WHAT IS CRIMINAL LAW?

Criminal Law is that branch or division of law which defines crimes, treats of their nature, and provides for their punsihment.

CRIME, defined
Crime is an act committed or omitted in violation of a public law forbidding or commanding it.

Sources of Philippine Criminal Law

1. The Revised Penal Code (Act No. 3815) and its amendments.
2. Special Penal Laws passed by Philippine Commission, Philippine Assembly, Philippine Legislature, National Assembly, the Congress of the Philippines, and the
Batasang Pambansa.
3. Penal Presidential Decrees issued during Martial Law

WHAT ARE THE CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITATIONS ON THE RIGHTS TO ENACT PENAL LAWS?
The Bill of Rights of the 1987 Constitution imposes the following limitations:
1. No ex post facto law or bill of attainder shall be enacted. (Art. III, Sec 22)
2. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense without due process of law. (Art III, Sec 14[1])

WHAT IS AN EX POST FACTO LAW ?

An ex post facto law is one which:
1. Makes criminal an act done before the passage of the law and which was innocent when done, and punishes such an act;
2. Aggravates a crime, or makes it greater that it was, when committed;
3. Changes the punishment and inflicts a greater punishment than the law annexed to the crime when committed;
4. Alters the legal riles of evidence, and authorizes conviction upon less or different testimony than the law required at the time of the commission of the offense;
5. Assumes to regulate civil rights and remedies only, in effect imposes penalty or deprivation of a right for something which when done was lawful; and
6. Deprives a person accused of a crime some lawful protection to which he has become entitled, such as the protection of a former conviction or acquittal, or a
proclamation of amnesty.

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF PENAL LAW ?

GENERAL. Criminal law is binding on all persons who live or sojourn in Philippine territory.
Exceptions: except as provided in the treaties and laws of preferential application (Art 2 of the RPC)
TERRITORIAL. Criminal laws undertake to punish crimes committed within Philippine territory.
Exceptions: Art 2 of the RPC provides that its provision shall be enforced outside the jurisdiction of the Philippines against those who:
1. Should commit an offense while on a Philippine ship or airship;
2. Should forge or counterfeit any coin or currency note of the Philippines or obligations and securities issued by the Government of the Philippines;
3. Should be liable for acts connected with the introduction into the Philippines of the obligations and securities mentioned in the preceding number;
4. While being public officers or employees, should commit an offense in the exercise of their functions; or
5. Should commit any of the crimes against national security and the law of nations, defined in Title I of Book 2 of the RPC.
PROSPECTIVE. A penal law cannot make an act punishable in a manner in which it was not punishable when committed. As provided in Article 366 of the RPC, crimes are
punished under the laws in force at the time of their commission.
Exceptions: Whenever a new statute dealing with crime establishes conditions more lenient or favorable to the accused, it can be given a retroactive effect.
But this exception has no application:
1. Where the new law is expressly made inapplicable to pending actions or existing causes of action.
2. Where the offender is a habitual criminal under Rule 5, Art. 62, RPC.