ARTICLE NOTES ELEMENTS
Art. 16 -Treble division of persons
Who are criminally liable? criminally responsible for
®Grave and Less Felonies: an offense rests upon the
1. Principals nature of their
2. Accomplices participation in the
3. Accessories commission of the.
®Light Felonies
1. Principals -Accessories are NOT
2. Accomplices liable for light felonies
because the social wrong
and individual prejudice
crime is so small that
penal sanction is deemed
not necessary for
accessories.
There are 2 subjects in a
crime:
®Active (Criminal)
Only NATURAL PERSONS
because of the HIGHLY
PERSONAL NATURE of the
criminal responsibility.
Also, the culprit should
have acted with
PERSONAL MALICE and
NEGLIGENCE , an artificial
or juridical such as
Corporation cannot act
with malice or negligence.
Other penalties consisting
EXCEPTIONS CASES INVOLVED
RULES RELATIVE TO LIGHT 1 Only PRINCIPALS and
FELONIES: ACCOMPLICES are liable
for light felonies.
1 Light felonies are
punishable only when it is 2 Accessories are NOT
consummated. liable for light felonies,
even if they are
2 When light felonies are committed against
committed against persons or property
PERSONS and PROPERTY,
they are punishable even Officers, NOT the
if it is only FRUSTRATED corporation, are
and ATTEMPTED. criminally liable.
®Active (Criminal)
Only the officers of the
corporation who
participated either as
principals by direct
participation or principals
by induction or by
cooperation, or as
accomplices in the
commission of an act
punishable by law are
liable.
Partnership of M, A, and B
granted a franchise to
operate an electric plant
managed by C, who is the
wife of A. M and his son
installed electric wires in
the house of their client. A
boy happened to hold an
uninsulated portion of an
electric wire of the electric
plant managed by C. The
boy was electrocuted and
consequently died .
There is no evidence at all
that C directly took part or
aided in the careless
installation of the electric
wire, a portion of which
was negligently left
uninsulated by M and his
son.
A director or other officer
of a corporation is
criminally liable for his
acts, though in his official
capacity, if he participated
in the unlawful act but is
not criminally for the
corporate acts performed
by other officers or agents
thereof.
 in imprisonment can be ®Passive (Injured Party)
executed only against
individual. Corpse and Animals
cannot be passive subject
Juridical persons are because they have no
criminally liable under rights that may be injured.
certain Special Laws.
Excemption:
Manager of partnership is
liable even if there is no Defamation may be
evidence of his committed if the
participation in the imputation tends to
commission of the blacken the memory of
offense. one who is dead.

®Passive (Injured Party)

They are the hoder of the

injured right:
-Man
-Juristic Person
-Group
-State
Art. 17 Principals When one commits a
crime, he is always a
1 Those who take a direct principal.
part in the execution of
the act.

2 Those who directly force

or induce others to
commit it.

3 Those who cooperate in

the commission of the
offense by another act
without which it would not
have been accomplished