US vs Bull

15 Phil 7/ G.R No. L-5270 January 15, 1910

Facts:
On December 2, 1908, a steam vessel known as the steamship Standard, commanded by
H.N. Bull
docketed into Manila. The said vessel from Ampieng, Formosa transported 677 head of
cattle and
carabaos, without providing suitable means for securing the said animals white in
transit which
resulted for most of the animals to be cruelly wounded or killed.

The cruelty and mishandling of the animals is said to be contrary to the Acts No.
55 and No. 275
of the Philippines Commission. It was contented that the information is
insufficient because it does
not state that the court was sitting at a port where the cattle were disembarked,
or that the offense
was committed on board a vessel registered and licensed under the laws of the
Philippines Islands

Issue:
Wheteher or not the court had jurisdiction over an offense committed on board a
foreign ship while
inside the territorial waters of the Philippines

Ruling:
.When a vessel reach within 3 miles of a line drawn from the headlines which
embrace the entrance
of Manilya Bay, the said vessel was within territorial waters and thus, the
Philippine law applies. A
crime committed on board a Norwegian vessel sailing thru the Philippine is within
the jurisdiction
of the courts of the Philippines as long as the illegal conditions existed during
the time the ship
was within territorial waters. Regardless of the fact that the same conditions
existed when the ship
settled from the foreign port and while it was on high seas. The defendant was
found guilty and
sentenced to pay a fine of two hundred and fifty pesos with subsidiary imprisonment
in case of
insolvency, and to pay the cost.