BOOK 1

ELEMENTS
MISTAKE OF FACT
1. That the act done would have been lawful and justifiable
had the facts been as the accused believed them to be;

2. That the intention of the accused in doing the act must be

lawful; and

3. That the mistake must be without fault, negligence,

carelessness on the part of the offender.
PROXIMATE CAUSE DOCTRINE
1. The intended act is a felonious act;

2. The resulting act is felony; and

3. The resulting act is the direct, natural and logical

consequence of the felonious act of the offender.
IMPOSSIBLE CRIME DOCTRINE
1. That the act done would have been an offense against
persons or property;

2. That the act was done with evil intent;

3. That the act was not accomplished because of its inherent

impossibility or the employment of inadequate or
ineffectual means; and

4. That the act done should not constitute any other

violation of the RPC.
ATTEMPTED STAGE
1. The offender commences the commission of the crime
directly by overt acts;

2. That he does not perform all acts of execution that would

have produced the felony;

3. That his act was not stopped by his own spontaneous

desistance; and

4. That he was not able to perform all acts of execution by

reason of some cause or accident than his own
spontaneous desistance.
ATTEMPTED STAGE
1. The offender performs all the acts of execution;

2. All the acts performed would produce the felony as a

consequence;

3. The felony is not produced; and

4. By reason of causes independent of the will of the

perpetrator.
ART. 11 SELF-DEFENSE
1. Unlawful aggression;
a. There must be a physical or material attack or assault;
b. The attack or assault must be actual or at least imminent;
c. The attack or assault must be unlawful.

2. Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or

repel it; and

3. Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person

defending himself.
ART. 11 DEFENSE OF A RELATIVE

1. Unlawful aggression;

2. Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent

or repel it;

3. In case the provocation was given by the person attacked,

the one making the defense had no part therein.
ART. 11 DEFENSE OF A STRANGER

1. Unlawful aggression;

2. Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent

or repel it;

3. The person defending be not induced by revenge,

resentment, or ill motive.
ART. 11 STATE OF NECESSITY

1. The evil sought to be avoided actually exists;

2. The injury feared be greater than that done to avoid it;

3. There be no other practical and less harmful means of

preventing it.
ART. 11 FULFILLMENT OF A DUTY OR IN A
LAWFUL EXERCISE OF AN OFFICE

1. Accused acted in the performance of a duty or in the

lawful exercise of a right or office;

2. Injury caused or offense committed be the necessary

consequence of the due performance of a duty or the
lawful exercise of such right or office.
ART. 11 OBEDIENCE TO AN ORDER ISSUED BY A
SUPERIOR FOR SOME LAWFUL PURPOSE

1. An order has been issued by a superior;

2. Such order must be for some lawful purpose;

3. Means used by the subordinate to carry out said order is

lawful.
ART. 12 ACCIDENT

1. A person is performing a lawful act;

2. He was performing the lawful act with due care;

3. He causes injury to another by mere accident;

4. The injury is without fault or intent on the part of the

offender.
ART. 12 IRRESISTIBLE FORCE

1. Compulsion is by means of physical force;

2. Physical force must be irresistible;

3. Physical force must come from a third person.

ART. 12 UNCONTROLLABLE FEAR

1. Existence of an uncontrollable fear;

2. Fear must be real and imminent;

3. Fear of an injury is greater than or equal to that

committed.
ART. 12 LAWFUL OR INSUPERABLE CAUSE

1. An act is required by law to be done;

2. A person fails to perform such act;

3. The failure to perform such acts was due to some lawful

or insuperable cause.
ART. 13 PRAETER INTENTIONEM

1. The offender committed a felony;

2. A notable or notorious disparity between the means

employed by offender and the resulting felony.
ART. 13 SUFFICIENT PROVOCATION

1. The provocation must be sufficient;

a. Must be adequate to stir a person to commit a

wrongful act;
b. It must be proportionate to the gravity of the crime.

2. The provocation must originate from the offended party;

3. The provocation must be immediate from the commission

of the criminal act by the person who was provoked.
ART. 13 IMMEDIATE VINDICATION OF A GRAVE
OFFENSE

1. There be a grave offense to the one committing the felony,

his spouse, ascendants, descendants, legitimate, natural,
or adopted brothers or sisters, or relatives by affinity
within the same degree;

2. The said act or grave offense must be the proximate cause

of the commission of the crime.
ART. 13 VOLUNTARY SURRENDER

1. The offender had not actually been arrested;

2. The offender had surrendered himself to a person in

authority or his agent;

3. The surrender must be voluntary.

ART. 14 That the crime be committed in
contempt of or with insult to the public
authorities

1. That the public officer or public authority is engaged in

the exercise of his function;

2. That the public authority is not the person against whom

the crime is committed;

3. That the offender knows him to be a public authority;

4. That the presence of the public authority did not prevent

the offender from the commission of the crime.
ART. 14 ABUSE OF CONFIDENCE

1. That the offended party had trusted the offender;

2. That the offender abuse such trust by committing a crime

against the offended party;

