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Book 1

This document discusses criminal law in the Philippines. It defines criminal law and crimes, and identifies the sources of Philippine criminal law as the Revised Penal Code and related legislation. It notes that unlike common law countries, the Philippines does not recognize common law crimes. The document also outlines limitations on criminal legislation, including prohibitions on ex post facto laws and bills of attainder under the Philippine Constitution.

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Wena Mae Cristobal
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202 views

Book 1

This document discusses criminal law in the Philippines. It defines criminal law and crimes, and identifies the sources of Philippine criminal law as the Revised Penal Code and related legislation. It notes that unlike common law countries, the Philippines does not recognize common law crimes. The document also outlines limitations on criminal legislation, including prohibitions on ex post facto laws and bills of attainder under the Philippine Constitution.

Uploaded by

Wena Mae Cristobal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CRIMINAL LAW

Criminal Law, defined.


Criminal law is that branch or division of law which defines
crimes, treats of their nature, and provides for their punishment. (12
Cyc. 129)
Crime, defined.
Crime is an act committed or omitted in violation of a public law
forbidding or commanding it. (I Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Rawle's
Third Revision, 729)
Sources of Philippine Criminal Law.
1. The Revised Penal Code (Act No. 3815) and its amendments.
2. Special Penal Laws passed by the Philippine Commission,
Philippine Assembly, Philippine Legislature, National Assembly, the Congress of the
Philippines, and the Batasang
Pambansa.
3. Penal Presidential Decrees issued during Martial Law.
No common law crimes in the Philippines.
The so-called common law crimes, known in the United States
and England as the body of principles, usages and rules of action,
which do not rest for their authority upon any express and positive
declaration of the will of the legislature, are not recognized in this
country. Unless there be a particular provision in the penal code
or special penal law that defines and punishes the act, even if it be
socially or morally wrong, no criminal liability is incurred by its commission.
(See U.S. vs. Taylor, 28 Phil. 599, 604)
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.
l
CRIMINAL LAW IN GENERAL
Limitations to Enact Criminal Legislation
2
Power to define and punish crimes.
The State has the authority, under its police power, to define and
punish crimes and to lay down the rules of criminal procedure. States,
as a part of their police power, have a large measure of discretion in
creating and denning criminal offenses. (People vs. Santiago, 43 Phil.
120, 124)
The right of prosecution and punishment for a 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 society
to look after, guard and defend the interests of the community, the
individual and social rights and the liberties of every citizen and the
guaranty of the exercise of his rights. (U.S. vs. Pablo, 35 Phil. 94,
100)
Limitations on the power of the lawmaking body to enact
penal legislation.
The Bill of Rights of the 1987 Constitution imposes the following
limitations:
1. No ex post facto law or bill of attainder shall be enacted.
(Art. Ill, Sec. 22)
2. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense
without due process of law. (Art. Ill, Sec. 14[1])
The first limitation prohibits the passage of retroactive laws
which are prejudicial to the accused.
An ex post facto law is one which:
(1) makes criminal an act done before the passage of the law
and which was innocent when done, and punishes such an
act;
(2) aggravates a crime, or makes it greater than it was, when
committed;
(3) changes the punishment and inflicts a greater punishment
than the law annexed to the crime when committed;
(4) 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;
CRIMINAL LAW IN GENERAL
Constitutional Rights of the Accused
3
(5) 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
(6) 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. (In re: Kay Villegas Kami, Inc., 35 SCRA 429,
431)
Congress is also prohibited from passing an act which would
inflict punishment without judicial trial, for that would constitute a
bill of attainder.
A 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 guilt. (People vs.
Ferrer, 48 SCRA 382, 395)
Example:
Congress passes a law which authorizes the arrest and
imprisonment of communists without the benefit of a judicial
trial.
To give a law retroactive application to the prejudice of the
accused is to make it an ex post facto law.
The penalty of prision mayor medium, or eight years and
one day to ten years, imposed by Presidential Decree No. 818,
applies only to swindling by means of issuing bouncing checks
committed on or after October 22, 1985. That increased penalty
does not apply to estafa committed on October 16, 1974 because
it would make the decree an ex post facto law. Its retroactive

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