Justifying Circumstances Definition

Definition
Are those where the act of a person is said to be in accordance with law, so
that such person is deemed not to have transgressed the law and is free from both criminal
and civil liability.

There is no civil liability, except in par. 4 art. 11, where the civil liability is
borne by the persons benefited by the act.

Basis
The law recognizes the non-existence of a crime by expressly stating in the
opening sentence of Art. 11 that the persons therein mentioned “do not incur any criminal
liability”.

ARTICLE 11. JUSTIFYING CIRCUMSTANCES, the ff. do not incur criminal liability:

1. Anyone who acts in defense of his person or rights, provided that the ff. circumstances
concur: (Self-defense)
a. Unlawful aggression;
b. Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it;
c. Lact of sufficient provocation on the part of the person defending himself.

Unlawful aggression – is equivalent to assault or at least threatened assault of an

immediate and imminent kind.

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 preceding circumstance
are present, and the further requisite, in case the provocation was given by the person
attacked, that the one making the 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 ff. requisites are present.
a. That the evil sought to be avoided actually exists;
1. Damage to another.
i. This term covers injury to persons and damage to property.
b. That the injury feared be 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 in 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.

There is no crime committed, the act being justified.

- Do not incur any criminal liability, the acts of such persons as justified, such persons
are not criminals as there is no crime committed.
II. EXEMPTING CIRCUMSTANCES.
Definition
(non-imputability) are those grounds for exemption from punishment because
there is wanting in the agent of the crime any of the conditions which make the act voluntary or
negligent.

Basis
The exemption from punishment is based on the complete absence of intelligence,
freedom of action, or intent, or on the absence of negligence on the part of the accused.

Under the RPC, a person must act with malice or negligence to be criminally liable. One who act
without intelligence, freedom of action or intent does not act with malice. On the other hand, one
who acts without intelligence, freedom of action or fault does not act with negligence.

Art. 12. CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH EXEMPT FROM CRIMINAL LIABILITY. The ff. are exempt
from criminal liability.

1. An imbecile or insane person, unless the latter has acted during a lucid interval.

when the imbecile or an insane person has committed an act which the law
defines as a felony, the court shall order his confinement in one of the hospitals
or asylums established for persons thus afflicted, which he shall not be
permitted to leave without first obtaining the permission of the same court.

2. A person under nine years old.

3. A person over nine years old of age and under fifteen, unless he has acted with
discernment, in which case, such minor shall be proceeded against in
accordance with the provisions of art. 80. Of this code.

When such minor is adjudged to be criminally responsible, the court, with the
conformity of this and the preceding paragraph, shall commit him to the care
and custody of his family who shall be charged with his surveillance and
education otherwise he shall be committed to the care of some institution or
person mentioned in art. 80.

4. Any person who, while performing a lawful act with due care, causes an injury
by mere accident without fault or intention of causing it.
5. Any person who acts under the compulsion of an irresistible force.
i. Based on the complete absence of freedom, an element of
volutariness.
ii. In spite of all resistance, it reduces him to a mere instrument.
iii. The force which acts upon him must came from the outside or by a third
person.
6. Any person who acts under the impulse of an uncontrollable fear of an equal
or greater injury.
i. The accused must not have opportunity for escape of self-defense.
7. Any person who fails to perform an act required by law, when prevented by
some lawful or insuperable cause.
 i. Example priest in the confession room.
ii. A

Discernment – the capacity of the child at the time of the commission of the offense to understand
the differences between right and wrong and the consequences for the wrongful act.

Intent – refers to the desired act of a person.

Periods of criminal responsibility ( r.a. no 9344 – juvenile justice and welfare act of 2006)

1. The age of absolute irresponsibility – 15 years and below (infancy)

2. The age of conditional responsibility – 15 years and 1 day to 18 years.
3. The age of full responsibility – 18 years or over (adolescence) to 70 (maturity)
4. The age of mitigated responsibility – 15 years and 1 day to 18 years, the offender acting
with discernment ; over 70 years.
a. a child in conflict with the law – shall enjoy the presumption of minority and shall
enjoy all the rights of a child in conflict with the law until proven to be eighteen
years old or older at the time of the commission of the offense.

Distinction:

Justifying – a person who acts by virtue of justifying circumstances does not transgress the law,
does not commit any crime in the eyes of the law, nothing unlawful in the act as well as in the
intention of the actor. His acts was just and lawful.

III. MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES.

Definition
Are those which,, if present in the commission of the crime, do not entirely free the
actor from criminal liability, but serve only to reduce the penalty.

Basis
Mitigating circumstances are based on the diminution of either freedom of action,
intelligence, or intent, or on the lesser perversity of the offender.

Classes of mitigating:
1. ordinary mitigating – those enumerated in subsections 1 to 13 of art. 13.
2. Privilege mitigating.
a. Art. 68. Penalty to be imposed upon a person under 18 years of age.
b. Art. 69. Penalty to be imposed when the crime committed is not wholly excusable.
c. Art. 64. Rules for the application of penalties which contain three periods.

ARTICLE 13. MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES. THE FF.

1. Those mentioned in the preceding chapter, when all the requisites necessary to justify the
act or to exempt from criminal liability in the respective cases are not attendant.
2. That the offender is under 18 years of age or over 70 years. In the case of the minor, he
shall be proceeded against in accordance with the provisions of art. 80.
3. That the offender had no intention to commit so grave a wrong as that committed.
 4. That sufficient provocation or threat on the part of the offended part immediately preceded
the act.
5. That the act was committed in the immediate vindication of 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.
6. That of having acted upon an impulse so powerful as naturally to have produced passion
or obfuscation.
7. That the offender had voluntarily surrendered himself to a person in authority or his agents,
or that he had voluntarily confessed his guilt before the court prior to the presentation of
the evidence for the prosecution.
8. That the offender is deaf and dumb, blind, or otherwise suffering some physical defect
which thus restricts his means of action, defense, or communication with his fellow beings.
9. Such illness of the offender as would diminish the exercise of the will-power of the offender
without however depriving him of consciousness of his acts.
10. And, finally, any other circumstances of a similar nature and analogous to those above-
mentioned.

