SECTION 1. Courts
always open; justice to be promptly and impartially administered.
-
Courts of justice shall always be open, except on legal holidays, for
the
filing of any pleadings, motion or other papers, for the trial of
cases,
hearing of motions, and for the issuance of orders or rendition of
judgments.
Justice shall be impartially administered without unnecessary delay.chanrobles virtualawlibrary
SEC. 2. Publicity
of proceedings and records. – The sitting of every court of
justice
shall be public, but any court may, in its discretion, exclude the
public
when the evidence to be adduced is of such nature as to require their
exclusion
in the interest of morality or decency. The records of every
court
of justice shall be public records and shall be available for the
inspection
of any interested person, at all proper business hours, under the
supervision
of the clerk having custody of such records, unless the court shall, in
any special case, have forbidden their publicity, in the interest of
morality
or decency.chan robles virtual law library red
SEC. 3. Process
of superior courts enforced throughout the Philippines. -
Process
issued from a superior court in which a case is pending to bring in a
defendant,
or for the arrest of any accused person, or to execute any order or
judgment
of the court, may be enforced in any part of the Philippines.
SEC. 4. Process
of inferior courts. - The process of inferior courts shall be
enforceable within the province where the municipality or city
lies.
It shall not be served outside the boundaries of the province in which
they are comprised except with the approval of the judge of the
Regional
Trial Court of said province, and only in the following cases:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
(a) When an
order
fo the delivery of personal property lying outside the province is to
be
complied with;
(b) When an attachment
of
real or personal property lying outside the province is to be made;chan robles virtual law library red
(c) When the action is
against
two or more defendants residing in different provinces; and
(d) When the place
where
the case has been brought is that specified in a contract in writing
between
the parties, or is the place of the execution of such contract as
appears
therefrom.chan robles virtual law library red
Writs of execution
issued by
inferior courts may be enforced in any part of the Philippines without
any previous approval of the judge of first instance.chanrobles virtualawlibrary
Criminal process may be issued
by a justice of the peace or other inferior court, to be served outside
his province, when the district judge, or in his absence the provincial
fiscal, shall certify that in his opinion the interests of justices
require
such service.chan robles virtual law library red
SEC. 5. Inherent
powers of courts. - Every court shall have power:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
(a) To
preserve
and enforce order in its immediate presence;
(b) To enforce order
in
proceedings before a person or persons empowered to conduct a judicial
investigation under its authority;
(c) To compel
obedience
to its judgments, orders and processes, and to the lawful order of
judge
out of court, in a case pending therein;
(d) To control, in
furtherance
of justice, the conduct of its ministerial officers, and of all other
persons
in any manner connected with a case before it, in every manner
appertaining
thereto;
(e) To compel the
attendance
of persons to testify in a case pending therein;
(f) To administer or
cause
to be administered oaths in a case pending therein, and in all other
cases
where it may be necessary in the exercise of its powers;chan robles virtual law library red
(g) To amend and
control
its process and orders so as to make them comformable to law and
justice;
(h) To authorize copy
of
a lost or destroyed pleading or other paper to be filed and used
instead
of the original, and to restore, and supply deficiencies in its records
and proceedings.
SEC. 6. Means
to carry
jurisdiction into effect. - When by law, jurisdiction is
conferred
on a court or judicial officer, all auxiliary writs, processes and
other
means necessary to carry it into effect may be employed by such court
or
officer; and if the procedure to be followed in the exercise of
such
jurisdiction is not specifically pointed out by law or by these rules,
any suitable process or mode of proceeding may be adopted which appears
conformable to the spirit of said law or rules.chanrobles virtualawlibrary
SEC. 7. Trial and
hearings; orders in chambers. - All trial upon the merits
shall
be conducted in open court and so far as convenient in a regular court
room. All other acts or proceedings may be done or conducted by a
judge in chambers, without the attendance of the clerk or other court
officials.chan robles virtual law library red
SEC. 8. Interlocutory
orders out of province. - A judge of Regional Trial Court
shall
have power to hear and determine, when within the district though
without
his province, any intelocutory motion or issue after due and reasonable
notice to the parties. On the filing of a petition for the writ
of habeas corpus or for release upon bail or reduction of bail
in any
Regional Trial Court, the hearing may be had at any place in the
judicial
district which the judge shall deem convenient.
SEC. 9. Signing
judgments out of province. - Whenever a judge appointed or
assigned
in any province or branch of a Regional Trial Court in a province shall
leave the province by transfer or assignment to another court of equal
jurisdiction, or by expiration of his temporary assignment, without
having
decided a case totally heard by him and which was argued or an
opportunity
given for argument to the parties or their counsel, it shall be lawful
for him to prepare and sign his decision in said case anywhere within
the
Philippines. He shall send the same by registered mail to the
clerk
of the court where the case was heard or argued to be filed therein as
of the date when the same was received by the clerk, in the same manner
as if he had been present in court to direct the filing of the
judgment.
If a case has been only in part, the Supreme Court, upon petition of
any
of the parties to the case and the recommendation of respective
district
judge, may also authorize the judge who has partly heard the case, if
no
other judge had heard the case in part, to continue hearing and to
decide
said case notwithstanding his transfer or appointment to another court
of equal jurisdiction.chanrobles virtualawlibrary
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