CRIM WEEK 2 | APOLINAR | BANCE | GARCIA | ROMINA 1

a. Memorize Article 4
Art. 4. Criminal liability. — Criminal liability shall be 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 be an offense against persons or property, were it not for
the inherent impossibility of its accomplishment or an account of the employment of inadequate or
ineffectual means.

b. Discuss the first paragraph of Article 4

“Committing a felony” – the criminal liability must be incurred by committing a felony, not
merely performing an act. The felony committed by the offender should be one committed by means
of dolo, that is with malice, because paragraph 1 of Article 4 speaks of wrongful act done “different
from that which he has intended”.
If crime incurred was by fault, liability will be determined by Art. 365 which defines and penalizes
criminal negligence. The act or omission should not be also punished by special law, because
theoffender violating a special law may not have the intent to do an injury to another. In such case,
the wrongful act done could not be different, as the offender did not intend to do any other injury.
“Although the wrongful act done be different from that which he intended” – the causes
which may produce a result different from that which the offender intended are: (1) mistake in the
identity of the victim; (2) mistake in the blow, that is when the offender intending to do an injury to
one person actually inflicts it on another; and (3) the act exceeds the intent, that is, the injurious result
is greater than that intended.
c. What is the purpose of the first paragraph of Article 4
Rationale of the rule is found in the doctrine “el que es de la causa del mal causado” (he who is
the cause of the cause is the cause of the evil caused)

d. Discuss error in personae

In error in personae or mistake in the identity, the offender committed a mistake in ascertaining
the identity of the victim. The fact that the victims were different from the one the appellants intended to
injure cannot save them from conviction. Mistake in the identity of the victim carries the same gravity as
when the accused zeroes in on his intended victim. The main reason is that the accused had acted with
such disregard for the life of the victims without checking carefully the latter’s identity as to place himself
on the same legal plain as one who kills another wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously. Neither may the fact
that the accused made a mistake in killing one man instead of another be considered a mitigating
circumstance. The same intent to kill is present whether offender killed on or the other.
This is true if the intended and the actual crimes committed are of thee same severity or
classification e.g., both are homicide. if the crimes are different, as when the intended crime is homicide.
If the crimes are different, as when the intended crime is homicide but the actual crime committed is
parricide, or vice-versa the rule is different — Article 49 shall govern. Error in personae becomes
extenuating or mitigating.

e. Discuss mistake in the blow

In aberratio ictus or error in the victim of the blow, the offender intends the injury on one person
but the harm fell on another. There are three persons present: the offender, the intended victim, and the
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actual victim. Consequently the act may result in a complex crime or in two or more separate felonies, but
there is only one intent that characterized the crimes. Thus aberratio ictus may result to a greater penalty
to the offender

f. Discuss praeter intentionem

In praeter intentionem, the injury is on the intended victim but the resulting consequence is so
grave a wrong than what was intended. There should be a great disparity between the intended felony and
the actual felony committed.
Praeter intentionem is a mitigating circumstance. But if the means used to commit the desired
crime would also logically and naturally bring about the actual fleony committed, praeter intentionem, will
not be appreciated. If the intended wrong is to injure but the means used is kicking the victim violently
resulting to the death of the victim, it is not praeter intentionem because the means used would naturally
and logically result to the actual killing caused. This is because intent is a mental state which shown by
overt acts.
Praeter intentionem is not available in violations of the hazing law as expressly provided therein.

people vs ortega jr and garcia

g. What are the requisites to make paragraph one of Article 4 applicable?

In order that a person may be held criminally liable for a felony different from that which he
intended to commit, the following requisites must be present:
1. that an intentional felony has been committed
2. that the wrong done to the aggrieved party be the direct, natural and logical consequence of the felony
committed by the offender

h. Discuss the relationship of proximate cause to criminal liability

Proximate cause is that cause which, in its natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by an
efficient intervening cause, produces the injury, and without which the result would not have occurred.
A person committing a felony is criminally liable for all the natural and logical consequences
resulting therefrom although the wrongful act done be different from that which was intended. “Natural”
refers to an occurrence in the ordinary course of human life or events, while “logical” means that there is
a rational connection between the act of the accused and the resulting injury or damage.
The felony committed must be the proximate cause of the injury. Proximate legal cause is that
acting first and producing the injury, either immediately, or by setting other events in motion, all
constituting a natural and continuous chain of events, each having a close causal connection with the
immediate predecessor.
There must be a relationship of cause and effect, the cause being the felonious act of the offended,
the effect being the resultant injuries and/or death of the victim. The “cause and effect” relationship is not
altered or changed because of pre-existing conditions such as pathological condition of the victim, the
predisposition of the offended party or the concomitant or concurrent conditions such as negligence or
fault of doctors or the conditions supervening the felonies act.
i. What is an efficient intervening cause?
- active force that breaks the relation of cause and effect – the felony committed and the resulting injury.
An efficient intervening cause is when there is an active force that intervened between the felony
committed and the resulting injury, and the active force is a distinct act or fact absolutely foreign from the
felonious act of the accused or the resulting injury is due to the intentional act of the victim.
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urbano vs iac

j. What is a supervening event?

Supervening events, on the other hand, are circumstances that transpire after the decision's finality
rendering the execution of the judgment unjust and inequitable. It includes matters that the parties were
not aware of prior to or during the trial because such matters were not yet in existence at the time. In such
cases, courts are allowed to suspend execution, admit evidence proving the event or circumstance, and
grant relief as the new facts and circumstances warrant.
To successfully stay or stop the execution of a final judgment, the supervening event: (i) must
have altered or modified the parties' situation as to render execution inequitable, impossible, or unfair; and
(ii) must be established by competent evidence; otherwise, it would become all too easy to frustrate the
conclusive effects of a fined and immutable judgment.

k. What is an impossible crime

The commission of an impossible crime is indicative of criminal propensity or criminal tendency on
the part of the actor. Such person is a potential criminal. According positivist thinking, the community must
be protected from anti-social activities, whether actual or potential, of the morbid type of man called
“socially dangerous person”

l. What are the requisites of an impossible crime

1. that the act performed would be an offense against persons or property
2. that the act was done with evil intent
3. that its accomplishment is inherently impossible or that the means employed is either inadequate or
ineffectual
4. that the act performed shoul not constitute a violation of another provision of the revised penal code

m. What is the reason for punishing impossible crime?

To suppress criminal propensity or criminal tendencies. Objectively, the offender has not committed
a felony, but subjectively, he is a criminal.
jacinto v pop
intod vs ca

n Discuss Article 5
Art. 5. Duty of the court in connection with acts which should be repressed but which are not
covered by the law, and in cases of excessive penalties. — Whenever a court has knowledge of any act
which it may deem proper to repress and which is not punishable by law, it shall render the proper decision,
and shall report to the Chief Executive, through the Department of Justice, the reasons which induce the
court to believe that said act should be made the subject of legislation.
In the same way, the court shall submit to the Chief Executive, through the Department of Justice,
such statement as may be deemed proper, without suspending the execution of the sentence, when a strict
enforcement of the provisions of this Code would result in the imposition of a clearly excessive penalty,
taking into consideration the degree of malice and the injury caused by the offense.
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Basis of paragraph 1 – The legal maxim “nullun crimen, nulla poena sine lege”, that is, that there is no
crime if there is no law that punishes the act.
o. Memorize and discuss article 6
Art. 6. Consummated, frustrated, and attempted felonies. — Consummated felonies as well as those which
are frustrated and attempted, are punishable.
A felony is consummated when all the elements necessary for its execution and accomplishment
are present; and it is frustrated when 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.
There is an attempt when the offender commences the commission of a felony directly or 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 this own spontaneous desistance.

p. What is the stages in the development of crime

1. internal acts - mere ideas in the mind of a person, are not punishable even if, had they been carried
out, they would constitute a crime
intention and effect must concur
mere intention producing no effect is no more a crime than a mere effect without the intention is a crime
thus if a intended to commit treason and joined a body of armed man in the belief that the were Makapilis,
when in fact they were Guerrilleros, A was not liable for treason, despite his intent
2. external acts
a. preparatory act - ordinarily they are not punishable
Ordinarily, these are not punishable. Hence proposal and conspiracy to commit a felony, which are only
preparatory act are not punishable, except when the law provides for their punishment in certain felonies

But prep acts which are considered in themselves by law, as independent crimes are punishable.

