PHILIPPINE COURT SYSTEM

Review Courts

Supreme Court
Court of Appeals

Trial Courts

Regional Trial Court

Provincial Regional Trial Court
Metro Manila Regional Trial Court
Metropolitan Trial Court
Municipal Trial Court
Municipal Circuit Trial Court

Special Courts

Court of Tax Appeals

Sandiganbayan

JURISDICTION

The case of Zamora vs. CA (183 SCRA 279) defines jurisdiction as "the power to hear, try and decide a case."
If the court has no jurisdiction, the case isn't in its control. While jurisdiction is the power to hear and
decide a case, procedure is the manner or process of hearing and deciding a case. There are 4 kinds of
jurisdiction:

1.) As to cases tried: General (all cases) and limited (specific cases.)
2.) As to nature of cause: Original (where the case began) and appellate (when brought to a higher court for
review; higher courts won't entertain problems unless the lower courts can't solve them first -but there are
exceptions, like habeas corpus.)
3.) As to extent of exercise: Exclusive (limited to a particular court) and concurrent (when different courts
can try the same subject matter at the same time and place; the court whose jurisdiction was first called on
takes over the case and the other courts won't touch it.)
4.) As to situs: territorial (limited to the area) and extra-territorial (extends beyond the territorial limits.)

Jurisdiction falls into 2 groups: civil and criminal. The kinds of jurisdiction have their respective places
within the 2 groups. ex. Family courts, Sandiganbayan etc.) For jurisdiction of the court to be valid it must
have jurisdiction over the parties to the case, jurisdiction over the subject matter (it must be mentioned in
the complaint,) jurisdiction over the res (property) and jurisdiction over the issue.
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

Original jurisdiction determines which court will hear a case first. In this article, we'll go over the original
jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, federal courts, and state and local courts.

Definition
When you were a child, did you ever do something bad and knew you had to confess to your parents? If you
were like most children, you probably knew which of your parents was the most lenient and consequently the one to
first tell what happened. By strategically going to this parent, your hope was the overall punishment would be less.
In this example, you were deciding which parent you wanted to have the original jurisdiction over your
punishment. In the legal world, the original jurisdiction of a case refers to the court which first hears a case. But unlike
our example where you got to pick who heard your case, most of the time you are not allowed to pick which court has
original jurisdiction. The original jurisdiction is contrasted with appellate jurisdiction, which is the court that hears a
case when a verdict is appealed.
In this article, we will look at the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, how original jurisdiction is determined in
federal courts, and how original jurisdiction is determined in state and local courts.

Original Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court

Most of the time, the Supreme Court only hears cases that have already had some decision made in a lower
court. For this reason, the Supreme Court is mainly an appellate court. But in section 2 of Article III of the Constitution, it
states that the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in cases involving foreign public ministers, consuls, or
ambassadors, as well as in cases involving two different states.
A recent example of a 1997 case where the Supreme Court had original jurisdiction was the dispute between
New York and New Jersey over whether Liberty Island, home of the Statue of Liberty, is a part of New York or New
Jersey. As you can imagine, the amount of tourist money involved would be a severe boost for either state. The Supreme
Court ruled that New Jersey had control over all artificially-made parts of Liberty Island, and New York had control over
all natural parts of Liberty Island. The ruling actually created more confusion and caused New York and New Jersey to
agree to jointly run the island.

THE MUNICIPAL TRIAL COURTS

Every municipality in the Philippines has its own Municipal Trial Court. It is referred to as such if it covers only
one municipality; otherwise, it is called Municipal Circuit Trial Court if it covers two or more municipalities.

REGIONAL TRIAL COURTS

The Regional Trial Courts are the highest trial courts in the Philippines.
Regional Trial Courts shall exercise original jurisdiction:
(1) In the issuance of writs of certiorari, prohibition, mandamus, quo warranto, habeas corpus and injunction which may
be enforced in any part of their respective regions.
(2) In actions affecting ambassadors and other public ministers and consuls.
The Supreme Court may designate certain branches of the Regional Trial Courts to handle exclusively criminal cases,
juvenile and domestic relations cases, agrarian cases, urban land reform cases which do not fall under the jurisdiction of
quasi-judicial bodies and agencies, and/or such other special cases as the Supreme Court may determine in the interest
of a speedy and efficient administration of justice.
COURT OF APPEALS

The Court of Appeals is the Philippines' second-highest judicial court, just after the Supreme Court. The court
consists of 69 Associate Justices and 1 Presiding Justice. Under the Constitution, the Court of Appeals (CA) "reviews not
only the decisions and orders of the Regional Trial Courts nationwide but also those of the Court of Tax Appeals, as well
as the awards, judgments, final orders or resolutions of, or authorized by 21 Quasi-Judicial Agencies exercising quasi-
judicial functions mentioned in Rule 43 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, plus the National Amnesty Commission
(Pres. Proclamation No. 347 of 1994) and Office of the Ombudsman (Fabian v. Desierto, 295 SCRA 470).

SUPREME COURT
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such
courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, apex court, and highest court of appeal. Broadly
speaking, the decisions of a supreme court are not subject to further review by any other court. Supreme courts typically
function primarily as appellate courts, hearing appeals from decisions of lower trial courts, or from intermediate-level
appellate courts. However, not all highest courts are named as such. Civil law states tend not to have a single highest
court.

SANDIGANG BAYAN

The Sandiganbayan (Filipino; glossed as "people's advocate") is a special appellate collegial court in
the Philippines. The special court was established by Presidential Decree No. 1486, as subsequently modified by
Presidential Decree No. 1606 and by Republic Acts numbered 7975 and 8249. It is equal in rank to the Court of Appeals,
and consists of fourteen Associate Justices and one Presiding Justice.
 How Laws are made ( Illustration and descriptions)
Philippine Court System

submitted by:

Kassandra Gavril Vincent Elizabeth B. Apresto

LLB Section C