CRIMINAL LAW (OUTLINE)

Criminal Law is the branch or division of public law which defines crimes, treats of their
nature, and provides for their punishment

Crime – an act committed or omitted in violation of a public law forbidding or commanding

it.

Sources of Philippine Criminal Law

 The Revised Penal Code (RPC; RA 3815) and its amendments
 Special Penal Laws passed by the Philippine Commission, Philippine Assembly,
the Congress of the Philippines, and the Batasang Pambansa
 Penal President Decrees issued during Martial Law

No common law Crimes

Common Law – based from custom or judicial precedent rather than statutes (statutory
law)

Court decisions are not sources of criminal law, because they merely explain the meaning
of, and apply, the law as enacted by the legislative branch of the government

Power to define and punish crime

 The State has the authority, under its police power, to define and punish crimes
and to lay down the rules of criminal procedure; (State) have a large measure of
discretion in creating and defining criminal offenses
 The right to prosecution and punishment for crime is one of the attributes that by
a natural law belongs to the sovereign power instinctively charged by the common
will of the members of the society…

Limitations on the power of the lawmaking body to enact penal legislation

The Bill of Rights of the 1987 Constitution imposes the following limitations:

 No ex post facto law or bill of attainder shall be enacted (Art. 3 Sec.22)

 No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense without due process of
law (Art. 3 Sec.14[1]) {requires that criminal laws must be of general application
and must clearly define the acts and omissions punished as crimes}

Ex post facto law is one which:

 Makes criminal an act done before the passage of the law and which was innocent
when done, and punishes such an act;
 Aggravates a crime or makes it greater than it was when committed;
 Changes the punishment and inflicts a greater punishment than the law annexed
to the crime when committed;
 Alters the legal rules of evidence and authorizes conviction upon less or different
testimony than the law required at the time of the commission of the offense;
 Assumes to regulate civil rights and remedies only, in effect imposes penalty or
deprivation of a right for something which when done was lawful; and
 Deprives a 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 – is a legislative act which inflicts punishment without trial. Its essence
is the substitution of a legislative act for a judicial determination of a guilt

Constitutional Rights of the Accused

  All persons shall have the right to a speedy disposition of their cases before all
judicial, quasi-judicial (A quasi-judicial body is a non-judicial body which can interpret law. It is an entity such as
an arbitrator or tribunal board, generally of a public administrative agency, which has powers and procedures) or
administrative bodies
 No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense without due process of
law
 All persons, except those charged with offenses punishable by reclusion perpetua
when evidence of guilt is strong, shall before conviction, be bailable by sufficient
sureties, or be released on recognition as may be provided by law
 In all criminal prosecution, the accused shall be presumed innocent until the
contrary is proved
 No person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself
 Excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel, degrading or inhuman punishment
inflicted
 No person shall be twice put in jeopardy of punishment for the same offense
 Free access to the courts and quasi-judicial bodies and adequate legal assistance
shall not be denied to any person by reason of poverty

Statutory Rights of an Accused

 To be presumed innocent until the contrary is proved beyond reasonable doubt

 To be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him
 To be present and defend in person and by counsel at every stage of the
proceedings (from arraignment to promulgation of the judgment)
 To testify as a witness in his own behalf but subject to cross examinations on
matters covered by direct examination
 To be exempt from being compelled to be a witness against himself
 To have compulsory process issued to secure the attendance of witnesses and
production of other evidence in his behalf
 To have a speedy, impartial and public trial
 To appeal in all cases allowed in the manner prescribed by law

Characteristics of Criminal Law

General – Criminal law is binding on all persons who live or sojourn (stay) in the Philippine
territory

Territorial – Criminal laws undertake to punish crimes committed within Philippine

territory; the principle of territoriality means that as a rule, penal laws of the Philippines
are enforceable only within its territory

Exceptions:
 committed an offense while on a Philippine ship or airship
 should forge or counterfeit any coin or currency note of the Philippines or
obligations and securities issued by the Government of the Philippines
 should be liable for acts connected with the introduction into the Philippines of the
obligations and securities mentioned (in preceding number)
 while being public officers or employees, should commit an offense in the exercise
of their functions
 should commit any of the crimes against national security and the law of nations
(defined in Title 1 Book 2 of the RPC)

Prospective – a penal law cannot make an act punishable in a manner in which it was
not punishable when committed.

Exception of prospective application:

 Where the new law is expressly made inapplicable to pending actions or existing
causes of action
 Where the offender is a habitual criminal (under Rule 5, Article 62 RPC)
ARTICLE 1 – This Code shall take effect on the first day of January, nineteen
hundred and thirty-two

Two Theories on Criminal Law

Classical Theory
 Basis of criminal liability is human free will and the purpose of the penalty is
retribution
 Man is essentially a moral creature with an absolutely free will to choose between
good and evil (stress upon the effect and result of the felonious act)
 Establish a mechanical and direct proportion between crime and penalty
 A scant regard to the human element

Positivist Theory
 Man is seduced occasionally by strange and morbid (gruesome) phenomenon
which constrains him to do wrong
 The crime is essentially a social and natural phenomenon; (as such) cannot be
treated and checked by the application of abstract principles of law and
jurisprudence but rather through the enforcement of individual measures in each
particular case (after thorough investigation)