3. That the abuse of confidence facilitated the commission of

the crime.
ART. 14 OBVIOUS UNGRATEFULNESS

1. That the offended party had trusted the offender;

2. That the offender abuse such trust by committing a crime

against the offended party;

3. That the act be committed with obvious ungratefulness.

ART. 14 That the crime be committed in the
palace of the Chief Executive, or in his presence,
or where public authorities are engaged in the
discharge of their duties or in a place dedicated
to religious worship
Where public authorities engaged in the discharge of their
duties:
1. The place is where public authorities are engaged in the
discharge of their duties;

2. The public authorities are actually engaged in the

discharge of the performance of their duties.
ART. 14 NIGHTTIME
1. The offender deliberately took advantage of nighttime or
cover of darkness;

2. The purpose of the offender is to facilitate the commission

of the crime or to insure or afford impunity.
ART. 14 UNINHABITED PLACE

1. That in the place where the crime was committed there

was a remote possibility for the victim to receive some
help;

2. That the offender deliberately sought the uninhabited

place in order to facilitate the commission of the crime.
ART. 14 RECIDIVISM

1. That the offender is on trial for an offense;

2. That he was previously convicted by final judgment of

another crime;

3. That both the first and second offenses are embraced in

the same title of the RPC;

4. That the offender is convicted of the second offense

charged.
ART. 14 REITERACION
1. That the accused is on trial for an offense;

2. That at the time of the trial he previously served sentence

for another crime to which the law attaches an equal or
greater penalty or for two or more crimes to which it
attaches a lighter penalty;

3. That he is also convicted of the new offense.

ART. 62 HABITUAL DELINQUENCY
1. The crimes the offender committed should be serious
physical injuries, less serious physical injuries, robbery,
theft, estafa, and falsification;

2. There should be at least three convictions;

3. Each conviction must come within ten year from date of

release or last conviction of the previous crime.
ART. 14 EVIDENT PREMEDITATION
1. The time when the offender determined to commit the
crime;

2. An act manifestly indicating that the culprit has clung to

his determination;

3. Sufficient lapse of time between the determination and

execution, to allow him to reflect upon the consequences
of his acts.
ART. 14 SUPERIOR STRENGTH
1. That there be a notorious inequality of forces between the
offender and the offended party in terms of their age, size
and strength;

2. That the offender took advantage of this inequality of

forces to facilitate the commission of the crime.
ART. 14 TREACHERY
1. That the offender deliberately adopted the particular
means, method or form of attack employed by him;
2. That at the time of the attack, the victim was not in a
position to defend himself.

In cases:

1. The employment of means of execution that gives the

persons attacked no opportunity to defend themselves or
retaliate;
2. The means of execution were deliberately or consciously
adopted.
ART. 14 CRUELTY
1. That at the time of the infliction of the physical pain, the
offended party is still alive;

2. That the offender enjoys and delights in seeing his victim

suffer gradually by the infliction of the physical pain.
ART. 17 PRINCIPAL BY INDUCEMENT
1. The inducement is made directly to procure the commission of
the crime; and

2. The inducement is the primary reason[/determining cause] of

the commission of the crime by the principal by direct
participation.
ART. 18 ACCOMPLICES
1. There must be community of design;

2. After the principals have [formed] the criminal design, the

accomplice had been informed of the criminal design of the
offender and having been informed, he concurs with the said
criminal design. He is not part of the conspiracy but he knows
and concurs with the design because he was informed of the
same only after the principal had come up with agreement. 2.
That he performs the acts previous or simultaneous to the
commission of the crime; and

3. That the acts performed by the principal are related to the acts
performed by the accomplice.
ANTI-FENCING LAW (PD 1612)

1. That the crime of robbery or theft has been committed;

2. That the said person was found in possession of the said

article or items which are the proceeds of the crime;

3. That there was on the part of such person, the intent to

gain either for himself or for another;

4. That the said person knows or should have known that

the article is the product of robbery or theft.
ART. 48 COMPLEX CRIME
COMPOUND CRIME
1. Offender performs a single act;

2. The act resulted in two or more grave or less grave

felonies.

COMPLEX CRIME PROPER

1. Two offenses are committed;

2. One offense is a necessary means to commit the other;

3. Both offenses are punished by the same statute.

DELICTO CONTINUADO
1. Plurality of acts performed during a period of time;

2. Unity of penal provisions violated;

3. Unity of criminal purpose or aim.

ART. 103 SUBSIDIARY CIVIL LIABILITY
1. Employer must be engaged in some kind of industry;

2. Employer and employee relationship;

3. Employee committed a crime in the exercise of his duties

as employee;

4. There must be conviction of the crime and the employee

was found insolvent to pay civil indemnity. The moment
the employee was found insolvent, the liability of the
employer now becomes absolute. A motion for the
issuance of a subsidiary writ of execution must then be
filed by the complainant.