I.

A.

General principles
Criminal law
Definition
Criminal is that branch or division of law which defines
crime, treats of their nature, and provides for their
punishments.
Sources
1.
RPC act# 3815 and its amendments
2.
Special penal laws passed by P. commission, P.
assembly, P. legislature, natl assembly, congress of
the P. and the batasang pambansa
3.
Penal presidential decree issued during martial law
Rules of construction
Power to define and punish crimes
The state has the authority, under its police power, to
define and punish crimes and to lay down the rules of
criminal procedure.
Limitation on power of the lawmaking body
1.
No ex post facto law or bill of attainder
Ex post facto make criminal an act done before the
passage of the bill
Bill of attainder is a legislative act which inflicts
punishment without trial
2.
No person is held without due process
B.
Theories
Classical characteristics. 1. Basis of criminal liability is
human free will and the purpose of the penalty is retribution. 2.
Man is essentially moral with an absolute free will to choose
between good and evil. 3. Endeavored to establish a mechanical
and direct proportion between crime and penalty. 4. Ther is a scant
regard to human element.
Positivist characteristics. 1. The man is subdued
occasionally by stange and morbid phenomenon which constrain
him to do wrong. 2. The crime is essentially a social and natural
phenomenon.
Mixed
C.
Characteristic
1.
General. Criminal law is binding on all persons who
live or sojourn in the P. territory
Exception, treaty stipulation- bases agreement, law of
preferential application- sovereign and other chiefs, ambassador,
ministers
2.
Territorial. Criminal laws undertake to punish crimes
committed under the P. territory
Exceptions. A2 RPC. 1. Should commit an offense while
on a Philippine ship or airship; 2. Should forge or counterfeit any
coin or currency note of the Philippine Islands or obligations and
securities issued by the Government of the Philippine Islands; 3.
Should be liable for acts connected with the introduction into these
islands of the obligations and securities mentioned in the presiding
number; 4. While being public officers or employees, should
commit an offense in the exercise of their functions; or; 5. Should
commit any of the crimes against national security and the law of
nations, defined in Title One of Book Two of this Code.
French rule such crimes are not triable in the courts of
that country, unless their commission affects the peace and
security of the territory or the safety of the stare is endangered.
English rule such crimes are triable in that country,
unless they merely affect things within the vessel or they refer to
the internal management thereof
3.
Prospective. A penal law cannot make an act
punishable in a manner in which it was not
punishable when committed
Exceptions. 1. Where the expressly made inapplicable to
pending actions or existing causes of action. 2. Where the offender
is habitual criminal
D. Limitation upon penal legislation
E.
Duty of the court when the act is not covered by penal
laws A5
F.
Application of RPC to special laws
II.
A.

Felonies
Crime is an act committed or omitted in violation of
public law forbidding or commanding it.
Felonies are acts and omission punishable by RPC
Elements: 1. Act or omission 2. Punishable by RPC 3. Act
incurred by means of dolo or culpa
Offenses
B.
Mala in se refers generally to felonies defines and
penalized by RPC, acts are inherently immoral
Mala prohibita refers generally to acts made criminal by
special laws.

