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CRIMINAL LAW-that branch of public substantive law which defines crimes, treats of
their nature, and provides for their punishment.
MALA IN SE AND MALA PROHIBITA
Mala in se (“evil in itself”) – A crime or an act that is inherently immoral, such as murder,
arson or rape.
Mala prohibita (“prohibited evil”) – An act that is a crime merely because it is prohibited
by statute, although the act itself is not necessarily immoral.
(3) Prospective- General rule: Acts or omissions will only be subject to a penal law if they
are committed AFTER a penal law has taken effect.
Exception: Penal laws shall have a retroactive effect, insofar as they favor the person
guilty of a felony. [Art. 22, RPC]
Exception to the Exception:
1. The new law is expressly made inapplicable to pending actions or existing cause
of actions; or
2. The offender is a habitual criminal. [Art. 22, RPC]
BILL OF ATTAINDER
Art. III, Sec. 22, 1987 Const. No ex post facto law or bill of attainder shall be enacted.
-a legislative act that inflicts punishment without trial, its essence being the substitution of
legislative fiat for a judicial determination of guilt.
Ex Post Facto Law is one which:
1. Makes criminal an act done before the passage of the law and which was innocent
when done, and punishes such an act.
2. Aggravates a crime, or makes it greater than it was, when committed;
Error in personae- mistake in the identity of the victim; injuring one person mistaken for
another (Art. 49 – penalty for lesser crime in its maximum period)
a) At least two subjects
b) A has intent to kill B, but kills C
c) Under Art. 3, if A hits C, he should have no criminal liability. But because of
Art. 4, his act is a felony.
Aberratio ictus - mistake in the blow; when offender intending to do an injury to one
person actually inflicts it on another (Art. 48 on complex crimes – penalty for graver
offense in its maximum period)
a) There is only one subject.
b) The intended subject is a different subject, but the felony is still the same.
Praeter intentionem - injurious result is greater than that intended (Art. 13 – mitigating
circumstance). Exception: If A’s act constitutes sufficient means to carry out the graver
felony, he cannot claim praeter intentionem.
IMPOSSIBLE CRIME- is committed by any person performing an act which would be an
offense against persons or property, where it not for the inherent impossibility of its
accomplishment or the account of the employment of inadequate or ineffectual means.
1. Anyone who acts in defense of his person or rights, provided that the
following circumstances concur;
• First. Unlawful aggression.
• Second. Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent
or repel it.
• Third. Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person
defending himself.
4. Any person who, in order to avoid an evil or injury, does not act which causes
damage to another, provided that the following requisites are present;
• First. That the evil sought to be avoided actually exists;
• Second. That the injury feared be greater than that done to avoid it;
• Third. That there be no other practical and less harmful means of preventing
it.
5. Any person who acts in the fulfillment of a duty or in the lawful exercise of a
right or office.
6. Any person who acts in obedience to an order issued by a superior for some
lawful purpose.
2. EXEMPTING CIRCUMSTANCES
1. An imbecile or an insane person, unless the latter has acted during a lucid interval.
When the imbecile or an insane person has committed an act which the law defines as a
felony (delito), the court shall order his confinement in one of the hospitals or asylums
established for persons thus afflicted, which he shall not be permitted to leave without
first obtaining the permission of the same court.
2. A person under Fifteen years of age.
3. A person over Fifteen years of age and under Eighteen, unless he has acted with
discernment, in which case, such minor shall be under-go intervention and diversion as
provided under the Juvenile Justice Welfare Act.
4. Any person who, while performing a lawful act with due care, causes an injury by
mere accident without fault or intention of causing it.
5. Any person who act under the compulsion of irresistible force.
6. Any person who acts under the impulse of an uncontrollable fear of an equal or
greater injury.
7. Any person who fails to perform an act required by law, when prevented by some
lawful insuperable cause.
3. MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES
4. AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES
As provided for the Qualifying Aggravating Circumstances in Article 248 on Murder.
5. ALTERNATIVE CIRCUMSTANCES
6. ABSOLUTORY CAUSES
1) Instigation due to public policy;
2) Spontaneous desistance in the attempted stage unless the overt act committed
constitutes another crime. (Art. 6 par. 3);
3) Attempted/ frustrated light felonies (Art. 7);
4) Accessories in light felonies (Art. 16);
5) Accessories pertaining to relatives unless they profited from the crime (Art. 20);
6) Death or physical injuries inflicted under exceptional circumstances when any
legally married person who surprised his spouse in the act of committing sexually
intercourse with another shall inflict physical injury or kill them or any of them in
the act or immediately thereafter (Art. 247);
7) Certain relatives in theft, estafa and malicious mischief provided they live under
the same roof (Art. 332);
8) Somnambulism due to lack of intelligence;
9) Mistake of fact due to lack of intent;
10) In cases of seduction, abduction, acts of lasciviousness and rape, marriage of the
offender to the offended party (Art. 344, par4)
7. GRAVITY OF THE OFFENSE
a. Grave Felonies:
1. Reclusion Perpetua
2. Reclusion Temporal
3. Prision Mayor
b. Less Grave Felonies:
1. Prision Correccional
2. Arresto Mayor
c. Light Felonies:
1. Arresto Menor
8. STAGES OF EXECUTION
a) Attempted- When the offender commences the commission of a felony directly by
overt acts, and does not perform all the acts of execution which should produce
9. DEGREE OF PARTICIPATION
1) Principal:
i) By Direct Participation
(1) That they participated in the criminal resolution;
(2) That they carried out their plan and personally took part of the execution by
acts which directly tended to the same end.
ii) By Inducement
(1) That the inducement be made directly with intention of procuring the
commission of the crime;
(2) Ill-advised language is not enough unless he made such remark or advice
is a co-conspirator in the crime committed.
