CHARACTERISTICS OF CRIMINAL LAW:

GENERALITY
Penal laws and those of public security and safety shall be obligatory upon all who live or sojourn in the Ph territory (Art.
14, NCC).
XPNs:
1. Laws of Preferential Application.
Heads of state – immunity.
2. Treaties and treaty stipulations.
RP-US VFA
TERRITORIALITY
Penal laws have force and effect only within or outside Ph territory
XPNs:
1. If so provided under treaties and treaty stipulations or laws of preferential application;
2. Art, 2, RPC, application even outside the Ph in these instances:
a. Should commit an offense while on a Ph ship or airship;
NOTE: We follow the English rule where crimes committed aboard a vessel within the territorial
waters of another country are triable in that country unless the crimes merely affect things
within the vessel or the internal management thereof.
b. Should forge or counterfeit any coin, currency note of the Ph or obligations and securities issued by the
gov. of the Ph.
c. Should introduce into the country those under b.
d. While public officers, should commit offense in the exercise of their functions like Qualified, Indirect or
Direct Bribery, Malversation of Public Funds, Failure to render Accounts, etc.
e. Should commit any of the crimes against nat’l security and law of nations.
National security – Treason, Conspiracy to commit treason, Misprision of treason, Espionage, Terrorism
(R.A. 9372)
Law of Nations – Piracy, Genocide, Terrorism (R.A. 9372)
PROSPECTIVITY
XPN: unless favorable to the accused who is not a habitual delinquent
Recall: Prohibition on ex-post facto law (MACAAD) and bill of attainder (legislative act w/c inflicts punishment
without trial; legislative fiat in substituting judicial determination of guilt)
i. Makes criminal and act done before the passage of law which was innocent when done
and punishes such an act;
ii. Aggravates a crime and makes it greater than it was when committed;
iii. Changes the punishment and inflicts a greater punishment than the law annexed to the
crime when committed;
iv. Alters the legal rules of evidence and authorizes conviction upon less or different
testimony than the law required at the time of the commission of the offense.

ARTICLE 3, RPC.
Acts and omissions punishable by law are felonies (delitos).

Felonies are committed not only be means of deceit (dolo) but also by means of fault (culpa).

There is deceit when the act is performed with deliberate intent and there is fault when the wrongful act results from
imprudence, negligence, lack of foresight, or lack of skill.

INTENTIONAL FELONIES – FII Freedom Intelligence Intent

CULPA – FIN Freedom Intelligence Negligence

Honest mistake of fact destroys presumption of intent and thus the person is not made criminally liable but this is not
applicable to culpable felonies.
Requisites: AIM – (1) Act done would have been lawful had the facts been as the accused believed them to be;
(2) Intention of accuse was lawful; (2) Mistake must not be done with fault or carelessness (meaning, no
negligence)

MALA IN SE MALA PROHIBITA

Wrong from its very nature Wrong because prohibited by law
GF is a valid defense xcpt culpable felonies GF not a valid defense
Degree of accomplishment is taken into consideration Degree of accomplishment not taken into consideration
Penalty is computed on the basis of degree of Penalty is applied equally
accomplishment
Have stages of execution (attempted, frustrated, Does not have stages of execution
consummated)
There may be 3 persons liable: principal, accomplice, Generally only the principal is liable
accessory
Penalties may be divided into degrees/periods No such division
Rules on mitigating and aggravating circ apply Generally do not apply unless so provided under the
special law
Punished under RPC Violation of special law

INTENT MOTIVE
Purpose to use a particular means to effectuate a result Reason or moving power which impels one to commit an
act for a definite result
Element of a crime in intentional felonies Not an element of the crime
Essential in intentional felonies and must be proven Essential only in: CUT-NID
a. Evidence is merely circumstantial;
b. Identification of the accused stems from an
unreliable source and the testimony is
inconclusive and not free from doubt;
c. There are two antagonistic versions of the killing;
d. No eyewitnesses to the crime and suspicion is
likely to fall on a no. of persons
e. There is doubt as to identity of the assailant;
f. Act is alleged to be committed in defense of
stranger but it must not be induced by revenge,
resentment or other evil motive.

ART. 4, RPC
Criminal liability shall be incurred:

1. By any person committing a felony (delito) although the wrongful act done be different from that which he intended.

Proximate cause – that cause which, in its natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening
cause, produces the injury, and without which the result would not have occurred.

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. IMPOSSIBLE
CRIMES.

ART. 5, RPC
Duty of the court in connection with acts which should be repressed but which are not covered by the law, and in cases
of excessive penalties.

ACTS WHICH SHOULD BE REPRESSED BUT ARE NOT COVERED BY LAW

Whenever a court has knowledge of any act which it may deem proper to repress and which is not punishable by law, it
shall render the proper decision, and shall report to the Chief Executive, through the Department of Justice, the reasons
which induce the court to believe that said act should be made the subject of legislation.

EXCESSIVE PENALTIES
In the same way, the court shall submit to the Chief Executive, through the Department of Justice, such statement as
may be deemed proper, without suspending the execution of the sentence, when a strict enforcement of the provisions
of this Code would result in the imposition of a clearly excessive penalty, taking into consideration the degree of malice
and the injury caused by the offense.

ART. 6, RPC
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.
NOTES:
 No attempt at a formal crime; singe act consummates the offense; exampes: PAACSI
i. Physical injuries
ii. Acts of lasciviousness
iii. Attempted flight to an enemy country
iv. Coercion
v. Slander
vi. Illegal exaction
 Crimes which do not admit of a frustrated stage:
i. Rape; no matter how slight the penetration – consummated
ii. Indirect bribery; acceptance of gifts by P.O. by reason of his office; non-acceptance, no crime
iii. Direct bribery;
iv. Corruption of public officers;
v. Adultery; essence of the crime is sexual congress;
vi. Theft; unlawful taking consummates the offense
vii. Physical injury since it cannot be determined whether the injury will be slight, LS, serious or less serious
unless consummated
 Indeterminate Offense—one where the purpose of the offender in performing the act is not certain; accused
therefore may be convicted of a felony defined by the acts up to the time of desistance
 Desistance – absolutory cause; negates criminal liability.

Recall: Legal v. Spontaneous desistance; attempted stage, subjective phase, frustrated stage, objective phase – cases
assigned.

ART. 7, RPC
When light felonies are punishable. - Light felonies are punishable only when they have been consummated, with the
exception of those committed against person or property.

ART. 8, RPC
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.
Conspiracy – TRIC – SM
i. Treason
ii. Rebellion
iii. Insurrection
iv. Coup d etat
v. Sedition
vi. Monopolies and combinations in restraint of trade

Proposal – TRIC
i. Treason
ii. Rebellion
iii. Insurrection
iv. Coup d etat

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.

ART. 9, RPC
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.