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CRIMINAL LAW 1.

Treaty stipulations;
2. Law of preferential application;
3. Principle of international law - diplomatic
Criminal Law. Branch or division of law which defines crimes, treats of their
representatives ie., sovereigns and chiefs of state,
nature, and provides for their punishment. ambassadors, minister plenipotentiary, ministers
Crime. An act committed or omitted in violation of a public law forbidding or resident, charges d'affaires- possess immunity from
commanding it. the criminal jurisdiction of the country and cannot
Sources: be sued, arrested or punished.
1. RPC Act No. 3815 & its amendments; 2. Territorial - criminal laws undertake to punish crimes committed
2. Special penal laws passed by the Phil Commission, Phil Assembly, within the Philippine territory.
Phil Legislature, Nat'l Assembly, Phil Congress, Batasang Pambansa Article 2. The provisions of this code shall be enforced not only within the
3. Penal Presidential Decrees during Martial Law. Philippine Archipelago, including its atmosphere, interior waters and maritime zone,
but also outside of its jurisdiction, against those who:
No common law crimes in the Philippines. 1. Should commit while on the Philippine
Common law - body of principles, usages and rules of action, which do not rest for ship or airship;
their authority upon any express and positive declaration of the will of the 2. Should forge or counterfeit any coin or
legislature currency note of the Philippine Islands
or obligations and securities issued by
State. Has the authority under its police power to define and punish crimes and to the Government of the Philippine
lay down the rules of criminal procedure. Islands.
Court decisions are not sources of criminal law, they merely explain the meaning of 3. Should be liable for any acts connected
and apply the law as enacted by the legislature. with the introduction into these islands
Limitations on the power of the lawmaking body to enact penal legislation. of the obligations and securities
1. Ex-post facto law - one which makes criminal an act done before the mentioned in the preceding number;
passage of the law; aggravates a crime when committed; changes the 4. While being public officers or
punishment and inflicts a greater punishment than the law annexed to employees, should commit an offense
the crime when committed in the exercise of their duties;
2. Bill of attainder - automatic conviction without passing through a 5. Should commit any of the crimes
trial against national security and the law of
3. Criminal laws must be of general application and must clearly define nations, defined in the Title One of
the acts and omissions punished as crimes. Book Two of this Code.
3. Prospective - penal law cannot make an act punishable in a manner
Characteristics of Criminal Law. in which it was not punishable when committed.
1. General - criminal law is binding on all persons who live or sojourn Exception: when a new statute dealing with crime establishes conditions more
in the Philippine territory. lenient or favorable to the accuse, it can be given a retroactive effect.
Exception. Exception to the exception
1. Where the new law is
expressly made
inapplicable to existing
causes of action.
2. Offender is a habitual
criminal
Theories of Criminal Law.
1. Classical theory - basis of criminal liability is human free will
and purpose of the penalty is retribution.
2. Positivist theory - man is subdued occasionally by a strange and
morbid phenomenon which constrains him to do wrong, in spite of or
contrary to his volition.

Repealed laws.
1. When the repeal is absolute, the offense ceases to be criminal.
2. When new law and old law penalize the same offense, the
offender can be tried under the old law.
3. When the repealing law fails to penalize the offense under the
old law, the accused cannot be convicted under new law.
4. A person erroneously accused and convicted under a repealed
statute may be punished under the repealing statute.
5. A new law which omits anything contained in the old law
dealing on the same object, operates as a repeal of anything not
so included in the amendatory act.
How are penal laws construed?

