British merchant vessel anchored in Manila Bay within Philippine territorial waters. The key issue is whether Philippine courts have jurisdiction over crimes committed on foreign merchant vessels within Philippine waters. The court rules that they do have jurisdiction, as smoking opium within Philippine territory disturbs public order, even if done aboard a foreign ship. The court follows the English rule of territorial jurisdiction rather than the French rule of not prosecuting crimes on foreign ships unless they affect territorial security.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    People v.

    Wong Cheng
    G.R. No. L-18924
    October 19, 1922
    ROMUALDEZ, J.:

    DOCTRINE OF THE CASE:

     There are two fundamental rules on this particular matter in


    connection with International Law; to wit, the French rule,
    according to which crimes committed aboard a foreign
    merchant vessels should not be prosecuted in the courts of
    the country within whose territorial jurisdiction they were
    committed, unless their commission affects the peace and
    security of the territory; and the English rule, based on the
    territorial principle and followed in the United States,
    according to which, crimes perpetrated under such
    circumstances are in general triable in the courts of the
    country within territory they were committed. Of this two
    rules, it is the last one that obtains in this jurisdiction, because
    at present the theories and jurisprudence prevailing in the
    United States on this matter are authority in the Philippines
    which is now a territory of the United States.

    FACTS:

    Appellee is accused of having illegally smoked opium, aboard the


    merchant vessel Changsa of English nationality while said vessel
    was anchored in Manila Bay two and a half miles from the shores
    of the city.
    The Attorney-General urges the revocation of the order of the
    Court of First Instance of Manila, sustaining the demurrer
    presented by the defendant to the information that initiated this
    case.

    ISSUE:

    Whether the courts of the Philippines have jurisdiction over crime


    committed aboard merchant vessels anchored in our jurisdiction
    waters

    RULING:

    Yes.

    As a rule, no court of the Philippine Islands had jurisdiction over


    an offense or crime committed on the high seas or within the
    territorial waters of any other country.

    We have seen that the mere possession of opium aboard a


    foreign vessel in transit was held by this court not triable by or
    courts, because it being the primary object of our Opium Law to
    protect the inhabitants of the Philippines against the disastrous
    effects entailed by the use of this drug, its mere possession in
    such a ship, without being used in our territory, does not being
    about in the said territory those effects that our statute
    contemplates avoiding. Hence such a mere possession is not
    considered a disturbance of the public order.

    But to smoke opium within our territorial limits, even though


    aboard a foreign merchant ship, is certainly a breach of the public
    order here established, because it causes such drug to produce
    its pernicious effects within our territory.

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