Practice question
A competent court validly hears the charge. The proved lawful individual sentence is less than the statutory maximum used in allocating original jurisdiction. A party says that difference alone retrospectively proves the court never had authority. Which is correct?
- Every lower sentence retroactively deletes authority
- The initial prescribed-penalty inquiry and eventual sentence are distinct
- Only identical maximum and actual sentences are lawful
- The parties may declare the court nonexistent
- All mitigation creates a void trial
Legal references
- BP129 Section32 as amended by RA7691 Section2 (criminal allocation, not old civil thresholds): https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1994/ra_7691_1994.html
- GR45815, prescribed penalty rather than sentence ultimately imposed determines criminal subject jurisdiction: https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1990/may1990/gr_45815_1990.html
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