IV. AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES.

Definition.

Are those which, if attendant in the commission of the crime, serve to increase the
penalty without, however, exceeding the maximum of the penalty provided by law for the offense.

Basis.
They are based on the greater perversity of the offender manifested in the
commission of the felony as shown by:
1. The motivating power itself,
2. The place of commission
3. The means and ways employed
4. The time
5. The personal circumstances of the offender, or of the offended party.

Four kinds of aggravating circumstances:

1. Generic – those that can generally apply to all crimes.

a. Example – dwelling, nighttime, recidivism

Art. 14 (1,2,3,4,5,6,9,10,14,18,19,20, except by means of motor vehicle)

2. Specific – those that apply only to particular crimes.

a. Example – crimes against chastity, cruelty, treachery in crimes against persons.

Art. 3, 15,16,17,21

3. Qualifying – those that change the nature of the crime.

a. Example – alevosia (treachery) or evident premeditation qualifies the killing of a
person to murder.

Art. 248
 4. Inherent – those that must of necessity accompany the commission of the crime. Art. 62
par. 2

Example – evident premeditation is inherent in robbery, theft, estafa, adultery,

concubinage.

Chapter Four
CIRCUMSTANCE WHICH AGGRAVATE CRIMINAL LIABILITY

Art. 14. Aggravating circumstances. — The following are aggravating

circumstances:
1. That advantage be taken by the offender of his public
position. c

Public Authority or person in authority – is a public officer who is directly vested with
hanrobles virtual law library

jurisdiction, that is, a public officer who has the power to govern and execute the law.

2. That the crime be committed in contempt or with insult to the

public authorities. chanrobles virtual law librar y

3. That the act be committed with insult or in disregard of the

respect due the offended party on account of his rank, age, or
sex, or that is be committed in the dwelling of the offended
party, if the latter has not given provocation. chanrobles virtual law library

4. That the act be committed with abuse of confidence or obvious

ungratefulness. chan robles virtual law librar y

5. 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. chanrobles virtual law libr ary

6. That the crime be committed in the night time, or in an

uninhabited place, or by a band, whenever such circumstances
may facilitate the commission of the offense. ch anrobles virtual law libr ary

Whenever more than three armed malefactors shall have acted

together in the commission of an offense, it shall be deemed to
have been committed by a band. chanrobles virtual law librar y

7. That the crime be committed on the occasion of a

conflagration, shipwreck, earthquake, epidemic or other
calamity or misfortune. chanrobles virtual law library
8. That the crime be committed with the aid of armed men or
persons who insure or afford impunity. chanrobles virtual law library

9. That the accused is a recidivist. chanrobles virt ual law library

A recidivist is one who, at the time of his trial for one crime, shall
have been previously convicted by final judgment of another
crime embraced in the same title of this Code. ch anrobles virtual law library

10. That the offender has been previously punished by an

offense to which the law attaches an equal or greater penalty or
for two or more crimes to which it attaches a lighter penalty. chanrobles virtual law library

11. That the crime be committed in consideration of a price,

reward, or promise. chanrobles virtual l aw library

12. That the crime be committed by means of inundation, fire,

poison, explosion, stranding of a vessel or international damage
thereto, derailment of a locomotive, or by the use of any other
artifice involving great waste and ruin. chanrobles virtu al law librar y

13. That the act be committed with evidence premeditation. chanrobles virtual law library

14. That the craft, fraud or disguise be employed. chan robles virtual law library

15. That advantage be taken of superior strength, or means be

employed to weaken the defense. ch anrobles virtual law library

16. That the act be committed with treachery (alevosia). chanrobles virtual law libr ary

There is treachery when the offender commits any of the crimes

against the person, employing means, methods, or forms in the
execution thereof which tend directly and specially to insure its
execution, without risk to himself arising from the defense which
the offended party might make. chanrobles virtual law library

17. That means be employed or circumstances brought about

which add ignominy to the natural effects of the act. chanrobles virtual law librar y

18. That the crime be committed after an unlawful entry. chanrobles virtual law librar y

There is an unlawful entry when an entrance of a crime a wall,

roof, floor, door, or window be broken. chanrobles virtual law librar y
 20. That the crime be committed with the aid of persons under
fifteen years of age or by means of motor vehicles, motorized
watercraft, airships, or other similar means. (As amended by RA
5438).

21. That the wrong done in the commission of the crime be

deliberately augmented by causing other wrong not necessary
for its commissions. chanrobles virtu al law librar y

Chapter Five
ALTERNATIVE CIRCUMSTANCES

Art. 15. Their concept. — Alternative circumstances are those which

must be taken into consideration as aggravating or mitigating
according to the nature and effects of the crime and the other
conditions attending its commission. They are the relationship,
intoxication and the degree of instruction and education of the
offender.chanrobles virtual law librar y

The alternative circumstance of relationship shall be taken into

consideration when the offended party in the spouse, ascendant,
descendant, legitimate, natural, or adopted brother or sister, or
relative by affinity in the same degrees of the offender. chanrobles virtual law libr ary

The intoxication of the offender shall be taken into consideration as a

mitigating circumstances when the offender has committed a felony
in a state of intoxication, if the same is not habitual or subsequent to
the plan to commit said felony but when the intoxication is habitual
or intentional, it shall be considered as an aggravating circumstance.