CRIM 1 2

Chapter 2: Justifying Circumstances

and Circumstances Which Exempt
From Criminal Liability
Circumstances
Liability
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)

Affecting

Criminal

Justifying Circumstances
Exempting Circumstances
Mitigating Circumstances
Aggravating Circumstances
Alternative Circumstances

Imputability v. Responsibility
Imputability the act committed has
been freely and consciously done and
may be put down to the doer as his very
own (his own actions are attributed to
him)
Responsibility obligation of suffering
the consequences of the crime
Imputability means that a certain action
is simply attributed to a person;
responsibility means a person must take
the consequence of such certain action
No guilt, no responsibility
I. Justifying Circumstances
Act of a person is in accordance with
the law is deemed not to have
transgressed the law and is free
from both criminal and civil liability
Art. 11. Justifying Circumstances
the following does not incur any
criminal liability
(1) Anyone who acts in defense of
his person or rights, provided

that the following circumstances

concur:
(a) Unlawful aggression,
(b) Reasonable necessity of the
means employed to prevent or repel
it,
(c) Lack of sufficient provocation on
the part of the person defending
himself
(2) Anyone who acts in defense of
the person or rights of his
spouse,
ascendants,
descendants,
or
legitimate,
natural, or adopted brothers or
sisters, or of his relatives by
affinity in the same degrees, and
those by consanguinity within the
fourth civil degree, provided that
the first and second requisites
prescribed in the next preceeding
circumstance are present and the
further requisite in case the
provocation was given by the
person attacked, that 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 article 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 an act
which causes damage to another,
provided that the following
requisites are present:
(a) That the evil sought to be
avoided exists
(b) That the injury feared be the
greater than that done to
avoid it

(c) 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 of 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.
Self Defense
Burden of Proof is on the accused;
he must rely on the strength of his
own evidence and not on the
weakness of that for the prosecution
Penal laws makes self-defense
lawful because of the fact that the
state cannot in all cases prevent
aggression upon its citizens and
offer protection to the person
unjustly attacked
Requisites of Self-Defense
(1) Unlawful Aggression
(2) Reasonable Necessity of the means
employed to Prevent it
(3) Lack of Sufficient Provocation on the
Part of the Person defending himself
Unlawful Aggression
Indispensable prerequisite; it is
necessary that we be assaulted or
attacked or at least threatened with
an attack in an immediate and
imminent manner
Aggression must be unlawful
There is an unlawful aggression
when peril to ones life, limb or right
is either actual or imminent. There
must be actual physical force or
actual use of weapon
Oral threats or threatening stance
cannot
constitute
unlawful
aggression

Aggression made out of fulfillment of

a duty or the exercise of a right in a
more or less violent manner is lawful
Ex. Paramour killed the offended
husband who was assaulting him;
paramour cannot invoke selfdefense as the aggression on the
part of the husband is an act to
protect his honor and rights (US v.
Merced)
When there is no peril to ones life
there is no unlawful aggression
(reckless imprudence)
A. Requisites of Unlawful Aggression
(1) Peril to Ones Life
(a) Actual danger must be present
(US v. Jose Laurel) the deceased
attacked the accused with a cane
continuously until he fall into the ground,
in defense the accused stabbed him
(b) Imminent danger is on the point of
happening
(People v. Cabungcal) the deceased
tried to capsize the boat with several
women and children, and the accused
tried to stop him but had killed him in the
process
(2) Peril to Ones Limb
Imminent danger of death or bodily
harm
There must be an actual use of
weapon
Foot kicking is not unlawful
aggression
Mere belief of an impending attack is
not sufficient
Act of slapping on the face constitute
an unlawful aggression as the face
represent a person and his dignity
(3) Retaliation v. Self-defense

 A strong retaliation for an injury or

threat may amount to an unlawful
aggression
In retaliation the aggression that was
begun by the injured party already
ceased to exist when the accused
attacked him not a justifying
circumstance
In self-defense, the aggression was
still existing when the aggressor was
injured or disabled by the person
making a defense
The attack made by the deceased
and the killing of the deceased by
the defendant should succeed each
other without appreciable interval of
time (immediately right after the
attack)
(4) The unlawful aggression must
come from the person who was
attacked by the accused
(5) A public officer exceeding his
authority may become an unlawful
aggressor
Factors that may fail to fulfill
claim of self-defense
(a)
The
location,
number
and
seriousness of the wounds
suffered by the deceased may fail

(b)
(c)

(d)

to fulfill any supposition that it was

the deceased who was the
unlawful aggressor
The accused was the only
eyewitness to the crime
Improbability of the deceased
being the aggressor belies the
claim of self-defense (due to old
age)
The accused decline to give any
statement when he surrendered
to the police
When the aggressor flees, unlawful
aggression no longer exists
Exception: Unless the retreat is to
take more advantageous position
then the unlawful aggression
continues
No unlawful aggression when there
is agreement to fight
Exception: Aggression which is
ahead of the stipulated time and
place is unlawful
One who voluntarily joined a fight
cannot claim self-defense