Motive is the moving power which impels one action for a definite
result, intent is the purpose to use a particular means to effect
such results.
C.
Classification of felonies
Intentional felonies, the act or omission of the offender is
malicious, the act is performed with deliberate intent (malice), has
intion to cause injury.
Culpable felonies act of the offender in not malicious,
unintentional, incident of another act without malice.
Mistake of fact is a misapprehension of fact on this part of the
person who caused injury to another, however, he is not liable
because he did not act with criminal intent.
Requisites. 1. The act done would have been lawful have
the facts been as the accused believed them to be. 2. The
intention of accused in performing the act should be lawful. 3. The
mistake must be without fault or carelessness on the part of the
accused
III.
CL
A.
Definitions
Criminal liability shall be incurred by 1. By any person committing
a felony (delito) although the wrongful act done be different from
that which he intended. 2. By any person performing an act which
would be an offense against persons or property, were it not for
the inherent impossibility of its accomplishment or an account of
the employment of inadequate or ineffectual means.
Rationale, el que causa de la causa es causa del mal causado, he
who is the cause of the cause id\s the cause of evil cause.
B. requisites
a. that an intentional felony has been committed; b. that the wrong
done to the aggrieved party be direct, natural, and logical
consequence of the felony committed by the offender.
C. Doctrine of proximate cause
Proximate cause is that the cause, which, in natural and
continuous sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening cause,
procedures the injury, and without which the result would not have
occurred
Meaning/ distinguish from immediate cause
Exception: efficient intervening cause
Supervening cause
D. Liability for a felony not intended
Requisites
Praeter intentionem
Error in personae (mistake of person)
Aberratio ictus (mistake in the blow)
E.
Impossible crime the commission of the impossible crime
is the indicative of propensity or criminal tendency on
the part of the actor.
Requisites of IC, 1. Act performed would be an offense
against persons or property 2. That the act was done with evil
intent. 3. Either inadequate or ineffect. 4. Act performed should not
constitute a violations of another provision of RPC
Legal impossibility
Physical impossibility
Inadequate means
Ineffectual means
IV.
Stages of execution A6
Article 6. Consummated, frustrated, and attempted felonies. Consummated felonies as well as those which are frustrated and
attempted, are punishable.
A felony is consummated when all the elements necessary for its
execution and accomplishment are present; and it is frustrated
when the offender performs all the acts of execution which would
produce the felony as a consequence but which, nevertheless, do
not produce it by reason of causes independent of the will of the
perpetrator.
There is an attempt when the offender commences the
commission of a felony directly or over acts, and does not perform
all the acts of execution which should produce the felony by reason
of some cause or accident other than this own spontaneous
desistance.
Formal crimes - consummated in one instant, no attempt like
slander
Material crimes there are 3 stages of execution
Crime development: internal acts ideas in the mind, external acts
preparatory acts, acts of execution.
Attempted felony Elements
1. The offender commences the commission of the felony directly
by overt acts;
2. He does not perform all the acts of execution which should
produce the felony;
3. The offenders act be not stopped by his own spontaneous
desistance

4. The non-performance of all acts of execution was due to cause

or accident other than his spontaneous desistance
Frustrated felony elements
1 The offender performs all the acts of execution;
2 all the acts performed would produce the felony as a
consequence;
3 but the felony is not produced; and
4 by reason of causes independent of the will of the perpetrator.
Felonies with no frustrated stage
V.
Conspiracy and proposal to commit felony A5
Conspiracy and proposal to commit felony. - Conspiracy and
proposal to commit felony are punishable only in the cases in
which the law specially provides a penalty therefor.
A conspiracy exists when two or more persons come to an
agreement concerning the commission of a felony and decide to
commit it.
There is proposal when the person who has decided to commit a
felony proposes its execution to some other person or persons.
Conspiracy defined
General rule on conspiracy: exception
Conspiracy and proposal to commit felony are not punishable, xthey are punishable only in the cases in which the law specially
provides a penalty therefor.
Conspiracy as a manner of incurring criminal liability
When a conspiracy relates to a crime actually committed, it is not
a felony but a manner of incurring criminal liability
Requisite of a felony
1that two or more persons came to an agreement,

2that the agreement concerned the commission of a crime, and

3that the execution of the felony [was] decided uponProposal to
commit a felony
VI.
Classification of felonies according to gravity A9
Grave felonies, less grave felonies and light felonies. - Grave
felonies are those to which the law attaches the capital
punishment or penalties which in any of their periods are afflictive,
in accordance with Art. 25 of this Code.
Less grave felonies are those which the law punishes with
penalties which in their maximum period are correctional, in
accordance with the above-mentioned Art.
Light felonies are those infractions of law for the commission of
which a penalty of arrest menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos
or both; is provided.
VII.
Continuing crimes
A continued, continuing, continuous crime is a single crime,
consisting of series of acts but all aring from one criminal
resolution
VIII.
BComplex crimes A48
Compound crime- when a single act constitutes 2 or more grave or
less grave felonies
Complex crime- when an offense is a necessary means for
committing the other.
Special complex
Special complex crime distinguished from a complex crime