Criminal Law Review - Revised Penal Code of the Philippines

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key legal concepts, doctrines, stages, theories, and classifications in Philippine Criminal Law and the Revised Penal Code.

Criminal Law

That branch or division of law which defines crimes, treats of their nature, and provides for their punishment.

General Application (Characteristic of Criminal Law)

The characteristic of Criminal Law making it binding on all persons who live, reside, or sojourn in Philippine territory.

Territorial Application (Characteristic of Criminal Law)

The characteristic of Criminal Law undertaking to punish crimes committed within the Philippine territory.

Prospective Application (Characteristic of Criminal Law)

The characteristic of Criminal Law stating that a penal law cannot make an act punishable when committed, and crimes are punished under the laws in force at the time of their commission.

Republic Act No. 75

A law of preferential application penalizing acts that impair the immunities, rights, and privileges of duly accredited foreign diplomatic representatives in the Philippines and their domestic servants.

Classical Theory

A theory in criminal law holding that the basis of criminal liability is human free will, the purpose of penalty is retribution, and there is scant regard to the human element, establishing a direct proportion between crime and penalty.

Positivist Theory

A theory in criminal law viewing crime as a social and natural phenomenon where man is subdued by a morbid phenomenon constraining him to do wrong, advocating crime prevention via individual psychiatric and social investigation rather than abstract legal principles.

Felonies (Delitos)

Acts and omissions punishable by law under the Revised Penal Code, committed either by means of deceit (dolo) or by means of fault (culpa).

Dolo (Deceit)

A means of committing a felony characterized by deliberate intent, requiring the concurrence of freedom, intelligence, and intent.

Culpa (Fault)

A means of committing a felony where the wrongful act results from imprudence, negligence, lack of foresight, or lack of skill, while acting with freedom and intelligence.

Error in Personae

A mistake in the identity of the victim which produces a result different from that intended by the offender.

Aberratio Ictus

A mistake in the blow, occurring when the offender intending to do an injury to one person actually inflicts it on another.

Praeter Intentionem

A situation where the injurious result produced is greater than that intended by the offender, or the act exceeds the intent.

Proximate Cause

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

Impossible Crime

An act performed with evil intent which would be an offense against persons or property were it not for the inherent impossibility of its accomplishment or the employment of inadequate or ineffectual means, without violating any other provision of the Revised Penal Code.

Attempted Felony

A stage of execution 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 the felony by reason of some cause or accident other than his own spontaneous desistance.

Frustrated Felony

A stage of execution 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.

Consummated Felony

A stage of execution when all the elements necessary for the execution and accomplishment of the felony are present.

Subjective Phase

That portion of the execution of a crime starting from the point where the offender begins up to the point where he still maintains control over his acts, including their natural course.

Objective Phase

That portion of the execution of a crime where the offender has performed all acts of execution and has no more control over them.

Indeterminate Offense

An offense where the purpose of the offender in performing an act is not certain and its nature in relation to its objective is ambiguous.

Overt Act

A physical activity, more than mere planning or preparation, which evinces the intention of the offender to commit a particular felony.

Preparatory Acts

Initial acts of a person who has conceived the idea of committing a crime, but which cannot by themselves logically and necessarily ripen into a concrete offense.

Conspiracy

A condition existing when two or more persons come to an agreement concerning the commission of a felony and decide to commit it.

Proposal to Commit a Felony

A condition occurring when a person who has decided to commit a felony proposes its execution to some other person or persons.

Grave Felonies

Felonies to which the law attaches capital punishment or penalties which in any of their periods are afflictive, in accordance with Article 25 of the Revised Penal Code.

Less Grave Felonies

Felonies which the law punishes with penalties which in their maximum period are correctional, in accordance with Article 25 of the Revised Penal Code.

Light Felonies

Infractions of law for the commission of which a penalty of arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos, or both, is provided.

Justifying Circumstances

Circumstances where the act of a person is in accordance with law, deeming the actor not to have transgressed the law and freeing him from both criminal and civil liability.

Exempting Circumstances

Circumstances where a crime is committed, but due to the complete absence of free will or voluntariness, no criminal liability arises, though civil liability remains.

Mitigating Circumstances

Circumstances based on the diminution of freedom of action, intelligence, or intent, or on the lesser perversity of the offender, which serve to reduce the penalty.

Aggravating Circumstances

Circumstances based on the greater perversity of the offender manifested in the commission of the felony, which serve to increase the imposable penalty.

Alternative Circumstances

Circumstances that must be taken into consideration as aggravating or mitigating according to the nature and effects of the crime and the conditions attending its commission, comprising relationship, intoxication, and degree of instruction and education.

Unlawful Aggression

An unjustified act sufficient to imperil one's life, limb, or right, which is an indispensable requisite of self-defense.

