Criminal Law I: Penalties, Graduation, Extinction, and Civil Liability

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key concepts, articles, doctrines, and penalty graduation rules of Criminal Law I based on Atty. Mamburam's lecture notes.

Error in Personae (Article 49)

A mistake in the identity of the victim where unintended crimes are committed, triggering the specific penalty rules under Article 49 of the Revised Penal Code.

Article 49, Paragraph 1 Rule

The rule providing that if the penalty prescribed for the felony committed is higher than that corresponding to the offense intended, the penalty corresponding to the intended crime shall be imposed in its maximum period.

Article 49, Paragraph 2 Rule

The rule providing that if the penalty prescribed for the felony committed is lower than that corresponding to the offense intended, the penalty for the crime actually committed shall be imposed in its maximum period.

Article 49, Paragraph 3 Exception

An exception to Paragraph 2 stating that when the acts committed also constitute an attempt or frustration of another crime that prescribes a higher penalty, the penalty for the attempted or frustrated crime shall be imposed in its maximum period.

Degree (Penalty)

One entire penalty, one whole penalty, or one entire unit of the penalties in the graduated scale provided in Article 71 of the Revised Penal Code.

Period (Penalty)

A division within a divisible penalty, specifically referring to the minimum, medium, or maximum period.

Article 46, Revised Penal Code

The statutory provision establishing that when the law prescribes a penalty for a felony, that prescribed penalty serves as the starting point and applies to the principal in a consummated felony.

Article 50, Revised Penal Code

The provision mandating that the penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed by law for the consummated felony shall be imposed upon the principal in a frustrated felony.

Article 51, Revised Penal Code

The provision mandating that a penalty lower by two degrees than that prescribed by law for the consummated felony shall be imposed upon the principal in an attempted felony.

Article 52, Revised Penal Code

The provision prescribing that the penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed by law for the consummated felony shall be imposed upon accomplices in a consummated crime.

Article 53, Revised Penal Code

The provision prescribing that the penalty lower by two degrees than that prescribed by law for the consummated felony shall be imposed upon accessories to the commission of a consummated felony.

Article 54, Revised Penal Code

The provision mandating that the penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed by law for the frustrated felony (two degrees lower than the consummated felony) shall be imposed upon accomplices in a frustrated crime.

Article 55

The provision prescribing that the penalty lower by two degrees than that prescribed by law for the frustrated felony (three degrees lower than the consummated felony) shall be imposed upon accessories to a frustrated crime.

Article 56, Revised Penal Code

The provision mandating that the penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed by law for an attempt to commit a felony (three degrees lower than the consummated felony) shall be imposed upon accomplices in an attempted crime.

Article 57, Revised Penal Code

The provision prescribing that the penalty lower by two degrees than that prescribed by law for the attempt (four degrees lower than the consummated felony) shall be imposed upon accessories to an attempted crime.

Article 58, Revised Penal Code

The rule prescribing an additional penalty of absolute perpetual disqualification (for grave felonies) or absolute temporary disqualification (for less grave felonies) upon accessories under Article 19(3) who abuse public functions in an impossible crime.

Article 59, Revised Penal Code

The provision penalizing an impossible crime with arresto mayor or a fine, determined by the court based on social danger and the offender's degree of criminality.

Article 60, Revised Penal Code

The rule creating an exception to Articles 50 to 57 when the law expressly provides a specific penalty for a frustrated or attempted felony, or for an accomplice or accessory.

Single Penalty

A penalty composed of a single, indivisible duration or title prescribed by law for a crime without any range of lower or higher penalties attached to the offense itself.

Compound Penalty

A penalty consisting of two distinct penalties, which may be different penalties or different periods of penalties, graduated by shifting the entire range up or down by one full penalty step.

Complex Penalty

A penalty composed of three distinct penalties, where each distinct penalty acts as one of its three periods (minimum, medium, and maximum).

Penalty with Period Component

A penalty explicitly designated by law to start or end at a specific period within a statutory penalty, rather than spanning full penalty titles, graduated by moving step-by-step through equivalent three-period spans.

Penalty in Period

A penalty that has already been narrowed down to a single specific period (minimum, medium, or maximum) based on modifying circumstances.

Prescribed Penalty

The penalty provided by the Revised Penal Code for a felony, serving as the starting point for determining the proper penalty and set for the principal in a consummated felony.

Imposable Penalty

The penalty that the court may legally impose on the accused after adjusting for the stage of execution, degree of participation, and privileged modifying circumstances.

Penalty Actually Imposed

The specific single fixed sentence or fine ultimately stated in the final judgment meted out by the court to the convict.

Graduation of Penalties

The systematic process of increasing or decreasing a statutory penalty based on degrees and periods according to the rules in Article 61 of the Revised Penal Code.

