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Imputability implies a deed may be imputed to a person, responsibility implies that the person must take the consequence of such deed
Guilt: an element of responsibility, for a man cannot be made to answer for the consequences for a crime unless he is guilty. Justifying circumstances 1) Those where the act of a person is said to be in accordance with the law, so that such person is deemed not have transgressed the law is free from criminal and civil liability 2) There is no civil liability except in part 4, article 11, where the civil liability is borne by the persons benefitted by the act 3) Basis a. The law recognizes the non-existence of a crime by expressly stating in the opening sentence of art 11 that the persons, therein, mentions do not incur any criminal liability Article 11: Justifying Circumstances The following to not incur criminal liability 1. Anyone who acts in defense of his person or right provided that the following circumstance concur: a. Unlawful aggression b. Reasonable necessity of the mean employed to prevent or repel it c. Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person defending himself 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 consanguinity within the forth civil degree, provided that the first and second requisites prescribed in the next preceding circumstance are present, and the further requisite in the case the provocation was given by the person attacked, that the one making defense had no part therein. 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 by no induced by revenge, resentment or other evil motive. 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 actually exists b. That the injury feared be greater than that done to avoid it c. That there by no other practical and less harmful means of preventing it.
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There is no crime committed, the act being justified Such persons are not criminals, as there is no crime committed Burden of proof The circumstance mentioned in article 11 are matters of defense and it is incumbent upon the accused, in order to avoid criminal liability, to prove the justifying circumstance claimed by him to the satisfaction of the court Self-defense It incumbent upon him to prove by clear and convincing evidence that he indeed acted in defense of himself. He must rely on the strength of his own evidence and not on the weakness of the prosecution. For, even if the prosecution evidence is weak, it could not be disbelieved after the accused himself had admitted the killing. Self-defense must be proved with certainty by sufficient, satisfactory and convincing evidence that exclude any vestige of criminal aggression on the part of the person invoking it and it cannot be justifiably entertained where it is not only uncorroborated by any separate competent evidence, in itself, is extremely doubtful. The burden of proof rests upon the accused. o His duty is to establish self-defense by clear and convincing evidence, otherwise, conviction would follow from his admission that he killed the victim. o He must rely on the strength of his own evidence and not on the weakness of that for the prosecution. The plea of self-defense cannot be justifiably entertained where it is not only uncorroborated by any separate competent evidence by in itself extremely doubtful Par.1 o Anyone who acts in defense of his person or rights, provided that the follow circumstance concur: Unlawful aggression Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person defending himself Right included in self-defense o Includes not only the defense of the person or body of the one assaulted but also that of rights, that is, those rights the enjoyment of which is protected by law o Aside from the right to life on which rests the legitimate defense of our person, we have the right to property acquired by us, and the right to honor which is not the least prized of mans patrimony Reasons why penal law makes self-defense lawful o It would be quite impossible for the state in all cases to prevent aggression upon its citizens (and even foreigners, of course) and offer protection to the person unjustly attacked. It cannot be conceived that a person should succumb to an unlawful aggression without offering any resistance.
Requisites of self-defense 1) Unlawful aggression 2) Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it 3) Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person defending himself. 4)