Treachery (Alevosia)

An aggravating circumstance where the offender commits a crime against person employing means, methods, or forms tending directly and specially to insure its execution without risk to himself arising from the defense the victim might make.

Unlawful Entry

An aggravating circumstance wherein entrance into a place is effected by a way not intended for that purpose.

Band (Cuadrilla)

An aggregation occurring whenever more than three armed malefactors have acted together in the commission of an offense.

Habitual Drunkard

One given to intoxication by excessive use of intoxicating drinks whose habit is actual and confirmed, without necessarily being a daily occurrence.

Principal by Direct Participation

A principal who personally and directly takes part in the physical execution of the act constituting the crime pursuant to a criminal resolution.

Principal by Induction

A person who directly forces another to commit a crime (via irresistible force or uncontrollable fear) or directly induces another (via price, reward, promise, or words of command), being the determining cause of the offense.

Principal by Indispensable Cooperation

A person who cooperates in the execution of the offense by another act without which the crime would not have been accomplished.

Accomplices

Persons who, not being principals, cooperate in the execution of the offense by previous or simultaneous acts supplying material or moral aid with knowledge of the principal's criminal design.

Accessories

Persons who, with knowledge of the crime and without participating as principals or accomplices, take part subsequent to its commission by profiting, concealing the corpus delicti, or harboring/assisting the escape of the author.

Fencing

The act of buying, receiving, possessing, keeping, acquiring, concealing, selling, or disposing of anything of value known or should be known to have been derived from the proceeds of the crime of robbery or theft.

Fence

Any person, firm, association, corporation, or partnership that commits the act of fencing under Presidential Decree No. 1612.

Civil Interdiction

An accessory penalty depriving the convict of parental authority, guardianship, marital authority, the right to manage property, and the power to convey property inter vivos.

Subsidiary Penalty

A personal liability served by a convict in lieu of unpaid pecuniary liabilities (reparation, indemnification, and fine) due to insolvency, at the rate of one day for each 8.00 pesos.

Accessory Penalty

A penalty that is deemed automatically included in the imposition of the principal penalty.

Delito Compuesto (Compound Crime)

A kind of complex crime wherein a single act performed by the offender produces two or more grave or less grave felonies.

Delito Complejo (Complex Crime Proper)

A kind of complex crime wherein an offense is a necessary means for committing another offense under the same statute.

Degree (Penalties)

One unit penalty or one of the distinct penalty designations enumerated in the graduated scales of Article 71 of the Revised Penal Code.

Period (Penalties)

One of the three equal portions (minimum, medium, maximum) into which a divisible penalty is divided, or one of three distinct penalties forming a complex penalty.

Habitual Delinquent

A person who, within a period of 10 years from the date of release or last conviction of serious or less serious physical injuries, robo, hurto, estafa, or falsification, is found guilty of any of said crimes a third time or oftener.

Three-Fold Rule

The rule providing that the maximum duration of a convict's imprisonment shall not exceed three-fold the length of time corresponding to the most severe sentence imposed, with an absolute ceiling of 40 years.

Mala in Se

Crimes that are inherently wrongful by nature (such as theft, rape, and homicide), wherein criminal intent governs, generally penalized under the Revised Penal Code.

Mala Prohibita

Acts made criminal by special statute that are wrong merely because prohibited, where criminal intent is not necessary and the only inquiry is whether the law was violated.

Motive

The moving power which impels one to action for a definite result, distinguished from intent which is the purpose to use a particular means to effect that result.

Entrapment

A law enforcement mechanism where ways and means are resorted to for trapping and capturing lawbreakers in the execution of their own criminal plan, presenting no bar to prosecution.

Instigation

A situation where law enforcement induces a would-be accused into the commission of an offense, making the officer a co-principal and demanding the acquittal of the accused.

Reiteracion

An aggravating circumstance where the offender has previously served sentence for an offense not embraced in the same title of the Revised Penal Code as that for which he is being tried.

Recidivism

An aggravating circumstance where the offender, at the time of trial for one crime, was previously convicted by final judgment of another crime embraced in the same title of the Revised Penal Code.

Amnesty

A blanket pardon proclaimed by the Chief Executive with the concurrence of Congress to classes of persons guilty of political offenses, which looks backward and obliterates the offense itself.

Imprudence

A form of culpa indicating a deficiency of action, arising from a failure to take the necessary precautions once a danger or injury is foreseen.

Negligence

A form of culpa indicating a deficiency of perception, characterized by failure in advertence or lack of due diligence in foreseeing a wrongful act.

Prevaricacion

A felony committed by a public officer by refraining from doing something pertaining to his official duty, without the consideration of a gift or promise.