Examples:
1. buying poison or carrying weapon with which to kill the intended victim
2. carrying inflammable materials to the place where a house is to be burned
For merely doing any of these acts, a person is not liable for attempted homicide or attempted arson,
because they do not constitute even the first stage of the acts execution of those crimes

b. act of execution - they are punishable under the RPC

the stages of act of execution - attempted(first), frustrated(Second), and consummated(third and last) are
punishable

in performing the acts of execution of a felony, the offender may reach only the first stage or the second
stage. In either case, he doesn’t produce the felony he intends to commit. But he is liable for attempted
felony or frustrated felony, as the case may be.
q. What are the elements of an attempted felony?
1. The offender commences the commission of the felony directly by overt acts.
2. He does not perform all the acts of execution which should produce the felony
3. The offender’s act is not stopped by his own spontaneous desistance.
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4. The non-performance of all acts of execution was due to cause or accident other than his spontaneous
desistance.
r. What is an overt act
an overt act is some physical activity or deed, indicating the intention to commit a particular crime more
than a mere planning or preparation, which if carried to its complete termination following its natural
course, without being frustrated by external obstacles nor by the voluntary desistance of the perpetrator,
will logically and necessarily ripen into a concrete offense

s. What are the elements of frustrated felony

1. the offender performs all the acts of execution
2. all the acts performed would produce the felony as a consequence
3. but the felony is not produced
4. by the reason of causes independent of the will of the perpetrator

t. What are the elements of a consummated felony

u. discuss the manner of committing a crime

1. formal crime - consummated in one instant, no attempt
there are crimes like slander and false testimony which are consummated in one instant, by a single act.
as a rule, there can be no attempt at a formal crime, because between the thought and the deed there is
no chain of acts that can be severed in any link. thus, in slander, there is either a crime or no crime at all,
depending upon whether or not defamatory words were spoken publicly

2. crimes consummated by mere attempt or proposal or by overt act

flight to enemy’s country - in this crime the mere attempt to flee to an enemy country is a consummated
felony
corruption of minors - a mere proposal to the minor to satisfy the lust of another will consummate the
offense

3. felony by omission
there can be no attempted stage when the felony is by omission because in this kind of felony the offender
doe not execute acts. he omitted to perform an act which the law requires him to do.
but killing a child by starving him, although apparently by omission, is in fact by commission

4. crimes requiring the intervention of two persons to commit them are consummated by mere agreement
in those crimes, like betting in sport contests and corruption of public officer which require the intervention
of two persons to commit them, the same are consummated by mere agreement. The offer made by one
of the parties to the other constitutes attempted felony, if the offer is rejected

5. material crimes - there are thee stages of execution

a. consummated rape
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the accused lay on top of the a nine year old girl for over 15 minutes. The girl testified that there was
partial penetration of the male organ in her private parts and that she felt intense pain.
H: Entry of the labia or lips of the female organ without rupture of the hymen is generally held sufficient
to warrant conviction of the accused for consummated crime of rape

b. frustrated rape
the accused endeavoured to have sexual intercourse with a 3 year old girl. There was doubt whether he
succeeded in penetrating the vagina
H: There being no conclusive evidence of penetration of the genital organ of the child, the accused is
entitled to the benefit of the doubt and can only be found guilty of frustrated rape

c. attempted rape
The accused placed himself on top of a woman and raising her skirt in an effort to get his knees between
her legs while his hands held her arms firmly, endeavouring to have sexual intercourse with her, but not
succeeding because of the offended party was able to extricate herself and to run away

d. consummated homicide
Accused-appellant shot the victim in the left forearm. While he and the victim were grappling for the gun,
his co-accused who has remained at large, stabbed the victim in the chest. The victim died and it was
established that the cause of death was haemorrhage, secondary to stab wound
H: Accused-appellant was found guilty of homicide there being no qualifying circumstance to make the
killing murder. The fact that he did not inflict thee moral is of no moment, since the existence of conspiracy
was satisfactorily shown by the evidence
e. frustrated murder
The accused stabbed his two victim as they were about to close their store in the evening. one of the victim
died while the other recovered
H: The assault upon the surviving victim constituted frustrated murder, her relatively quick recovery being
the result of prompt medical attention which prevented the infection in the wound from reaching fatal
proportions which would otherwise ensued. The attack was qualified by treachery

f. attempted homicide
The accused intended to kill his victim but he was not able to perform all the acts of execution necessary
to consummate the killing. The wounds inflicted did not affect vital organs. There were not moral. He was
first wanted his victim before shooting him

v. memorize and discuss article 7

Art. 7. When light felonies are punishable. — Light felonies are punishable only when they
have been consummated, with the exception of those committed against person or property.

w. What is the reason for penalizing the commission of light felony?

Light felonies produce such light, such insignificant moral and material injuries that public conscience is
satisfied with providing a light penalty for their consummation. If they are not consummated, the wrong
done is so slight that there is no need of providing a penalty at all.
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Reason for the exception – the commission of felonies against persons or property presupposes in the
offender moral depravity. For that reason, even attempted or frustrated light felonies against persons or
property are punishable.