CHAPTER V

Introduction to
Philippine
Criminal Law
Definition of Criminal Law

 CriminalLaw is that branch or

division of law, which defines
crimes, treats of their nature,
and provides for their
punishment.
Characteristics of Criminal Law
1. General because Criminal Law is binding
on all persons who reside or sojourn in
Philippine territory.
2. Territorial because criminal law
undertakes to punish crimes committed
within the Philippine territory.
3. Prospective is that a penal law cannot
make an act punishable when committed.
Crimes are punished under the laws in force
at the time of their commission.
Sources of Criminal Law

1. Revised Penal Code (RPC)

2. Special Laws of Statutes
3. Executive Orders
4. Administrative Orders
5. Local Ordinances
6. Other issuances punitive in
nature
Revised Penal Code (RPC) as a
Source of Criminal Law

1. Book One (Arts 1-113)

2. Book Two (Arts 114-365)
Criminal Liability is incurred:
1. By any person committing a felony (delito)
although the wrongful act done be different
from that which he intended.
2. By any person performing an act which
would an offense against persons or
property, were it not for the inherent
impossibility of its accomplishment or on
account of the employment of inadequate
or ineffectual means. (Art. 4, RPC).
Causes, which may produce a result different
from that which the offender intended:

1. error in personae or mistake in the

identity of the victim;
2. aberratio ictus or mistake in the blow,
that is, when the offender intending to
do an injury to one person actually
inflicts it on another; and
3. praeter intentionem or when the
injurious result is greater than that
intended or the act exceeds the intent.
Impossible Crime
 Paragraph 2 of Article 4 of the Revised
Penal Code defines impossible crime, to
wit, “an act which would be an offense
against persons or property, were it not
for the inherent impossibility of its
accomplishment or on account of the
employment of inadequate or ineffectual
means”.
Stages in the execution of acts
1. Attempted (the offender commences the
commission of a felony directly by over acts, and
does not perform all the acts of execution which
should produce the felony by reason of some cause
or accident other than his own spontaneous
desistance)
2. Frustrated (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 )
3. Consummated (all the elements necessary for its
execution and accomplishment are present)
Circumstances which affects
Criminal Liability

1. Justifying circumstances (Art. 11, RPC),

2. Exempting circumstances (Art. 12, RPC)
and other absolutory causes (Art. 20,
Art. 124, last paragraph, RPC),
3. Mitigating circumstances (Art. 13, RPC),
4. Aggravating circumstances (Art. 14,
RPC),
5. Alternative circumstances (Art. 15, RPC)