ManilaFIRST
DIVISION
THE
UNITED STATES,
Complainant-Appellee,
G.
R.
No. 1
October
18, 1901
-versus-
MANUEL
SY-TAY,
Defendant-Appellant.
D
E C I S I
O N
WILLARD,
J :
In
this motion, the moving
party prays the court to dismiss the appeal from the judgment of the
Court
of First Instance of Manila. The accused was tried for seduction in the
court of the justice of the peace of Binondo, and judgment of
conviction
was there rendered against him. He appealed from this judgment to the
Court
of First Instance of Manila, which took cognizance of the case on
appeal
and gave judgment affirming the judgment of the justice of the peace.
From
this judgment an appeal to this court was admitted.
The motion must be
granted. Section 43 of General Orders No. 58, permits an appeal in this
class of cases only when there is involved the constitutionality or
validity
of a law. The accused alleges that General Orders No. 58, is a law in
force;
that the said order repealed the Spanish Code of Criminal Procedure,
and
that he should have been tried in accordance with the provisions of
said
general order. The question whether one law repeals another is not a
question
that involves the validity of the law which is alleged to have been
repealed,
within the meaning of the exception. This exception refers only to
those
cases in which it is contended that a law was invalid from the time of
its passage. In the present case there is no such contention. It
results
that all of the questions which are sought to be presented by means of
this appeal were determined by the judgment of the Court of First
Instance,
and that in accordance with the provisions of Section 43 of the
abovementioned
General Orders No. 58, the said judgment is final and of such character
that it can not be the subject of review in this court.
WHEREFORE, the motion
of the appellee is granted and the cause is remanded to the Court of
First
Instance, whence it has proceeded, for its action in accordance
herewith,
with the costs de oficio.
Arellano, C.J.,
Torres, Cooper, Mapa and Ladd, JJ., concur. |