Habitual Delinquent

A person who, within a period of $10\text{ years}$ from the date of release or last conviction of robo, hurto, estafa, or falsification, is found guilty of any of said crimes a third time or oftener.

Article 63, Revised Penal Code

The statutory rules governing the application of indivisible penalties, which are applied without regard to modifying circumstances when single, or by imposing the lesser or greater penalty when two indivisible penalties are prescribed.

Article 64, Revised Penal Code

The rules governing the application of divisible penalties containing three periods based on the presence, absence, or offsetting of mitigating and aggravating circumstances.

Article 65, Revised Penal Code

The rule applied when a divisible penalty is not composed of three periods, requiring the court to divide the total duration into three equal portions to form minimum, medium, and maximum periods.

People v. Conrado Lucas

The Supreme Court En Banc decision ruling that reclusion perpetua remains an indivisible penalty despite R.A. No. 7659 setting its duration from $20\text{ years and } 1\text{ day}$ to $40\text{ years}$, making Article 65 division inapplicable.

Article 66, Revised Penal Code

The statutory provision allowing the court to fix any fine within the range provided by law, taking into account mitigating and aggravating circumstances and particularly the wealth or means of the offender.

Article 67, Revised Penal Code

The rule prescribing special penalties (arresto mayor to prision correccional) when not all requisites for the fourth exempting circumstance of Article 12 (accident) are present.

Privileged Mitigating Circumstance

A circumstance based on a specific legal provision that automatically reduces the penalty prescribed by law by one or two degrees and cannot be offset by any aggravating circumstance.

Article 68, Paragraph 2, Revised Penal Code

The provision mandating that when the offender is a minor over $15$ but under $18\text{ years}$ old who acted with discernment, the penalty next lower by one degree than that prescribed by law shall be imposed.

Article 69, Revised Penal Code

The provision allowing a penalty reduction by one or two degrees when a crime is not wholly excusable due to the absence of all conditions required to justify the act or exempt from criminal liability.

Indeterminate Sentence Law (R.A. No. 4103)

A statute requiring courts to impose an imprisonment sentence with a minimum term (for parole eligibility) and a maximum term, aimed at uplifting and redeeming human material and preventing excessive deprivation of liberty.

Straight Penalty

A single, fixed, and definite period of imprisonment imposed by the court without a minimum and maximum term, generally applied when the Indeterminate Sentence Law does not apply.

Parole

The conditional release of a prisoner by executive authority through the Board of Pardons and Parole before the expiration of the maximum term, after serving the minimum term of an indeterminate sentence.

Pardon

An act of executive clemency granted by the President that exempts an individual from the punishment imposed by law and may be absolute or conditional.

Article 70, Revised Penal Code

The provision governing the successive service of multiple sentences according to their severity, subject to the Three-Fold Rule and the $40\text{-year}$ absolute cap.

Three-Fold Rule

The statutory limitation under Article 70 providing that the maximum duration of actual imprisonment for multiple successive sentences shall not exceed three times the duration of the most severe penalty, capped at an absolute maximum of $40\text{ years}$.

Article 71, Revised Penal Code

The provision establishing the graduated scales (Scale No. 1 and Scale No. 2) used specifically for dropping or raising degrees of penalties.

Article 72, Revised Penal Code

The rule dictating that civil liabilities of a person convicted of two or more offenses shall be satisfied in chronological order based on the dates of final judgments.

Article 73, Revised Penal Code

The legal presumption that whenever courts impose a principal penalty carrying statutory accessory penalties, such accessory penalties are understood to be automatically imposed upon the convict.

Article 74, Revised Penal Code

The rule prescribing that where the law provides a higher penalty without designating its name, and such higher penalty should be death, the death penalty and accessory penalties of Article 40 are considered the next higher penalty.

Article 75, Revised Penal Code

The rule governing the graduation of fines, requiring an increase or reduction of $\frac{1}{4}$ of the maximum amount for every degree, while keeping the minimum fine unchanged.

Article 77, Revised Penal Code

The provision stating that in a complex penalty composed of three distinct penalties, the lightest constitutes the minimum period, the next the medium, and the most severe the maximum period.

Article 78, Revised Penal Code

The fundamental rule stating that no penalty can be executed unless there is already a final judgment rendered according to law.

Article 79, Revised Penal Code

The provision mandating the suspension of the execution of a personal penalty if the convict becomes insane or imbecile after a final judgment has been rendered.

Restorative Justice

A process of resolving conflicts through maximum involvement of the victim, offender, and community, focusing on reparation of harm, reconciliation, and rehabilitation rather than purely punitive measures.

