Crim Law 2 - Elements of a Crime

Elements plus notes per provisions

Art. 267 - Kidnapping and Serious Illegal detention

Art. 267 - Kidnapping and Serious Illegal detention

Elements:

1. the offender is a private individual

2. he kidnaps or detains another, or in any other manner deprives the latter of his liberty

3. the act of detention or kidnapping must be illegal

4. in the commission of the offense, any of the following circumstances is present:

   1. kidnapping or detention lasts for more than 3 days

   2. committed simulating public authority

   3. any serious physical injuries are inflicted upon the person kidnapped or detained or threats to kill him are made

   4. the person kidnapped or detained is a minor, female, or a public officer.

Note: the act was committed “for the purpose of extorting ransom.”

Art. 268 - Slight Illegal Detention

Elements:

1. Offender is a private individual

2. he kidnaps or detains another, or in any other manner deprives him of his liberty

3. act of kidnapping or detention is illegal

4. crime is committed without the attendance of any of the circumstances enumerated in Art. 267

Art. 269 - Unlawful arrest

Elements:

1. Offender arrests or detains another person

2. purpose of the offender is to deliver him to the proper authorities

3. the arrest or detention is not authorized by law or there is no reasonable ground therefor.

Note:

• the offender is any person

• the purpose of locking up or detaining the victim is to deliver him to the proper authorities, and it develops that the detention is unlawful

Art. 270 - Kidnapping and Failure to return a minor

Elements:

1. offender is entrusted with the custody of a minor person (over or under 7 years old but less than 21 years old)

2. he deliberately fails to restore the said minor to his parents or guardians.

Note:

• the article punishes the deliberate failure of the custodian to restore the minor to his parents or guardians.

Art 271 - Inducing a minor to abandon his home

Elements:

1. The minor is living in the home of his parents or guardian or the person entrusted with his custody

2. The offender induces said minor to abandon such home

Note: Inducement must be actual, committed with criminal intent, and determined by a will to cause damage.

Art. 272 - Slavery

Elements:

1. offender purchases, sells, kidnaps or detains a human being.

2. the purpose of the offender is to enslave such human being.

Note:

• if the purpose is to assign the offended party to some immoral traffic, the penalty is higher.

Art. 273 - Exploitation of Child Labor

Elements:

1. offender retains a minor in his service

2. it is against the will of the minor

3. it is under the pretext of reimbursing himself a debt incurred by an ascendant, guardian or person entrusted with the custody of such minor

Art. 274 - Services rendered under compulsion in payment of debt

Elements:

1. the offender compels a debtor to work for him, either as household servant or a farm laborer

2. it is against the debtor’s will

3. the purpose is to require or enforce the payment of a debt

Note:

• it does not distinguish whether the offended party is a minor or not.

Art. 275 - Abandonment of persons in danger and abandonment of one’s victim

Acts Punishable under Art. 275

1. by failing to render assistance to any person whom the offender finds in an uninhabited place wounded or in danger of dying when he can render such assistance without detriment to himself, unless such omission shall constitute a more serious offense,

   Elements:

   1. place is not inhabited;

   2. the accused found there a person wounded or in danger of dying;

   3. the accused can render assistance without detriment to himself;

   4. accused fails to render assistance

2. by failing to help or render assistance to another whom the offender has accidentally wounded or injured

3. by failing to deliver a child, under 7 years old whom the offender has found abandoned to the authorities or to his family, or by failing to take him to a safe place.

Art. 276 - Abandoning a minor

Elements:

1. the offender has the custody of a child

2. the child is under seven years old

3. he abandons such child

4. he has no intent to kill the child when the latter is abandoned.

Notes:

• the abandonment being discussed in this article is the abandonment which deprives the child of the care and protection from danger to his person

  • Act must be conscious and deliberate

Art. 277 - Abandonment of minor by person entrusted with his custody ; indifference of parents

Acts punished under Art. 277:

1. By delivering a minor to a public institution or other persons without the consent of the one who entrusted such minor to the care of the offender or, in the absence of that one, without the consent of the proper authorities.

