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Criminal Law Book 1 Reviewer

Definition of Terms

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.

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.

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.

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.

Abberatio Ictus mistake in blow.

Related: Full Reference Material in Criminal Law


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.

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.
Bill Of Attainder A legislative act which inflicts punishment
without trial.

Agent - subordinate public officer charged w/ the maintenance of


public order and protection and security of life and property.

Characteristics of Criminal Law


1. General
2. Territorial
3. Prospective

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.

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.

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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 he
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.

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 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.

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 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 AntiFencing 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.

Habitual Delinquency or Multi-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 the would-be accused
into the commission of the offense and himself becomes a coprincipal.

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.

Insuperable Clause - some motive, which has lawfully, morally


or physically prevented a person to do what the law commands.

Good conduct allowance during confinement Deduction for


the term of sentence for good behavior.

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
definite result.
Nullum Crimen, Nulla Poena Sine Lege There is no crime
when there is no law punishing it.
Obscuridad (Night time) that period of darkness beginning at
the end of dusk and ending at dawn.
Offense - a crime punished under special law.

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 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.
Praetor Intentionem - lack of intent to commit so grave a wrong.
What is the legal effect of praeter intentionem?
- a 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.

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.

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 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
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
2. English Rule
Stand Ground When in The Right - the law does not require a
person to retreat when his assailant is rapidly advancing upon
him with a deadly weapon.
Stages In The Execution Of A Crime
1. Attempted Stage - a stage in the execution of a crime where

the offender commences commission of a felony directly by over


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.
Uncontrollable Fear - offender employs intimidation or threat in
compelling another to commit a crime.
Unlawful Entry - when an entrance is effected by a way not
intended
for the purpose.
Youthful offender over 9 but under 18 at time of the
commission
of the offense.

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