Diversion (R.A. No. 9344)

An alternative, child-appropriate process of determining the responsibility and treatment of a child in conflict with the law without resorting to formal court adjudication.

Destierro (Article 87)

A principal penalty prohibiting the convict from entering a designated place or radius of not less than $25\text{ km}$ and not more than $250\text{ km}$ from the place designated in the sentence.

Arresto Menor (Article 88)

A light penalty involving imprisonment from $1$ to $30\text{ days}$, served in a municipal jail or in the house of the defendant under police surveillance.

Community Service Act (R.A. No. 11362)

A statute inserting Article 88-A into the Revised Penal Code, authorizing the court at its discretion to require community service in lieu of jail service for arresto menor and arresto mayor.

Recognizance (R.A. No. 10389)

A mode of securing the release of an indigent detained person without posting cash bail, based on the undertaking of a qualified custodian guaranteeing appearance in court.

Article 89, Revised Penal Code

The statutory provision enumerating the primary modes by which criminal liability is totally extinguished, including death, service of sentence, amnesty, absolute pardon, prescription of crime, prescription of penalty, and marriage under Article 344.

People v. Bayotas Doctrine

The doctrine establishing that the death of the accused pending appeal extinguishes criminal liability entirely and civil liability ex delicto, though civil liability based on independent sources (law, contract, quasi-delict) may survive.

Amnesty

A public act of grace by the Chief Executive with congressional concurrence that looks backward and completely obliterates the offense itself as if it had never been committed.

Prescription of a Crime

The forfeiture or waiver by the State of its right to prosecute an offense due to the lapse of a specific period of time prescribed by law under Articles 90 and 91.

Act No. 3326

The special law governing the prescriptive periods and computation for violations of special penal laws and municipal ordinances when no specific prescriptive periods are provided.

Prescription of a Penalty

The loss of the State's right to execute an imposed sentence when the convict evades service by escaping confinement and the statutory period under Articles 92 and 93 lapses without capture or surrender.

Commutation of Sentence (Article 96)

A mode of partial extinction of criminal liability where the original penalty is substituted by executive clemency with a lesser penalty or one of different length or nature.

Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA / Article 97)

A statutory reduction from the period of imprisonment earned by qualified detention or convicted prisoners for conspicuous good behavior and active participation in rehabilitation programs under R.A. No. 10592.

Special Time Allowance for Loyalty (Article 98)

A deduction of $\frac{1}{5}$ of the sentence for evading confinement during a qualifying calamity and surrendering within $48\text{ hours}$ after a proclamation, or $\frac{2}{5}$ for choosing to remain in confinement.

Probation (P.D. No. 968)

A disposition under which a defendant, after conviction and sentence, is released subject to court conditions and supervision by a probation officer, suspending execution of sentence.

Probationable Penalty

A sentence where the maximum term of imprisonment imposed does not exceed $6\text{ years}$, qualifying the offender to apply for probation if not otherwise disqualified.

Civil Liability Ex Delicto (Article 100)

The civil obligation arising directly from the commission of a felony, founded on the principle that every person criminally liable is also civilly liable.

Article 101, Revised Penal Code

The provision assigning civil liability for acts committed by individuals exempt from criminal liability (insane persons, minors, acts under necessity, and acts under irresistible force or uncontrollable fear).

Article 102, Revised Penal Code

The provision establishing subsidiary civil liability for innkeepers, tavernkeepers, and proprietors for crimes committed in their establishments or thefts of guests' property when legal requisites are met.

Article 103, Revised Penal Code

The statute imposing subsidiary civil liability upon employers engaged in industry for felonies committed by their employees in the discharge of duties, conditioned upon the employee's insolvency.

Restitution (Article 105)

A form of civil liability requiring the return of the specific property stolen or obtained through the felony, accounting for any deterioration or diminution in value.

Reparation of the Damage Caused (Article 106)

A form of civil liability where the offender pays the price or value of the property when restitution is impossible, taking into account any special sentimental value.

Indemnification for Consequential Damages (Article 107)

Compensation covering pecuniary, actual, moral, or exemplary damages suffered by the injured party, their family, or a third person as a result of the crime.

Solidary Liability Within a Class (Article 110)

The rule dictating that persons belonging to the same class of participants (principals, accomplices, accessories) are liable in solidum for their respective quotas of civil liability.

Article 113, Revised Penal Code

The rule stating that the obligation to satisfy civil liability is not extinguished by serving the criminal sentence, pardon, amnesty, or commutation, and ceases only under the grounds recognized by civil law.

Rule Against Double Counting (Article 62, Paragraph 1)

The principle prohibiting an aggravating circumstance from increasing a penalty if it is already penalized as a separate offense or is an inherent element in the definition of the crime.

