Tiêu đề The Revised Penal Code Book 1 - Reyes.pdf ✅

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 amend- ments. 2. Special Penal Laws passed by the Philippine Commission, Philippine Assembly, Philippine Legislature, National As- sembly, 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 com- mission. (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 application is prohibited by Articles 21 and 22 of the Revised Penal Code and Section 12, Article IV (now Sec. 22, Art. HI, of the 1987 Constitution). (People vs. Villaraza, 81 SCRA 95, 97) The second limitation requires that criminal laws must be of general application and must clearly define the acts and omissions punished as crimes. Constitutional rights of the accused. Article III, Bill of Rights, of the 1987 Constitution provides for the following rights: