The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the defendants Vicente Diaz Conde and Apolinaria R. De Conde in The United States v. Diaz-Conde case. The court decided that the acts complained of did not constitute a crime when committed, as the contract was executed before the usury law (Act No. 2655) was adopted. A law cannot be applied retroactively to impair existing contractual obligations or render prior innocent acts criminal. Therefore, the complaint against the defendants was dismissed and they were discharged from custody.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the defendants Vicente Diaz Conde and Apolinaria R. De Conde in The United States v. Diaz-Conde case. The court decided that the acts complained of did not constitute a crime when committed, as the contract was executed before the usury law (Act No. 2655) was adopted. A law cannot be applied retroactively to impair existing contractual obligations or render prior innocent acts criminal. Therefore, the complaint against the defendants was dismissed and they were discharged from custody.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the defendants Vicente Diaz Conde and Apolinaria R. De Conde in The United States v. Diaz-Conde case. The court decided that the acts complained of did not constitute a crime when committed, as the contract was executed before the usury law (Act No. 2655) was adopted. A law cannot be applied retroactively to impair existing contractual obligations or render prior innocent acts criminal. Therefore, the complaint against the defendants was dismissed and they were discharged from custody.
42 Phil. 766 (Outline) (a) The contract upon which the alleged usurious interest was collected was G.R. No. L-18208, February 14, 1922 (Resource) executed before Act No. 2655 was adopted. (b) The time that the said contract was made (December 30, 1915), there Plaintiff-appellee: THE UNITED STATES was no usury law in force in the Philippine Islands. Defendants-appellants: Vicente Diaz Conde and Apolinaria R. De Conde (c) Act No. 2655 did not become effective until the May 1, 1916, or four months and a half after the contract was executed. What happened: (d) The said law could have no retroactive effect or operation On December 30, 1915, Bartolome Oliveros and Engracia Lianco (e) The said law impairs the obligation of a contract. accomplished and delivered to the defendants a contract (named ‘Exhibit B’) For all of said reasons the judgment imposed by the lower court should be which stated that the Oliveros and Lianco had borrowed from the latter a sum revoked; that the complaint should be dismissed, and that they should each be of three hundred pesos (Php 300), and by virtue of the terms of said contract, discharged from the custody of the law. Oliveros and Lianco obligated themselves to pay to the defendants interest at the rate of five percent (5%) per month, payable within the first ten days of each and every month, the first payment to be made on the January 10, 1916. Ruling of the Supreme Court: On May 1, 1916, Act no. 2655 or the Usury Law came into effect. The law The Supreme Court en banc promulgated on February 14, 1922 its ruling on stated that that the legal rate of interest for the loan or forbearance of any the case of The United States vs Vicente Diaz Conde and Apolinaria R. De money, goods or credits, […] shall be 12% per annum. Any amount of interest Conde (G.R. No. L-18208). The court has decided that the acts complained of paid or to be paid in excess of that fixed by law is considered usurious, by the defendants did not constitute a crime at the time they were committed. therefore unlawful. A law imposing a new penalty, liability or disability, or giving a new right of A complaint was filed in the Court of First Instance of the city of Manila on action, must not be construed as having a retroactive effect. It is an May 6, 1921, charging the defendants with a violation of the Usury Law (Act elementary rule of contract that the laws in force at the time of the contract No. 2655). Upon said complaint they were arrested, charged, and pleaded not was made must govern its interpretation and application. Laws must be guilty. On September 1, 1921, the case was finally brought on for trial. At the construed prospectively and not retrospectively. If a contract is legal at its end of the trial, with consideration to the evidences cited in court, Hon. M. V. commencement, it cannot be rendered illegal by any subsequent legislation. If del Rosario, judge, found that the defendants were guilty of the crime charged that were permitted, then the obligations of a contract might be impaired, in the complaint and sentenced each of them to pay a fine of P120 and, if they which is prohibited by Philippine law. cannot meet their debt obligations, the defendants would suffer subsidiary Ex post facto laws, unless they are favorable to the defendant, are prohibited imprisonment in accordance with the provisions of the law. From that sentence in this jurisdiction. Every law that makes an action, done before the passage of each of the defendants made an appeal. the law, and which was innocent when done, criminal, and punishes such action, is an ex post facto law. The Legislature is prohibited from adopting a Contention of the State: law which will make an act done before its adoption a crime, as in the case of The lower court, in the course of its opinion, stated that at the time of the Act No. 2655. A law may be given a retroactive effect in civil action, providing execution and delivery of said contract, there was no law in force in the it is curative in character, but ex post facto laws are absolutely prohibited Philippine Islands that punishes usury. However, the defendants had collected unless its retroactive effect is favorable to the defendant. a usurious rate of interest after the adoption of the Usury Law in the Philippine Islands (Act No. 2655), Therefore, they were guilty in the violation of that law The complaint was therefore dismissed, and the defendants were discharged and should be punished in accordance with its provisions. from the custody of the law with costs.