2. By neglecting offender’s children by not giving them the education which their station in life requires and financial condition permits

Elements of abandonment of minor by one charged with the rearing or education of said minor :

1. The offender has charge of the rearing or education of a minor

2. He delivers said minor to a public institution or other persons

3. The one who entrusted such child to the offender has not consented to such act; or if the one who entrusted such child to the offender is absent, the proper authorities have not consented to it

Elements of indifference of parents

1. Offender is a parent.

2. He neglects his children by not giving them education

3. His station in life requires such education and his financial condition permits it

Art. 278 - Exploitation of minors

Acts punished under this article:

1. By causing any boy or girl under 16 years of age to perform any dangerous feat of balancing, physical strength, or contortion, the offender being any person

2. By employing children under 16 years of age who are not the children or descendants of the offender in exhibitions of acrobat, gymnast, rope-walker, diver, or wild-animal tamer, the offender being an acrobat, etc., or circus manager or person engaged in a similar calling

3. By employing any descendant under 12 years of age in dangerous exhibitions enumerated in the next preceding paragraph, the offender being engaged in any of the said callings

4. By delivering a child under 16 years of age gratuitously to any person following any of the callings enumerated in par. 2, or to any habitual vagrant or beggar, the offender being an ascendant, guardian, teacher or person entrusted in any capacity with the care of such child

5. By inducing any child under 16 years of age to abandon the home of its ascendants, guardians, curators or teachers to follow any person engaged in any of the callings mentioned in par. 2 or to accompany any habitual vagrant or beggar, the offender being any person.

Circumstance qualifying the offense:

• Delivery of the child to any person following the callings of acrobat, etc., or to any habitual vagrant or beggar is made in consideration of any price, compensation or promise

ART. 279 - Additional penalties for other offenses

The imposition of the penalties prescribed in the preceding articles, shall not prevent the imposition upon the same person of the penalty provided for any other felonies defined and punished by this Code.

Art. 280 - Qualified trespass to dwelling

Elements of trespass to dwelling:

1. The offender is a private person

2. He enters the dwelling of another

3. Such entrance is against the latter’s will

Qualifying circumstance:

• Offense committed by means of violence or intimidation.

Cases to which the provisions of this article are not applicable:

1. If the entrance to another’s dwelling is made for the purpose of preventing some serious harm to himself, the occupants of the dwelling or a third person

2. If the purpose is to render some service to humanity or justice

3. If the place where entrance is made is a café, tavern, inn and other public houses, while the same are open (Art. 280, last par.)

Dwelling place – any building or structure exclusively devoted for rest and comfort, as distinguished from places devoted to business, offices, etc.

Trespass by means of violence

1. Pushing the door violently and maltreating the occupants after entering

2. Cutting of the fastenings of the door

3. Wounding by means of a bolo the owner of the house immediately after entrance

Trespass by means of intimidation

1. Firing a revolver in the air by persons attempting to force their way into a house

2. Flourishing of a bolo against inmates of the house upon gaining entrance

Art. 281 - Other forms of Trespass

Elements:

1. The offender enters the closed premises or the fenced estate of another

2. The entrance is made while either of them is uninhabited

3. The prohibition to enter be manifest

4. The trespasser has not secured the permission of the owner or the caretaker thereof.

Art. 282 - Grave Threats

Acts punishable as grave threats

1. By threatening another with the infliction upon his person, honor or property or that of his family of any wrong amounting to a crime and demanding money or imposing any other condition, even though not unlawful, and the offender attained his purpose

2. By making such threat without the offender attaining his purpose

3. By threatening another with the infliction upon his person, honor or property or that of his family of any wrong amounting to a crime, the threat not being subject to a condition

Elements of grave threats where offender attained his purpose:

1. The offender threatens another person with the infliction upon the latter’s person, honor, or property, or upon that of the latter’s family, of any wrong

2. Such wrong amounts to a crime

3. There is a demand for money or that any other condition is imposed, even though not unlawful

4. The offender attains his person

Qualifying circumstance: If threat is made in writing or through a middleman – maximum period

Elements of grave threats not subject to a condition

1. The offender threatens another person with the infliction upon the latter’s person, honor, or property, or upon that of the latter’s family, of any wrong

2. Such wrong amounts to a crime

3. The threat is not subject to a condition

Art. 283 - Light Threats

Art. 284 - Bond for Good Behavior

Art. 285 - Other Light Threats

Art. 286 - Grave Coercions

Art. 287 - Light Coercions

Art. 288 - Other Similar coercions ( Compulsory purchase of merchandise and payment of wages by means of tokens)

Art. 289 - Formation, maintenance, and prohibition of combination of capital or labor through violence or threats

Art. 290 - Discovering Secrets through seizure of correespondence

Art. 291- Revealing secrets with abuse of office

Art. 292- Revelation of industrial secrets

Art. 293 - Who are guilty of robbery?

