CLJ

• Criminal Law is that branch of municipal law that defines crimes, treats of their nature and provides for their punishment
• Sources of Criminal Law

  1. Revised Penal Code
  2. Special Penal Laws
  3. Presidential Decrees
  4. Ordinances
• Criminal law book 1 covers Articles 1-113, while book 2 covers Articles 114-365
• A crime is referred to as Felony when it violates the Revised Penal Code
• A crime is referred to as Offense when it violates a Special Penal Law
• When the law that was violated is an Ordinance, it is referred to as Infraction of Ordinance
• Generality characteristic- simply means that our criminal law is binding upon all persons residing or sojourning in the Philippines, regardless of their age, sex, color, creed, nationality or other personal circumstances
• Exceptions to Generality Characteristics:

  1. Public International Law in regard crimes committed by:
  2. Sovereign or Head of State
  3. Ambassadors
  4. Ministers Plenipotentiary and Minister resident
  5. Charges d' affaires
  6. Attache
• The general application of criminal law does not apply to those cases so provided by:

  1. Public International Law in regards crimes committed by:
  2. Sovereigns or Head of State
  3. Ambassadors
  4. Treaty Stipulations
  5. Law on Preferential Applications or Treatment, like:
  6. Domestic servants of a foreign diplomat
  7. Members of Congress
• Territoriality characteristics- simply means that our criminal law undertakes to punish crimes committed within the Philippine Territory
• Territoriality comprises 4 parts, namely:

  1. Body of land
  2. Airspace or atmosphere
  3. Interior waters
  4. Maritime Zone
• French rule focuses more on where the ship is from, while the English rule looks at where the crime occurred.
• Prospectivity characteristics- means that our criminal law cannot make an act punishable in a manner in which it was not punishable at the time it was committed
• A felony is consummated when all elements necessary for its executions and accomplishment are present.
• It is frustrated when the offender performs all the acts of execution which would produce the felony as a consequence but which, nevertheless do not produce it by reason of causes independent of the will of the perpetrator
• It is attempted when the offender commences the commission of the felony directly by overt acts, and does not perform all the acts of execution which would produce the felony by reason of some cause or accident other than his own spontaneous desistance
• Formal crimes- are those which are always consummated by single act like slander and physical injuries, while:

  Material crimes- are those which have three stages of execution, namely attempted, frustrated and consummated
• DEVELOPMENT OF CRIME

  1. INTERNAL ACTS- they are absolutely not punished; always not a crime
  2. EXTERNAL ACTS- refers to preparatory acts and acts of execution.

  As a rule, preparatory acts ae not punishable unless these acts are punished in themselves as independent crimes.
• HABITUAL DELINQUENCY is when a person within a period of 10 years from the date of his release or last conviction of 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
• QUASI- RECIDIVISM is any person who shall commit a felony after having been convicted by final judgment, before beginning to serve such sentence, or while serving the same, shall be punished by the maximum period of the penalty prescribed by law for the new felony
• RECIDIVIST is one who at a 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 Revised Penal Code
• REITERACION it is essential that the offender be previously punished- that is, he has served a sentence