CHAPTER 9 Statutes Given Prospective Effect Penal Statutes Are Generally Prospective Article 21 of Revised Penal Code No felony

shall be punishable by any penalty not prescribed by law prior to its commission Art. 366 Revised Penal Code Application of laws enacted prior to this code Without prejudice to the provisions contained in Article 22 of this Code, felonies and misdemeanors shall be punished in accordance with the Code or Acts in force at the time of their Commission

A law which alters the legal rule of evidence and authorizes conviction upon less or different testimony than the law required at the time of the commission of the offense A law which assumes to regulate civil rights and remedies only but imposes a penalty or deprivation of a right for something which when done was lawful A law which deprives a person accused of a crime of some lawful protection to which he has become entitled such protection of a former conviction or acquittal or proclamation of amnesty. Test: Does the law sought to be applied retroactively take from an accused any right that was regarded at the time as vital for the protection of life and liberty?

There is no Crime without a Penalty, and there is no Penalty without a Law Nullum crimen sine poena, nulla poena sine legis

Bill of attainder Is a legislative act which inflicts punishments without judicial trial. Its essence is the substitution of legislative for a judicial determination of guilt. Reason: To confine the legislature to rule-making and thereby forestalling usurpation of judicial functions.

The Law provides for the future, the judge for the past Lex de futuro, judez de praeterito

The Law Looks forward, not backward Lex Prospicit, Non resplicit

Prohibition against Ex Post Facto law and Bill of Attainder 1987 Constitution Article III Section 22 No Ex Post Facto law or Bill of Attainder shall be enacted

Penal Laws applied Retroactively Art. 22 of the Revised Penal Code Penal laws shall have a retroactive effect insofar as they favor the person guilty of a felony, who is not a habitual criminal, as this term is defined in Rule 5 of Article 62 of this Code, although at the time of the publication of such laws a final sentence has been pronounced and the convict is serving the same

Ex Post Facto Law from after the action or after the fact Is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of an act or omission that was committed as well as the relationships that existed before the enactment of the law to the effect of generally making it worse for the accused A law which makes criminal act done before the passage of the law and which was innocent when done and punishes such act. A law which aggravates a crime or makes it greater than it was when committed A law which changes the punishment and inflicts a greater punishment than that annexed to the crime when committed

When are Penal Laws Applied Retroactively Favorable to the Accused When it is favorable to the accused except for habitual criminals considered in Rule 5 of Article 62 Basis Rule founded on the principles of justice: Conscience and good law justify this exception Penal laws which are favorable to the accused are given retroactive effect Favorabilia sunt amplianda, adiosa restringenda

There are two laws affecting the liability of the accused a. One in force at the time of the commission of the crime b. The other enacted during or after the trial of the criminal action Other exceptions to the Rule of Prospective application of Penal Laws 1. Express Provision of the Law 2. Necessarily Implied from the Language of the Law 3. Necessarily Implied from the Legislative Intent 4. When the accused disregards the later law and invokes the prior statute under which he was prosecuted Substantive Law and Procedural Law Substantive Law law which creates defines or regulates rights concerning life, liberty or property, or the powers of agencies or instrumentalities for the administration of public affairs. Procedural Law Prescribes the method of enforcing rights or obtain redress for their invasion

3. In the exercise of police power is intended to apply to pending actions A case must be decided in the light of the law as it exists at the time of the decision by the appellate court Except: 1. It impairs vested rights

Vested Rights A vested right or interest may be said to mean some right or interest in property that has become fixed or established and is no longer open to doubt or controversy

Statutes Affecting Obligations of Contracts Laws are construed against the impairment of contracts Section 10 Article III 1987 Constitution No law impairing the obligation of contracts shall be passed

When can statutes impair the Obligation of contracts? Any law which enlarges, abridges, or in any manner changes the intention of the parties necessarily impairs that contract itself.

Substantive Right = Substantive Law A substantive law may not be construed retroactively without somehow affecting previous or past rights or obligations; hence, it should be given a strict and prospective construction, in the absence of clear, plain and unambiguous intent to the contrary.

Examples of how statutes can impair contracts By postponing or accelerating the period of performance which it prescribes, imposing conditions not expressed in the contract, Dispensing with those which are however minute or apparently immaterial in their effect upon the contract Impairs the obligation

Effects on pending actions A statue which affects substantive rights and not merely procedural matters may not be given retroactive operation so as to govern pending proceedings, in the absence of a clear legislative intent to the contrary -

Statutes given Retroactive effect The general rule is that LAWS HAVE NO RETROACTIVE EFFECT Exception:

Law vesting additional jurisdiction in the court cannot be given retroactive effect Except: 1. Such is the clear intent of the law 2. By the very nature of its purpose as a measure to promote social justice

a. Procedural laws b. Curative laws, which are given retroactive operation.

Procedural laws Adjective laws which prescribe rules and forms of procedure of enforcing or obtaining redress for their invasion. They could be: a. Rules of Procedures of courts b. Rules of pleadings, practice and evidence c. Steps on how a malefactor is to be punished. Such laws applie to all actions, accrued or pending included. Application does not include those cases with rendered judgement or rendered with void judgement.

b. or where to apply it to pending proceedings would impair vested rights or the independence of the courts , or would cause injustice Curative statues Remedial statutes are healing acts. They are remedial by curing defects and adding to the means of enforcing existing obligations Curative statutes are intended to supply defects, abridge superfluities in existing laws, and curb evils.

Reason for curative laws Some statutory disability or irregularity are present, thus such law is to enable a person to carry into effect that which they have designed and intended. Their purpose is to give validity to acts done that would have been invalid.

Reason: Right against double jeopardy Do not create new or take away vested rights, but only operate in furtherance of the remedy or confirmation of the rights already existing, do not come within the legal conception of a retroactive law, or the general rule against the retroactive operation of statutes.

Limitation of the rule Curative laws will not be given retroactive effect if they will impair the obligations of contract or disturb vested rights. Exception to the limitation:

Reason in general Laws may be applied retroactively as long as such laws are not to violate any right of a person, whom may feel that he is adversely affected by the said retroactive application.

a. Police power legislation b. Statues relating to prescription c. Statues relating to appeals. Police power legislations Police power legislations, which are curative by nature, may always impair vested rights or obligations of contracts provided that it promotes public health, morals, peace, education, good order, safety, and general welfare of the people.

N.B: it is not constitutionally objectionable since no right is violated. Reason for procedural laws A person has no vested right in any particular remedy, and a litigant cannot insist on the application to the trial of his case, whether civil or criminal, of any other than the existing rules of procedure.

Statues relating to prescription A statute relating to prescription of action, being procedural in nature, applies to all actions filed after its effectivity. In other words, such a statute is both:

Exception to the exception The rule does not apply where: a. the statute itself expressly or by necessary implication provides that pending actions are excepted from it operation

a. prospective in the sense that it applies to causes that accrued and will accrue after it took effect, and b. retroactive in the sense that it applies to causes that accrued before its passage

Statues relating to appeals Such statute, like other statutes, may not however be construed retroactively so as to impair vested rights. Hence, a statute which eliminates the right to appeal and considers the judgment rendered in a case final and unappealable, destroys the right to appeal a decision rendered after the statute went into effect, but NOT the right to prosecute an appeal that has been perfected before the passage of the law