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CRIMINAL LAW 1
Abberatio Ictus – mistake in blow.
What is the legal effect of aberratio
ictus?
a. may result in complex crime or two
felonies
b. if complex, apply Art. 48 - Penalty
for the more or most serious crime in its
maximum period.
Absolutory Causes - where the act
committed is a crime but for some
reason of public policy and sentiment, there
is no penalty imposed.
Exempting and justifying circumstances are
absolutory causes.
Accomplices - Persons who do not act as
principals but cooperate in
the execution of the offense by previous and
simultaneous acts,
which are not indispensable to the
commission of the crime. They act as
mere instruments that perform acts not
essential to the perpetration
of the offense.
Act – an overt or external act. Any bodily
movement tending to produce some effect in
the external world.
Actus Me Invito Factus Non Est Meus
Actus – Any act done by me against
my will is not my act.
Agent - subordinate public officer charged
w/ the maintenance of public
order and protection and security of life and
property.
Aggravating Circumstances - Those
which, if attendant in the commission of the
crime, serve to have the penalty imposed in
its maximum period provided by law for the
offense or those that change the nature of
the crime.
Generic - those which apply to all
crimes.
Specific - those which apply only to
specific crimes.
Qualifying - those that change the nature
of the crime.
Inherent - which of necessity accompany
the commission of the crime, therefore not
considered in increasing the penalty to be
imposed.
Special - those which arise under special
conditions to increase the penalty of the
offense and cannot be offset by mitigating
circumstances.
Alternative Circumstances – Those which
must be taken into consideration as
aggravating or mitigating according to the
nature and effects of the crime and the other
conditions attending its commission.
Amnesty – is an act of the sovereign power
granting oblivion or general pardon. It wipes
all traces and vestiges of the crime but does
not
extinguish civil liability.
Astucia – (Craft) involved the use of
intellectual trickery or cunning
on the part of the accused. A chicanery
resorted to by the accused to
aid in the execution of his criminal design. It
is employed as a
scheme in the execution of the crime.
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Bill Of Attainder – A legislative act which
inflicts punishment without trial.
Characteristics of Criminal Law
1. General
2. Territorial
3. Prospective
Circumstances That Affect Criminal
Liability
1. Justifying circumstances
2. Exempting circumstances
3. Mitigating circumstances
4. Aggravating circumstances
5. Alternative circumstances
Commutation – change in the decision of
the court by the chief regarding
the degree of the penalty by decreasing the
length of the imprisonment
or fine.
Consummated Felonies - when all the
elements necessary for its execution
and accomplishment are present.
Continued Crime – refers to a single crime
consisting of a series of
acts but all arising from one criminal
resolution. Although there is
a series of acts, there is only one crime
committed, so only one
penalty shall be imposed.
Crime – acts and omissions punishable by
any law.
Criminal law - A branch of municipal law
which defines crimes, treats
of their nature and provides for their
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punishment.
The Following are not subject to the
operation of Philippine
Criminal Law
1. Sovereigns and other heads of state
2. Charges d'affaires
3. Ambassadors
4. Ministers plenipotentiary
5. Ministers resident
Cruelty – there is cruelty when the culprit
enjoys and delights in
making his victim suffer slowly and
gradually, causing unnecessary
physical pain in the consummation of the
criminal act.
Degree – one whole penalty, one entire
penalty or one unit of the
penalties enumerated in the graduated scales
provided for in Art. 71
Despoblado – (Uninhabited Place) one
where there are no houses at all,
a place at a considerable distance from town,
where the houses are
scattered at a great distance from each other.
Discernment - mental capacity to fully
appreciate his consequences of
the unlawful act, which is shown by the
manner the crime was committed
and conduct of the offender after its
commission.
Disfraz (Disguise) – resorting to any device
to conceal identity.
Duress - use of violence or physical force.
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Dwelling - must be a building or structure
exclusively used for rest and comfort
(combination of house and store not
included), may be
temporary as in the case of guests in a house
or bedspacers. It
includes dependencies, the foot of the
staircase and the enclosure
under the house.
El que es causa de la causa es causa del
mal causado - Spanish maxim
which means: "He who is the cause of the
cause is the cause of the
evil caused.