Art. 294- Robbery with violence against or intimidation of persons - penalties

Art. 295 - Robbery with physical injuries, committed in an uninhabited place and by a band, or with the use of firearm on a street, road or alley

Art. 296 - Definition of a band and penalty incurred by the members thereof

Art. 297- Attempted and frustrated robbery committed under certain circumstances

Art. 298 - Execution of deeds by means of violence or intimidation.

Art. 299 - Robbery in an inhabited house or public building or edifice devoted to worship

Art. 300 - Robbery in an uninhabited place and by a band

Art. 301 - What is an inhabited house, public building or building, dedicated to religious worship and their dependencies

Art. 302 - Robbery in an uninhabited place or in a private building

Art. 303 - Robbery of cereals, fruits, or firewood in an uninhabited place or private building

Art. 304 - Possession of picklocks or similar tools

Art. 305 - False keys

ART. 353 - Definition of Libel

Libel - Public and malicious imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status, or circumstance tending to cause the dishonor, discredit, or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead.

Defamation – includes libel and slander; offense of injuring a person’s character, fame or reputation through false and malicious statements

• That which tends to injure reputation or to diminish the esteem, respect, good will or confidence in the plaintiff or to excite derogatory feelings or opinions about the plaintiff

• Publication of anything which is injurious to the good name or reputation of another or tends to bring him into disrepute

• Invasion of a relational interest since it involves the opinion which others in the community may have, or tend to have, of the plaintiff

Elements of defamation

1. There must be an imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, status or circumstance

2. The imputation must be made publicly

3. It must be malicious

4. The imputation must be directed to a natural or juridical person, or one who is dead

5. The imputation must tend to cause the dishonor, discredit or contempt of the person defamed

   1. Dishonor – disgrace, shame, or ignominy

   2. Discredit – loss of credit or reputation; disesteem

   3. Contempt of a natural or juridical person – state of being despised

   4. To blacken the memory of one who is dead

Malice

-term used to indicate the fact that the offender is prompted ill-will or spite and speaks not in response to duty, but merely to injure the reputation of the person defamed

Two Kinds of Malice:

1. Malice in Fact - must be proved; may be shown by proof of ill-will, hatred or purpose to injure

2. Malice in Law - may be taken for granted in view of the grossness of the imputation; presumed from a defamatory imputation; proof of malice is not required because presumed to exist from the defamatory imputation

ART. 354- Requirement for Publicity

Every defamatory imputation is presumed to be malicious, even if it be true, if no good intention and justifiable motive for making it is shown.

Note: Malice in law is presumed from every defamatory imputation.

Presumption of malice can be rebutted if :

1. The defamatory imputation is true, in case the law allows proof of the truth of the imputation

2. It is published with good intention; and 3. There is justifiable motive for making it

Kinds of Privileged Communications

The absolute or absolutely privileged

• When it is not actionable, even if its author has acted in bad faith

• Includes:

• Statements made by members of Congress in the discharge of their functions

• Official communications made by public officers in the performance of their duties

• Allegations or statements made by the parties or their counsel in their pleadings or motions or during the hearing of judicial proceedings, as well as the answers given by witnesses in reply to questions propounded to them, in the course of said proceedings, provided that said allegations or statements are relevant to the issues, and the answers are responsive or pertinent to the questions propounded to said witnesses

• Limited to legislative and judicial proceedings and other acts of state including communications made in the discharge of a duty under express authority of law, by or to heads of executive departments of the state, and matters involving military affairs

The conditional or qualified or conditionally privileged •

• Those which, although containing defamatory imputations, would not be actionable unless made with malice or bad faith • There is malice when the defamer has been prompted by ill -will or spite and speaks not in response to duty, but merely to injure the reputation of the person defamed -Qualified privilege is lost by proof of malice.

