Jabe Benice G.
Pagayon JD 1 Criminal Law Assignment 1
What makes an act mala prohibita?
An act that is a crime merely because
it is prohibited by statute, although
the act itself is not necessarily
immoral.They constitute violations of
mere rules of convenience designed
to secure a more orderly regulation
of the affairs of society. The criminal
intent and good faith are not valid
defenses as it is already enough that
a prohibition was voluntarily violated.
What makes an act mala in se?
An act which is inherently immoral.
Crimes in mala in se presupposes that
the person who did the felonious act
had criminal intent to do so such as
crimes of murder, arson or rape.
Crimes mala in se are felonious acts
committed by dolo or culpa as
defined in the Revised Penal Code.
Lack of criminal intent is a valid
defense, good faith, and negligence
are valid defense, except when the
crime results from criminal
negligence.
Jabe Benice G. Pagayon JD1 CRIMINAL LAW ASSIGNMENT 2

Whether culpa is a crime in itself or only a mode of incurring criminal liability

For culpa, instead of intent, the accused is imprudent,negligent, or lacks

foresight or skill while doing the act. There should be two provisions of the
Revised Penal Code involved in the discussion.

First, Article 3. Under this provision culpa is a mean of committing a felony

on grounds including: (1) the object of punishment in quasi-crimes (as
opposed to intentional crimes); (2) the legislative intent to treat quasi-crimes
as distinct offenses (as opposed to subsuming them under the mitigating
circumstance of minimal intent) and; (3) the different penalty structures for

quasi-crimes and intentional crimes. However, such provision is too broad to

deserve unqualified assent. There are crimes that by their structure cannot
be committed through imprudence such as murder, treason, robbery, etc.

Second provision to discuss is Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code. Under
the same provision, criminal negligence is identified as a quasi-offense. Such
are distinct and separate crimes and not a mere modality in the commision
of crimes. It is not a mere question of classification or terminology. In
intentional crimes, the act itself is punished; in negligence or imprudence,
what is principally penalized is the mental attitude or condition behind the
act, the dangerous recklessness, lack of care or foresight, the imprudencia
punible.It can be seen in the language of the provision that the actual penalty
for criminal negligence bears no relation to the individual willful crime, but is
set in relation to a whole class, or series, of crimes.