Us vs Look Chaw

Facts
11pm-12pm, aug 18-19, 1909, messrs, jacks and milliron, chief of the department of
port of cebu and internal revenue agent went on board erroll, a English ship, to
searcg tge cargo. Two sacs of opium were found, onein a cabin near the saloon, and
the other in the hold, of which the defendant freely admitted possession over.
Defendant also admitted freely that it came from hiong kong and to be sold at
mexico or vera cruz
Upon continuting the investigation,the chief of the department of cebu, found
another can in the room were the firemen slept, these were allegedly taken by the
first mate, to be returned after they had left manila, as permitted by the mania
custom house
Another can was also obtained from the secret service agent, who allegedly
obtained the can from the defendant.
Other details of the cans
There were 129 cans of opium in the sacs, 80 from the one found near the saloon,
and 49 from the hold.
The round cans were bought from hongkong at php 3 and the rest at 5.
On the 15th the accused allegedly, landed and sold opium in cebu
Fiscal moved that the maximum period was to be imposed on account of the
quantity of the opium
Defense raised by the accused was lack of jurisdiction to try the crime
Court found accused guilty and sentenced him to imprisonment of 5 years and a
fine of 10,000
Issue:
Do we have jurisdiction for a crime committed on board a foreign merchant vessel
in transit for the possession of opium ?
Held:
Yes, although the general rule is that, mere possession of the thing of prohibited use
in transit, as a general rule, is not a triable offense, because such crime are
committed on board a foreign merchant ship concerns only the internal affairs of the
boat, and , being of merely internal nature, we do not take cognizance of the case,
as we apply the English rule.however, this does not apply if the thing is landed

which would be in open violation of our law.

penalty was modified to 6 months imprisonment and 1k fine