• When does a principal by induction become liable?
1. Only when the principal by direct participation committed the act
induced;
2. The inducement must precede the act induced and must be so
influential in producing the criminal act that without it, the act
would not have been performed.
ii) By Indispensable Cooperation
(1) Participation in the criminal resolution, that there is either anterior
conspiracy or unity of criminal purpose and intention immediately before the
commission of the crime;
(2) Cooperation in the commission of the offense by performing another act,
without which it would have been accomplished.
2) Accomplice- are persons who not acting as principals, cooperate in the execution of
the offense by previous and simultaneous act, which are not indispensable in the
commission of the crime.
3) Accessories (see absolutory causes)
Specific Acts of Accessories:
1. By profiting themselves or assisting the offender to profit by the effects of
the crime;
2. By concealing or destroying the corpus delicti to prevent discovery;
When Accessories are punished as Principals:
1. Knowingly using counterfeited seal or forged signature or stamp of the
President of the Philippines;
COMPLEX CRIMES
Art. 48. Penalty for complex crimes. When a single act constitutes two or more grave or
less grave felonies, or when an offense is a necessary means for committing the other,
the penalty for the most serious crime shall be imposed, the same to be applied in its
maximum period.
Art. 48 requires the commission of at least 2 crimes. But the two or more GRAVE or LESS
GRAVE felonies must be
1. the result of a single act, or
2. an offense must be a necessary means for committing the other.
PROBATION
Subject to the provisions of this Decree, the trial court may, after it shall have
convicted and sentenced a defendant and upon application by said defendant within the
period for perfecting an appeal, suspend the execution of the sentence and place the
defendant on probation for such period and upon such terms and conditions as it may
deem best: Provided, That no application for probation shall be entertained or granted if
the defendant has perfected the appeal from the judgment of conviction.
Probation may be granted whether the sentence imposes a term of imprisonment
or a fine only. An application for probation shall be filed with the trial court. The filing of
the application shall be deemed a waiver of the right to appeal.
An order granting or denying probation shall not be appealable. Application for
probation is the same as within the reglementary period provided for filing an appeal.
The grant of probation does not extinguish the civil liability of the offender.
ACT 3326
PENALTY PRESCRIBES IN
RA 10592 amending Art. 29, 94, 97, 98 and 99 (Good Conduct Allowance)
Art. 97:
1. During the first two years of imprisonment…deduction of 20 days for each month
of good behavior, during detention;
2. During the 3rd to the 5th year inclusive, of his imprisonment…reduction of 23 days
for each month;
3. During the following years until the 10th, inclusive of his imprisonment…deduction
of 25 days for each month;
4. During the 11th successive year of his imprisonment…deduction of 30 days for
each month; and
5. At any time during the period of imprisonment, he shall be allowed another
deduction of 15 days, in addition to numbers 1 to 4 thereof, for each month of
study, teaching or mentoring service time rendered.
An appeal by the accused shall not deprive him of entitlement to the above allowances of
good conduct.
Article 2176. Whoever by act or omission causes damage to another, there being fault
or negligence, is obliged to pay for the damage done. Such fault or negligence, if there is
no preexisting contractual relation between the parties, is called a quasi-delict and is
governed by the provisions of this Chapter.
Article 2180. The obligation imposed by article 2176 is demandable not only for one's
own acts or omissions, but also for those of persons for whom one is responsible.
o The father and, in case of his death or incapacity, the mother, are responsible for
the damages caused by the minor children who live in their company.
o Guardians are liable for damages caused by the minors or incapacitated persons
who are under their authority and live in their company.
o The owners and managers of an establishment or enterprise are likewise
responsible for damages caused by their employees in the service of the branches
in which the latter are employed or on the occasion of their functions.
o Employers shall be liable for the damages caused by their employees and
household helpers acting within the scope of their assigned tasks, even though the
former are not engaged in any business or industry.
o The State is responsible in like manner when it acts through a special agent; but
not when the damage has been caused by the official to whom the task done
properly pertains, in which case what is provided in article 2176 shall be applicable.
o Lastly, teachers or heads of establishments of arts and trades shall be liable for
damages caused by their pupils and students or apprentices, so long as they
remain in their custody.
The responsibility treated of in this article shall cease when the persons herein mentioned
prove that they observed all the diligence of a good father of a family to prevent damage.
What is reparation?
Art. 106. Reparation.-How made. The court shall determine the amount of damage,
taking into consideration the price of the thing, whenever possible, and its special
sentimental value to the injured party, and reparation shall be made accordingly.
What is restitution?
Art. 105. Restitution. — How made. The restitution of the thing itself must be made
whenever possible, with allowance for any deterioration, or diminution of value as
determined by the court. The thing itself shall be restored, even though it be found in the
possession of a third person who has acquired it by lawful means, saving to the latter his
action against the proper person, who may be liable to him. This provision is not
applicable in cases in which the thing has been acquired by the third person in the manner
and under the requirements which, by law, bar an action for its recovery.
What is indemnification?
Art. 107. Indemnification — What is included. Indemnification for consequential
damages shall include not only those caused the injured party, but also those suffered by
his family or by a third person by reason of the crime.