ART. 355 - Libel by Means of Writing or Similar Means

A libel may be committed by means of:

1. Writing

2. Printing

3. Lithography

4. Engraving

5. Radio

6. Phonograph

7. Painting

8. Theatrical exhibition

9. Cinematographic exhibition

10. Or any similar means

ART 356- Threatening to Publish and Offer to Prevent such Publication for a Compensation

Acts punished under Art. 356:

1. By threatening another to publish a libel concerning him, or his parents, spouse, child, or other members of his family

2. By offering to prevent the publication of such libel for compensation, or money consideration

ART. 357 - Prohibited Publication of Acts Referred to in the Course of Official Proceedings

Elements:

1. The offender is a reporter, editor, or manager of a newspaper daily or magazine

2. He publishes facts connected with the private life of another

3. Such facts are offensive to the honor, virtue and reputation of said person

Provisions of Art. 357 constitute the “Gag Law”

• Newspaper reports on cases pertaining to adultery, divorce, issues about the legitimacy of children, etc., will necessarily be barred from publication.

• Requires two things to constitute a violation of the prohibition:

  • The article published contains facts connected with the private life of an individual

  • Such facts are offensive to the honor, virtue and reputation of said person

ART. 358 - Slander

Slander -oral defamation; libel committed by oral (spoken) means, instead of in writing; speaking of base and defamatory words which tend to prejudice another in his reputation, office, trade, business or means of livelihood

Two kinds of oral defamation

1. Simple slander

2. Grave slander, when it is of a serious and insulting nature

Factors that determine the gravity of oral defamation:

1. Expressions used

2. Personal relations of the accused and the offended party

3. Circumstances surrounding the case

4. Social standing and the position of the offended party

ART 359- Slander by Deed

It is a crime against honor which is committed by performing any act which casts dishonor, discredit, or contempt upon another person ; committed by any person

Two Kinds:

1. Simple slander by deed

2. Grave slander by deed, which is of a serious nature

Note:

Slander by deed refers to performance of an act, not use of words

Elements:

1. Offender performs any act not included in any other crime against honor

2. Such act is performed in the presence of other person or persons

3. Such act casts dishonor, discredit or contempt upon the offended party

ART 360- Persons Responsible

Persons Responsible for Libel:

1. Person who publishes, exhibits, or causes the publication or exhibition of any defamation in writing or similar means

2. Author or editor of a book or pamphlet

3. Editor or business manager of a daily newspaper magazine or serial publication

4. Owner of the printing plant which publishes a libelous article with his consent and all other persons who in any way participate in or have connection with its publication

ART 361 - Proof of Truth

When Proof of Truth is Admissible:

1. The act or omission imputed constitutes a crime regardless of whether the offended party is a private individual or a public officer

2. The offended party is a gov’t employee, even if the act or omission imputed does not constitute a crime, provided, it is related to the discharge of his official duties

ART 362- Libelous remarks

Libelous remarks or comments connected with the matter privileged under the provisions of art.354, if made with malice, shall not exempt the author thereof, nor the editor of a newspaper from criminal liability

ART. 363 - Incriminating Innocent Person

Elements:

1. The offender performs an act

2. By such act he directly incriminates or imputes to an innocent person the commission of a crime

3. Such act does not constitute perjury

ART. 364 - Intriguing against Honor

Intriguing against honor is committed by any person who shall make any intrigue which has for its principal purpose to blemish the honor or reputation of another person. (e.g. consist of some trickery

ART. 365 - Imprudence and Negligence

Quasi-offenses under Art. 365 are committed in four ways:

1. By committing through reckless imprudence any act which, had it been intentional, would constitute a grave or less grave felony or light felony

2. By committing through simple imprudence or negligence an act which would otherwise constitute a grave or a less serious felony

3. By causing damage to the property of another through reckless imprudence or simple imprudence or negligence

4. By causing through simple imprudence or negligence some wrong which, if done maliciously, would have constituted a light felony

Elements of Reckless Imprudence

1. The offender does or fails to do an act

2. The doing of or the failure to do that act is voluntary

3. It be without malice

4. Material damage results

5. There is inexcusable lack of precaution on the part of the offender, taking into consideration

   1. His employment or occupation

   2. Degree of intelligence, physical condition;

   3. Other circumstances regarding persons, time and place

Reckless Imprudence

Consists in voluntarily, but without malice, doing or failing to do an act from which material damage results by reason of inexcusable lack of precaution on the part of the person performing or failing to perform such act, taking into consideration his employment or occupation, degree of intelligence, physical condition and other circumstances regarding persons, time and place

Simple Negligence

lack of precaution displayed in those cases in which the damage impending to be caused is not immediate nor the danger clearly manifest