Personal Modifying Circumstances (Article 62, Paragraph 3)

Circumstances arising from the moral attributes, private relations, or personal causes of the offender that affect only the specific principal, accomplice, or accessory in whom they exist.

Material Modifying Circumstances (Article 62, Paragraph 4)

Circumstances relating to the material execution of a felony or the means employed, which aggravate the liability only of those participants who had knowledge of them at the time of execution.

Division Formulation Rule (Article 65)

The mathematical method ($\text{Upper limit} - [\text{Lower limit} - 1\text{ day}] \div 3$) used by courts to divide a divisible penalty into three equal periods when the statute does not provide explicit periods.

Disqualification from ISLAW vs. Ineligibility for Parole

The distinction where the former prevents the court from imposing an indeterminate sentence altogether, while the latter allows an indeterminate sentence but statutorily bars conditional release before the maximum term.

Simultaneous Service of Sentences

The execution of multiple penalties at the exact same time, applied when the nature of the penalties does not involve physical confinement (such as fines, disqualifications, and destierro).

Successive Service of Sentences

The execution of multiple penalties one after another in order of statutory severity, applied when the penalties involve imprisonment that cannot physically be served at the same time.

Constructive Notice in Prescription

The legal fiction establishing that the official registration of a document in a public registry imputes notice to the entire world, thereby starting the prescriptive period from the date of registration.

Discovery Rule (Act No. $3326$)

The statutory rule providing that the prescriptive period for concealed violations of special laws commences only upon actual discovery by authorities or the offended party, rather than on the date of commission.

Subsidiary Civil Liability vs. Subsidiary Imprisonment

The distinction where the former is a secondary pecuniary obligation imposed on employers or innkeepers upon an offender's insolvency, while the latter is auxiliary personal detention imposed directly on an offender for failure to pay a criminal fine.

Loss of Earning Capacity

A form of actual compensatory damages computed under the formula $[2/3 \times (80 - \text{age at death})] \times \text{net annual earnings}$, awarded to the heirs of a deceased victim.

Temperate Damages

A category of damages awarded when the court finds that pecuniary loss has indeed occurred, but its precise monetary value cannot be proven with certainty from the evidence.

Nominal Damages

An award of damages assessed not to indemnify pecuniary loss, but solely to vindicate and recognize a legal right of the victim that was invaded or violated.

Mandatory Probation Conditions

The statutory conditions requiring an offender to report to the probation officer within $72\text{ hours}$ of receiving the order and to report periodically at least once a month.

Final Discharge (Probation)

The judicial order issued upon the successful completion of the probation period and conditions, which restores all civil rights lost or suspended and totally extinguishes criminal liability for the offense.

Penalty for an accomplice in a consummated crime when the prescribed penalty is reclusion perpetua to death

Reclusion temporal (determined under Article 61, Paragraph 2 by finding the lesser indivisible penalty, reclusion perpetua, and taking the penalty immediately next lower in degree on the Article 71 scale).

Penalty for an accessory in a consummated felony when the statutory penalty is reclusion perpetua

Prision mayor (applying Article 53 to reduce the penalty by two degrees, descending from reclusion perpetua to reclusion temporal and then to prision mayor under Article 61, Paragraph 1).

Penalty for a principal in a frustrated felony when the prescribed penalty is reclusion temporal

Prision mayor (applying Article 50 to lower the penalty by one full degree from the prescribed statutory penalty for the consummated felony).

Penalty for an accomplice in an attempted felony when the statutory penalty for the consummated offense is reclusion temporal

Arresto mayor (applying Article 56 to reduce the penalty by three degrees below the consummated penalty: descending through prision mayor and prision correccional to arresto mayor).

Penalty for an accessory in an attempted crime when the statutory penalty for the consummated crime is reclusion temporal

Destierro (applying Article 57 to drop four degrees below the consummated penalty: descending through prision mayor, prision correccional, and arresto mayor to destierro under Scale No. 1 of Article 71).

Graduation of one degree lower when the prescribed penalty is reclusion temporal in its maximum period to reclusion perpetua

Prision mayor in its maximum period to reclusion temporal in its medium period (applying Article 61, Paragraph 3: taking the minimum and medium periods of the proper divisible penalty plus the maximum period of the next lower penalty).

Graduation of one degree lower when the prescribed penalty is prision mayor in its medium period to reclusion temporal in its minimum period

Prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods to prision mayor in its minimum period (applying Article 61, Paragraph 4: taking the period immediately following the minimum prescribed, plus the two next lower periods).

Graduation of one degree lower when the prescribed penalty is prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods

Arresto mayor in its maximum period to prision correccional in its minimum period (applying Article 61, Paragraph 4: selecting the span of three consecutive periods immediately preceding the prescribed minimum).