1. Penal laws are strictly construed against the Government and


liberally in favor of the accused.
2. Spanish text prevails over the English text, in construing or
interpreting provisions of the RPC.
PERSONS AND FAMILY RELATIONS: It is a presumption that every person knows the law. Article 3 applies only to
mandatory or prohibitory laws.
EFFECT AND APPLICATION OF LAWS
NOTES Art 4. Non-retroactivity of laws
Laws shall have no retroactive effect, unless the contrary is
Articles 1 -20 provided.
Effect and Application of Laws
That law looks into the future and has no retroactive effect unless the
legislature may have given effect to some legal provisions.
Art 1. Republic Act Number 386 Retroactive Application
This act shall be known as the Civil Code of the Philippines  When the law expressly provides for retroactivity.
 When the law is curative or remedial
Republic Act No. 386 prepared by the Roxas Code Commission, created via EO No.  When the law is procedural
48 March 20, 1947  When the law is penal in character and favorable to the accused.
An Act to Ordain and Institute the Civil Code of the Philippines
Art 5. Mandatory and Prohibitory Laws
Art 2. Effectivity of the Civil Code Acts executed against the provisions of mandatory or
Laws shall take effect after 15 days following the date of their prohibitory laws shall be void, except when the law itself
publication in the Official Gazette, unless otherwise provided. authorizes their validity.
This Code shall take effect one year after publication.
Mandatory law. Law is one the omission which renders the proceeding or acts to
1950 Civil Code took effect on August 30, 1950 which it relates generally illegal or void
Effectivity of Laws. When a statute does not explicitly provide for its effectivity, it Prohibitory law. Contain positive prohibitions and are couched in negative terms
shall have effect only after the expiration of the 15-day period following the
completion of its publication either in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of Art 6. Waiver
general circulation.
Rights may be waived, unless the waiver is contrary to law,
Art 3. public policy, morals or good customs, or prejudicial to the third
Ignorance of the law excuses no one compliance therewith. person with right recognized by the law.

Waiver - intentional relinquishment of a known right.


Ignorantia legis non excusat
It is important that a right, in order that it may be validly waived, must be in Implied repeal. New law contains provisions contrary to the Constitution with
existence at the time of the waiver those of a former without expressly repealing them.
Unconstitutional Statutes. The Constitution is the supreme organic and
When to waive your When you know there is a right exists fundamental law of the land.
rights?
The constitutionality of unconstitutionality of the statute depends upon
You require knowledge of facts basic to the exercised of factor other than those existing at the time of the enactment, unaffected by
the right waived acts or omissions of law enforcing agencies, specially those that take place
subsequently.
You must be aware of its consequences
Partial Unconstitutionality of Statutes. Where the portion of the statute is
Prohibition against waiver. If it is contrary to law, public order, policy, morals, good rendered unconstitutional and the remainder valid, the parts will be
customs, prejudicial to the 3rd person with a right recognized by the law. separated, and the constitutional provisions upheld.
Rights, protections, and advantages conferred by statutes are generally waived. Rules and regulations etc. Rules and regulations when promulgated in
pursuance of the procedure or authority conferred upon the administrative
Art 7. Repealed Laws agency by law, partake of the nature of a sanction provided in the law.
Law are repealed only by subsequent ones, and their violation or A rule is binding on the courts so long as the procedure fixed for it
non-observance shall not be excused by disuse, or custom, or promulgation is followed.
practice to the contrary. The regulations adopted under legislative authority by a particular
When the court declare a law to be inconsistent with the department must be in harmony with the provisions of the law.
Constitution, the former shall be void the latter shall govern.
Art 8 - Judicial Construction and Interpretation
Administrative or executive acts, orders and regulations shall be
Judicial decisions applying or interpreting the laws or the
valid only when they are not contrary to the laws or the
Constitutions shall form a legal system of the Philippines.
Constitution.
Construction. Is the art or process of discovering and expounding the
Repeal of law. Legislative act of abrogating through a subsequent law the meaning and intentions of the authors of the law, with respect to its
effects of a previous statute or portions thereof. application to a given case, where that intention is rendered doubtful, among
Express repeal. Repeal by which literally declared by a new law other reason of the fact that the given case is not explicitly provided for in
Specific terms. Where particular laws and provisions are named and the law.
identified and declared to be repealed. Effect of Judicial Decision. Legis interpratio legis vim obtinet. The
General terms. Where a provision in new law declares all laws and parts of interpretation placed upon a written law by a competent court has the force
laws inconsistent to be repealed. of law.
Custom - rule of conduct formed by repetition of acts, uniformly observed as a
Supreme Court decisions Authoritative and precedent-setting
social rule, legally binding and obligatory.
CA & Inferior courts Merely persuasive Local custom as a source of right cannot be considered by a court of justice unless
such custom is properly established by competent evidence like any other fact.

