Name a ground to quash an Information.

• A. The court trying the case has no jurisdiction over the offense charged or the accused
• B. The facts charged do not constitute an offense
• C. The officer who filed the Information had no authority to file it
• D. The information does not conform substantially to the prescribed form

Answer: (A)

A ground to quash an Information is that the court trying the case has no jurisdiction over the offense charged or the accused. Jurisdiction is what gives a court the power to hear a particular case and impose a penalty. If the information is filed in a court that lacks authority over the offense or over the person charged, the information is void from the start and the case cannot proceed. This makes it the most decisive basis for quashing because without proper jurisdiction, everything else—form, sufficiency, or even whether the facts amount to a crime—cannot salvage proceedings that the court is not empowered to conduct.

The other points describe defects in how the charge is framed or charged facts that may be amendable or require different remedies, but they do not strike at the court’s authority in the same fundamental way as lack of jurisdiction.