En Cuadrilla – (Band) whenever there are
more than 3 armed malefactors
that shall have acted together in the
commission of an offense.
Entrapment - ways and means are resorted
to for the purpose of trapping
and capturing the lawbreaker in the
execution of his criminal plan.
Error in personae – mistake in identity.
What is the legal effect of error in
personae?
a. if same crime results, liable for the
same crime
b. if different crime results, apply Art.
49 - penalty for lesser
crime in its maximum period
Exempting Circumstances - grounds for
exemption from punishment
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because there is wanting in the agent of the
crime any of the conditions
which make the act voluntary or negligent.
Ex Post Facto Law - An act which when
committed was not a crime,
cannot be made so by statute without
violating the constitutional
inhibition as to ex post facto laws.
Felonies – acts and omissions punishable by
the Revised Penal Code.
Fence – is a person who commits the act of
fencing. A fence who
receives stolen property as above- provided
is not an accessory but
a principal in the crime defined in and
punished by the Anti-Fencing
Law.
Fencing – is an act, with intent to gain, of
buying, selling, receiving,
possessing, keeping, or in any other manner
dealing in anything of
value which a person knows or should have
known to be derived from the
proceeds of the crime of robbery or theft.
Fraud (fraude) – insidious words or
machinations used to induce the
victim to act in a manner which would
enable the offender to carry
out his design.
Good conduct allowance during
confinement – Deduction for the term of
sentence for good behavior.
Habitual Delinquency or Multi-
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recidivism – Where a person within a
period of ten years from the date of his
release or last conviction
of the crimes of serious or less serious
physical injuries, robbery,
theft, estafa or falsification, is found guilty
of the said crimes a
third time or oftener. This is an
extraordinary aggravating
circumstance.
Habitual Delinquent - A person who,
within a period of ten years
from the date of his release or last
conviction of the crimes of
serious or less serious physical injuries,
robbery, theft, estafa,
or falsification, is found guilty of any said
crimes a third time or
oftener.
Ignominy – is a circumstance pertaining to
the moral order, which adds disgrace and
obloquy to the material injury caused by the
crime?
Imbecile - one while advanced in age has a
mental development comparable
to that of children between 2 and 7 years
old. He is exempt in all cases from criminal
liability.
Insane - one who acts with complete
deprivation of intelligence/reason
or without the least discernment or with total
deprivation of freedom of will. Mere
abnormality of the mental faculties will not
exclude imputability.
Instigation - Instigator practically induces
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the would-be accused into
the commission of the offense and himself
becomes a co-principal.
Insuperable Clause - some motive, which
has lawfully, morally or
physically prevented a person to do what the
law commands.
Irresistible Force - offender uses violence
or physical force to
compel another person to commit a crime.
Justifying Circumstances - where the act
of a person is in accordance with law such
that said person is deemed not to have
violated the law.
Mala In Se - acts or omissions that are
inherently evil.
Mala Prohibita - acts made evil because
there is a law prohibiting it.
Misdemeanor - a minor infraction of law.
Mistake of Fact - misapprehension of fact
on the part of the person
who caused injury to another. He is not
criminally liable.
Mitigating Circumstances - those which if
present in the commission
of the crime reduces the penalty of the crime
but does not erase
criminal liability nor change the nature of
the crime.
Motive - it is the moving power which
impels one to action for a
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definite result.
Nullum Crimen, Nulla Poena Sine Lege –
There is no crime when there is
no law punishing it.
Obscuridad – (Night time) period of
darkness beginning at the end of dusk and
ending at dawn.
Offense - a crime punished under special
law.
Omission – failure to perform a duty
required by law.
Pardon – an act of grace proceeding from
the power entrusted with the
execution of laws, which exempts the
individual from the punishment
the law inflicts for the crime.
Parole – consists in the suspension of the
sentence of a convict after
serving the minimum term of the
indeterminate penalty, without granting
pardon, prescribing the terms upon which
the sentence shall be
suspended. In case his parole conditions are
not observed, a convict
may be returned to the custody and continue
to serve his sentence
without deducting the time that elapsed.
Penalty – suffering inflicted by the State for
the transgression of a law.
