The Circumstances

Affecting Criminal Liability

1.Justifying Circumstances (Art. 11)
2.Exempting Circumstances (Art. 12),
and other absolutory causes Arts. 20,
124, 280, 332 and 344, etc.)
3.Mitigating Circumstances (Art. 13)
4.Alternative Circumstances (Art. 15)

Art. 11.Justifying circumstances. The following do not incur any

criminal liability:

1. Anyone who acts in defense of his person or rights, provided

that the following circumstances concur;

-First. Unlawful aggression.

-Second. Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent
or repel it.
-Third. Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person
defending himself.
2. Any one who acts in defense of the person or rights of his
spouse, ascendants, descendants, or legitimate, natural or adopted
brothers or sisters, or his relatives by affinity in the same degrees
and those consanguinity within the fourth civil degree, provided that
the first and second requisites prescribed in the next preceding
circumstance are present, and the further requisite, in case the
revocation was given by the person attacked, that the one making
defense had no part therein.

3. Anyone who acts in defense of the person or rights of a stranger,

provided that the first and second requisites mentioned in the first
circumstance of this Art. are present and that the person defending be
not induced by revenge, resentment, or other evil motive.
4. Any person who, in order to avoid an evil or injury, does not act
which causes damage to another, provided that the following requisites
are present;

-First. That the evil sought to be avoided actually exists;

-Second. That the injury feared be greater than that done to avoid
it;
-Third. That there be no other practical and less harmful means of
preventing it.
5. Any person who acts in the fulfillment of a duty or in the lawful
exercise of a right or office.
6. Any person who acts in obedience to an order issued by a
superior for some lawful purpose.

Justifying Circumstances
- Justifying circumstances are those where
the act of a person is said to be in
accordance with the law, so that such person
is deemed not to have transgressed the law
and is free from both CRIMINAL and
CIVIL(except Par. 4) liability.
-

Paragraph 1 Self-defense
1. Anyone who acts in defense of his person or
rights, provided that the following circumstances
concur;

-First. Unlawful aggression.

-Second. Reasonable necessity of the means

employed to prevent or repel it.
-Third. Lack of sufficient provocation on the part
of the person defending himself.

Rights Included in Self-defense:

-Right to life
-Right to property
-Right to honor

First Requisite:
Unlawful Aggression
- on the part of the person injured or killed by the
accused.
-Unlawful Aggression is an Indispensable Requisite
- Aggression must be unlawful
Two kinds of Aggression:
1. Lawful
2. Unlawful

There is unlawful aggression when

the peril to ones life, limb or right
is either actual or imminent.
There must be actual physical force
or actual use of weapon.

It presupposes an actual, sudden and unexpected

attack, or imminent danger thereof, and not
merely a threatening or intimidating attitude.

Peril to ones life:

1. Actual that the danger must be present, that is
actually in existence.

2. Imminent
that the danger is on the point of happening.
It is not required that the attack already begins,
for it may be too late.

Since the face represents a person and his

dignity, slapping it is a serious personal
attack. It is a physical assault coupled with
willful disregard of an individuals personality.

Retaliation is not self-defense

Retaliation is not a justifying circumstance
The attack made by the deceased and the killing
of the deceased by defendant should succeed
each other without appreciable interval of time.
- Then the killing of the deceased by the
accused was after the attack made by the
deceased, the accused must have no time nor
occasion for deliberation
and cool

thinking.

Unlawful Aggression in defense of other

rights:
1. Attempt to rape a woman defense of
right to chastity
2. Defense of property
3. Defense of Home

1.Attempt to rape a woman

- Defense of right to chastity

Embracing a woman, touching her private parts and

her breasts, and throwing her to the ground for the
purpose of raping her in an uninhabited place when
it was twilight, constitute an attack upon her honor
and, therefore, an unlawful aggression.

2. Defense of Property

Defense of property can be invoked as a justifying

circumstance only when it is coupled with an attack
on the person of one entrusted with said property.

3. Defense of Home

The owner of the house need not wait for a blow

before repelling the aggression, as that
blow may prove fatal.

Second Requisite:
Reasonable necessity if the means employed to
prevent or repel it.

The second requisite of defense means that:

1. there be a necessity of the course of action taken
by the person making a defense, and
2. there be a necessity of the means used.
Both must be reasonable.

The reasonableness of the necessity

depends upon the circumstances.
1. Necessity of the course of action taken
a. Place and occasion of the assault considered
b. The darkness of the night and the surprise
which characterized the assault considered.

The reasonableness of the necessity

depends upon the circumstances.
1. Necessity of the means used
a. A sleeping woman, who was awakened by her
brother-in law grasping her arm, was not justified in
using a knife to kill him.

