Section 87June 17, 1948, Sec./Art. 87

Original jurisdiction to try criminal cases. - Justices of the peace and judges of municipal courts of chartered cities shall have original jurisdiction over:

(a) All violations of municipal or city ordinances committed within their respective territorial jurisdictions;

(b) All offenses in which the penalty provided by law is imprisonment for not more than six months, or a fine of not more than two hundred pesos, or both such fine and imprisonment;

(c) All criminal cases arising under the laws relating to:

(1) Gambling and management or operation of lotteries;

(2) Assaults where the intent to kill is not charged or evident upon the trial;

(3) Larceny, embezzlement and estafa where the amount of money or property stolen, embezzled, or otherwise involved, does not exceed the sum or value of two hundred pesos;

(4) Sale of intoxicating liquors;

(5) Falsely impersonating an officer;

(6) Malicious mischief;

(7) Trespass on Government or private property; and

(8) Threatening to take human life.

Said justices of the peace and judges of municipal courts may also conduct preliminary investigations for any offense alleged to have been committed within their respective municipalities and cities, without regard to the limits of punishment, and may release, or commit and bind over any person charged with such offense to secure his appearance before the proper court.

Justices of the peace in the capitals of provinces may, by assignment of the respective district judge in each case, have like jurisdiction as the Court of First Instance to try parties charged with an offense committed within the province in which the penalty provided by law does not exceed imprisonment for two years and four months, or a fine of two thousand pesos, or both such imprisonment and fine, and, in the absence of the district judge, shall have like jurisdiction within the province as the Court of First Instance to hear applications for bail.