MIDTERM COVERAGE CRIM 1

Criminal Law

Branch or division of law which defines crimes, treats of their nature, and provides for their punishment

Crime

Act committed or omitted in violation of a public law forbidding or commanding it

Sources of Criminal Law

Revised Penal Code

Special Penal Laws

Two theories in Criminal Law

Classical Theory and Positivist Theory

Classical Theory

Basis of criminal liability is human free will and purpose of penalty is retribution

Positivist Theory

Man subdued by occasional strange and morbid phenomenon which makes him do wrong

Purpose of Classical Theory

Retribution or vengeance

Purpose of Positivist Theory

Reformation or correction of the accused

Limitations on Power of Congress to enact Penal Legislation

Due Process

Equal Protection

Non-imposition of excess fines or cruel and unusual punishment

Ex post facto law or Bill of Attainder

In dubio pro reo

Penal statutes should be strictly construed against the State only when the law is ambiguous and there is doubt regarding its interpretation.

Where the law is clear and unambiguous, there is no room for the rule to apply.

Rule of Lenity

The rule calls for the adoption of an interpretation which is more lenient to the accused.

Application of the Rule of Lenity

When the court is faced with two possible interpretations of a penal statute, one that is prejudicial to the accused and another that is favorable to him

Habitual Delinquent

Within a period of ten years from the date of his release or last conviction of the crimes robo (robbery), hurto(theft), estafa, falsificacion (falsification), serious/less serious physical injuries, he is found guilty of any of said crimes a third time or oftener.

Ex post facto law

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

3. Changes the punishment and inflicts a greater punishment than the law annexed to the crime when committed

4. Alters the legal rules of evidences, and authorizes conviction upon less or different testimony than the law required at the time of the commission of the offense

5. Assumes to regulate civil rights and remedies only, in effect imposes penalty or deprivation of a right for something which when done was lawful

6. Deprives person accused of a crime some lawful protection to which he has become entitled, such as the protection of a former conviction or acquittal, or a proclamation of amnesty

Bill of Attainder

Law that inflicts punishment on individuals without judicial trial

Rights accused may waive

Confrontation and cross-examination

Characteristics of Criminal Law

General

Territorial

Prospective

General Characteristic of Criminal Law

Criminal law is binding on all persons who live or sojourn in Philippine Territory (Art. 14, NCC)

General Rule of General Characteristic

Jurisdiction of civil courts not affected by the military character of the accused

Civil courts have concurrent jurisdiction with general courts-martial over soldiers of the AFP

The Revised Penal Code or other penal law is not applicable when the military court takes cognizance of the case

The prosecution of an accused before a court-martial is a bar to another prosecution of the accused for the same offense.

Exception to Generality Rule

Treaties and Stipulations

Law of Preferential Application

Principles of International Law

Warship Rule

Example of Treaties and Stipulations

Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)

Example of law of preferential application

RA No. 75 penalizes acts which would impair the proper observance by the Republic and inhabitants of the Philippines of the immunities, rights, and privileges of duly accredited foreign diplomatic representatives in the Philippines

Rules on Jurisdiction

General Rule: The following persons are exempt from arrest and imprisonment, and their properties exempt from distraint, seizure and attachment

Ambassadors

Public Ministers

Domestic Servants of Ambassadors or servants

Exception to persons exempted under law of preferential application

If the writ or process sued out or prosecuted is:

• Against a person who is a citizen or inhabitant of the Philippines, provided:

  a. The person is in the service of an ambassador or a public minister; and

  b. Process is founded upon a debt contracted before he entered upon such service

• Against the Domestic Servant of an ambassador or a public minister, provided:

  a. The name of the servant has been registered in the Department of Foreign Affairs, (DFA) and transmitted by theSecretary of Foreign Affairs to the Chief of Police of the City of Manila; but

  b. The registration was only made after the writ or process has been issued or commenced

Persons exempt from the operation of our criminal laws by virtue of the principles of public international law

Sovereigns and other chiefs of state

Ambassadors, ministers plenipotentiary, ministers resident, and charges d’ affaires

Warship Rule

A warship of another country, even though docked in the Philippines, is considered an extension of the territory of its respective country

Territoriality Principle

As a rule, penal laws of the Philippines are enforceable only within its territory

Extent of Philippine Territory

National territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial, and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular shelves, and other submarine areas. The waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines.

Theory on Aerial Jurisdiction - Absolute Theory

The subjacent state has complete jurisdiction over the atmosphere above it subject only to the innocent passage by aircraft of a foreign country.

If the crime is committed in an aircraft, no matter how high, as long as it is within the Philippine atmosphere, Philippine criminal law will govern. The Philippines has complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory

Karman Line

Our aerial jurisdiction ends when outer space begins.

Earth ends and outer space starts at the Karman line, which is found in the Thermosphere, above the Mesosphere.

This boundary is set by the FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale)

Exception to the Territoriality Rule

(Article 2 of the 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 Philippines or obligations and securities issued by the Government of the Philippines

3. Should be liable for acts connected with the introduction into the Philippines of the obligations and securities mentioned in the preceding number

4. While being public officers or employees, should commit an offense in the exercise of their functions

5. Should commit any of the crimes against national security and the law of nations, defined in Title One of Book Two of the Revised Penal Code.

Requisites of an offense while on a Philippine ship or airship

1. Crime is committed while the ship is treading in:

   a. Philippine waters (intraterritorial), or

   b. The high seas (extraterritorial)

2. The ship or airship must not be within the territorial jurisdiction of another country

3. The ship or airship must be registered in the Philippines under Philippine laws

Rules on Jurisdiction over crimes committed aboard foreign merchant vessels: 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 state is endangered

Rules on Jurisdiction over crimes committed aboard foreign merchant vessels: 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

What Rule on Jurisdiction does the Philippines follow?

What the Philippines follows is the English Rule

Prospective Rule

As a general rule, penal laws have no retroactive application, lest they acquire the character of an ex post facto law

Effects of repeal

1. If the repeal makes the penalty lighter in the new law, the new law shall be applied, except when the offender is a habitual delinquent or when the new law is made not applicable to pending action or existing causes of action.

2. If the new law imposes a heavier penalty, the law in force at the time of the commission of the offense shall be applied.

3. If the new law totally repeals the existing law so that the act which was penalized under the old law is no longer punishable, the crime is obliterated.

Exception to the prospective application

Penal law may have retroactive effect only when it is favorable to the accused

Exception to retroactive effect favorable to the accused

1. Where the new law is expressly made inapplicable to pending actions or existing causes of action

2. Where the offender is a habitual criminal

Felonies

Acts and omissions punishable by the RPC

Elements of felonies

1. There must be an act or omission

2. That act or omission must be punishable under the RPC

3. That the act is performed or the omission is incurred by means of dolo or culpa