Art 9. Duty of judges Art 13. Years, months, days, nights


No judge or court shall decline to render judgment by reason of When the law speaks of years, months, days or nights, it shall be
the silence, obscurity or insufficiency of the laws. understood that years are of 365 days each; months of 30 days;
days, of 24 hours; and nights from sunset to sunrise.
Judges are tasked with the dispensation of justice in accordance with the
If months are designated by their name, they shall be computed
constitutional precept that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or
property without due process of law. by the number of days which they respectively have.
Judicial Legislation. The judiciary task is to resolve controversies and In computing a period, the first day shall be excluded and the
interpreting statutes. The judiciary cannot legislate. last day included.

Art 10. Doubtful statutes Art 14. Obligatory force of penal laws
In case of doubt in the interpretation and application of laws, it is presumed that
the lawmaking body intended right and justice to prevail.
Penal laws and those of public safety and security shall be
obligatory upon all who live or sojourn in the Philippine
Where the law is clear, it must be applied according to its unambiguous provisions. territory, subject to the principles of public international law and
If there is ambiguity in the law, interpretation of the law requires fidelity to the to treaty stipulations
legislative purpose.
Art 15. Nationality Rule
Art 11. Customs Laws relating to family rights and duties, or to the status,
Customs which are contrary to law, public order or public policy condition and legal capacity of persons are binding upon citizens
shall not be countenanced of the Philippines, even though living abroad.
Art 12 Regardless of where a citizen of the Philippines might be, he or
A custom must be proved as a fact, according to the rules of she will be governed by Philippine with respect to his or family
evidence. rights and duties, or to his or her status, condition, and legal
capacity.
Art 17
Art 16 Law Governing Real Properties The forms and solemnities of contracts, wills, and other public
Real property as well as personal property is subject to the law instruments shall be governed by the laws of the country in
of the country where it is situated. which they are executed.
However, intestate and testamentary succession and to the When the acts referred to are executed before the diplomatic or
amount of successional rights and to the intrinsic validity of consular officials of the Republic of the Philippines in a foreign
testamentary provisions, shall be regulated by the national of country, the solemnities established by the Philippine laws shall
the person whose succession is under consideration, whatever be observed in their execution.
may be the nature of the property and regardless of the country Prohibitive laws concerning persons, their acts or property, and
wherein said property may be found. those which have for their object public order, public policy and
Testamentary succession. When the descendant died with a valid will which must
good customs shall not be rendered ineffective by laws or
be duly allowed by the court. It is essential that there be qualified heirs of the will judgments promulgated, or by determinations of conventions
Intestate succession. Either the descendant died without a will, or he died with a agreed upon in a foreign country.
void or an ineffective will. It is not correct to say that there is intestacy just because
there is no will. In intestacy, a valid could be in existence although it might have lost Extrinsic validity. Law provides that the forms and solemnities of public
its validity or there are no qualified heirs or all designated heirs have refuse the instruments, wills, and contracts shall be governed by the laws of the country where
inheritance. they are executed.
Order of succession. Order in which individuals are expected to succeed one Lex loci celebrationis. The place where the law is contracted.
another in some official position. Formalities of acquisition, encumbering and alienation of property shall however,
Amount of successional rights. Amount of property that each heir is legally entitled be governed not by the lex loci celebrationis but by the lex rei sitae.
to inherit from the estate available for distribution. Acts before diplomatic and consular officials. They are representatives of the state,
Capacity to succeed therefore any act or contract made in a foreign country must conform with the
Intrinsic validity of the provisions of the will. e.g., whether a disinheritance has solemnities under Philippine law. The host country, by rules of international law,
properly been made or not, whether a testamentary disposition can be given effect waives its jurisdiction over the premises of the diplomatic office of another country
or not. located in the said country.
Lex rei sitae - Law where the property is situated. Prohibitive laws. Under our law, prohibitive laws concerning persons shall not be
Renvoi doctrine. Commonly used in conflict of laws. It refers to the application of rendered ineffective by laws or judgment promulgated, or by determinations or
rules of one state by the court or tribunal of another state, in order to solve a conventions agreed upon in a foreign country.
conflict of laws problem.
Art 18 Suppletory Nature.
In matters which are governed by the Code of Commerce and
special laws, their deficiency shall be supplied by the provisions
of this Code.
Any deficiency in the Code of Commerce shall be supplied by the provisions of the
Civil Code.

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