The reasonableness of the necessity

depends upon the circumstances.
1. Necessity of the means used
b. When a person attacked with fist blows only,
there was no reasonable necessity to inflict upon the
assailant a mortal wound with a dagger.

The reasonableness of the necessity

depends upon the circumstances.
1. Necessity of the means used
b. When a man placed his hand on the upper
thigh of a woman inside the classroom during class,
there was no reasonable necessity to kill him with a
knife.

The reasonableness of the means

employed
1. The nature and quality of the weapons:
a. The person assaulted:
A. had other available means
B. if there was other means, he could coolly
choose the less deadly weapon to repel the assault.

The reasonableness of the means

employed
1. The nature and quality of the weapons:
b. limitations:
A. there was no other available means
B. if there was other available means, the one
making the defense could not coolly choose the less
deadly weapon to repel the aggression.

The reasonableness of the means

employed
1. The nature and quality of the weapons:
c. But when a person is attacked with fist blows,
he must repel the same with the weapon that nature
gave him, meaning with fists also.
Applies only when of the same size and strength.

The reasonableness of the means

employed
1. Physical condition, character and size
a. one against many

The reasonableness of the means

employed
1. Physical condition, character and size
b. The aggressor was a bully, a man larger and
stronger, of known violent character, with previous
criminal records for assault.

Third Requisite:
Lack of sufficient provocation on
person defending himself.

the part of the

To be entitled to the benefit of the justifying

circumstance of self-defense, the one defending himself
must not have given cause for the aggression by his
unjust conduct or by inciting or provoking the assailant.

How to determine the sufficiency of provocation

The provocation is sufficient:
1. When one challenges the deceased to come
out of the house and engage in a fist-fight and prove
who is the better man.
2. Then one hurls insults or imputes to another
the utterance of vulgar language.
3. When the accused tried to forcibly kiss the
sister of the deceased.

Paragraph 2 Defense of Relatives

2. Any one who acts in defense of the

person or rights of his spouse, ascendants,
descendants, or legitimate, natural or
adopted brothers or sisters, or his relatives by
affinity in the same degrees and those
consanguinity within the fourth civil degree,
provided that the first and second requisites
prescribed in the next preceding circumstance
are present, and the further requisite, in case
the revocation was given by the person
attacked, that the one making defense had no
part therein.

Relatives that can be defended:

1. Spouse
2. Ascendants
3. Descendants
4. Legitimate, natural or adopted brothers and
sisters, or relatives by affinity in the same
degrees
5. Relatives by consanguinity within the fourth
civil degree.

Requisites of defense of Relatives:

1. Unlawful Aggression
2. Reasonable necessity of the means employed
to prevent or repel it
3. In case the provocation was given by the
person attacked, the one making the defense had
no part therein.

Paragraph 3 Defense of Stranger

3. Anyone who acts in defense of the person or

rights of a stranger, provided that the first and
second requisites mentioned in the first
circumstance of this Art. are present and that
the person defending be not induced by revenge,
resentment, or other evil motive.

Requisites of defense of Stranger:

1. Unlawful Aggression
2. Reasonable necessity of the means employed
to prevent or repel it
3. The person defending be not induced by
revenge, resentment, or other evil motive.

Paragraph 4 Avoidance of greater evil or injury

4. Any person who, in order to avoid an evil or

injury, does not act which causes damage to
another, provided that the following requisites
are present;

First. That the evil sought to be avoided

actually exists;
Second. That the injury feared be greater
than that done to avoid it;
Third. That there be no other practical and
less harmful means of preventing it.

Damage to another
- This term covers injury to persons and damage
to property
That the evil sought to be avoided actually exists.
That the injury feared be greater than that done to
be avoided it.
The greater evil should not be brought about by
the negligence or imprudence of the actor.
The evil which brought about the greater evil must
not result from a violation of law by the actor.
There is civil liability under this paragraph.

Paragraph 5 Fulfillment of duty or lawful

exercise of right or office

5. Any person who acts in the fulfillment of

a duty or in the lawful exercise of a right
or office.
Requisites:
1. That the accused acted in the performance of a
duty or in the lawful exercise of a right or office;
2. That the injury caused or the offense committed
be the necessary consequence of the due performance
of duty or the lawful exercise of such right or office.

Paragraph 6 Obedience to an order issued for

some lawful purpose

6. Any person who acts in obedience to an order

issued by a superior for some lawful purpose.
Requisites:
1. That an order has been issued by a superior
2. That such order must be for some lawful purpose
3. That the means used by the subordinate to carry
out said order is lawful.