Period – one of 3 equal portions,
min/med/max of a divisible penalty.
A period of a divisible penalty when
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prescribed by the Code as a
penalty for a felony is in itself a degree.
Person In Authority - public authority or
person who is directly vested with
jurisdiction and has the power to govern and
execute the laws.
Plurality Of Crimes – consists in the
successive execution by the same
individual of different criminal acts upon
any of which no
conviction has yet been declared.
Praeter Intentionem - lack of intent to
commit so grave a wrong.
What is the legal effect of praeter
intentionem?
Mitigating circumstance (Art. 13, par. 3)
Prescription Of A Crime – is the
loss/forfeiture of the right of the
state to prosecute the offender after the lapse
of a certain time.
Prescription Of Penalty - means the
loss/forfeiture of the right of
government to execute the final sentence
after the lapse of a
certain time.
Probation - a disposition under which a
defendant after conviction and
sentence is released subject to conditions
imposed by the court and to
the supervision of a probation officer.
Pro Reo - whenever a penal law is to be
construed or applied and the law admits of
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two interpretations, one lenient to the
offender and one strict to the offender, that
interpretation which is lenient or favorable
to the offender will be adopted.
Proximate Cause - the cause, which in the
natural and continuous sequence unbroken
by any efficient intervening cause, produces
the injury, without which the result would
not have occurred.
Quasi-Recidivism – Where a person
commits felony before beginning to
serve or while serving sentence on a
previous conviction for a felony. This is a
special aggravating circumstance.
RA 75 - this law penalizes acts which would
impair the proper observance by the
Republic and its inhabitants of the
immunities, rights, and privileges of duly-
accredited foreign diplomatic
representatives in the Philippines.
Rank - The designation or title of
distinction used to fix the
relative position of the offended party in
reference to others
(There must be a difference in the social
condition of the offender
and the offended party).
Recidivism – Where a person, on separate
occasions, is convicted of
two offenses embraced in the same title in
the RPC. This is a
generic aggravating circumstance.
Recidivist – one who at the time of his trial
for one crime, shall
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have been previously convicted by final
judgment of another crime
embraced in the same title of the RPC.
Reiteracion or Habituality – Where the
offender has been previously
punished for an offense to which the law
attaches an equal or greater
penalty or for two crimes to which it
attaches a lighter penalty.
This is a generic aggravating circumstance.
Requisites of Dolo or Malice
1. Freedom
2. Intelligence
3. Intent
Requisites of Culpa
1. Freedom
2. Intelligence
3. Negligence, Imprudence, Lack of
Foresight, Lack of Skill
Negligence - it indicates a deficiency of
perception; failure to pay
proper attention and to use diligence in
foreseeing the injury or
damage impending to be caused; usually
involves lack of foresight.
Imprudence - it indicates a deficiency
of action; failure to take the
necessary precaution to avoid injury to
person or damage to property;
usually involves lack of skill.
Rules on jurisdiction over private or
merchant vessels while in the
territory of another country
1. French Rule
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2. English Rule
Uncontrollable Fear - offender employs
Stand Ground When in The Right - the intimidation or threat in
law does not require a person compelling another to commit a crime.
to retreat when his assailant is rapidly
advancing upon him with a Unlawful Entry - when an entrance is
deadly weapon. affected by a way not intended
for the purpose.
Stages In The Execution Of A Crime
1. Attempted Stage - a stage in the execution Youthful offender – over 9 but under 18 at
of a crime where the offender time of the commission
commences commission of a felony of the offense.
directly by overt acts, and does
NOT perform all acts of execution which
should produce the felony
by reason of some cause or accident other
his spontaneous desistance.
2. Frustrated Stage - a stage in the execution
of a crime where the offender
performs all the acts of execution which
would produce the felony
as a consequence but which, nevertheless,
do not produce it due to
some cause independent of the will of the
perpetrator.
3. Consummated Stage - a stage in the
execution of a crime where all
the elements necessary for its execution
and accomplishment
are present.

Treachery – when the offender commits

any of the crimes against the
person, employing means, methods or forms
in the execution thereof
which tend directly and specially to insure
its execution without
risk to himself arising from the defense
which the offended party
might make.