Criminal Law Book 2 Definition of Terms

1. Abduction - the taking away of a woman from her house or the place where she may be
for the purpose of carrying her to another place with the intent to marry or to corrupt her.

2. Forcible abduction - If a woman is transported from one place to another by virtue of

restraining her of her liberty, and that act is coupled with lewd designs.

3. Serious illegal detention - If a woman is transported just to restrain her of her liberty.
There is no lewd design or lewd intent.

4. Grave coercion - If a woman is carried away just to break her will, to compel her to
agree to the demand or request by the offender.

5. Abortion By A Physician Or Midwife And Dispensing Of Abortives - punishes a

pharmacist who merely dispenses with an abortive without the proper prescription of a
physician. If pharmacist knew that the abortive would be used for abortion, she would be
liable as an accomplice in the crime of abortion.

6. Acts Of Lasciviousness - Committed under circumstances w/c, had there been carnal
knowledge, would amount to rape. The offended party is a female or male.

7. Adherence – intellectually or emotionally favors the enemy and harbors sympathies or

convictions disloyal to his country’s policy or interest.

8. Agent Of Person In Authority – any person who, by direct provision of law or by election
or by appointment by a competent authority, is charged with the maintenance of public
order and the protection and security of life and property.

9. Aid or Comfort – act w/c strengthens or tends to strengthen the enemy of the
government in the conduct of war against the government, or an act w/c weakens or
tends to weaken the power of the government or the country to resist or to attack the
enemies of the gov’t or country.

10. Alarms and Scandal - The essence of the crime is disturbance of public tranquility and
public peace. Any kind of disturbance of public order where the circumstance at the time
renders the act offensive to the tranquility prevailing, the crime is committed.

11. Allegiance – an obligation of fidelity and obedience which individuals owe to the
government under which they live or to the sovereign, in return for protection they
receive.
12. Certificate - any writing by which testimony is given that a fact has or has not taken
place.

13. Charivari - is a mock serenade or discordant noises made with kettles, tin horns, etc.,
designed to deride, insult or annoy.

14. Combination In Restraint Of Trade - is an agreement or understanding between two or

more persons in the form of a contract, trust, pool, holding company or other form of
association, for the purpose of unduly restricting competition, monopolizing trade and
commerce in a certain commodity, controlling its production, distribution and price, or
otherwise interfering with freedom of trade without statutory authority. Combination in
restraint of trade refers to the means while monopoly refers to the end.

15. Conspiracy - when two or more persons come to an agreement to rise publicly and take
arms against the government for any of the purposes of rebellion and decide to commit
it.

16. Coup d' Etat - Essence of the crime: a Swift attack against the government, its military
camps an installations, etc. It may be committed singly or collectively. Committed
through force, violation, intimidation, threat, strategy or stealth.

17. Customs - refer to established usage, social conventions carried on by tradition and
enforced by social disapproval in case of violation.

18. Decency - means properly observing the requirements of modesty, good taste.

19. Delay in the Delivery of Detained Persons - Crime is committed by failing to deliver such
person to the proper judicial authority within a certain period. Detention is for some legal
ground.

20. Dereliction of Duty - Committed only by public officers who have the duty to institute a
prosecution for the punishment of violations of the law. A public officer does not abandon
his office but merely fails to prosecute a violation of the law.

21. Direct Assault - The Public Authority or the Agent of the Public Authority must be
engaged in the performance of official duties or that he is assaulted by reason thereof.

22. Direct Bribery - the officer agrees to perform or refrain from doing an act in consideration
of the gift or promise.

23. Indirect Bribery - it is not necessary that the officer do any act. It is sufficient that he
accepts the gift offered by reason of his office.

24. Dissolute – lax, unrestrained, immoral (includes maintainer of house of prostitution).

25. Document - any written statement by which a right is established or an obligation is
extinguished.

26. Duel - is formal or regular combat previously consented to by two parties in the presence
of two or more seconds of lawful age on each side, who make the selection of arms and
fix all the other conditions of the fight to settle some antecedent quarrel. If these are not
the conditions of the fight, it is not a duel in the sense contemplated in the Revised Penal
Code. It will be a quarrel and anyone who killed the other will be liable for homicide or
murder, as the case may be.

27. Espionage - is the offense of gathering, transmitting, or losing information respecting the
national defense with intent or reason to believe that the information is to be used to the
injury of the Republic of the Philippines or the advantage of a foreign nation.

28. Estafa With Abuse of Confidence - Crime is committed by misappropriating, converting,

or denying having received money, goods or other personal property.

29. False Testimony - committed by a person who, being under oath and required to testify
as to the truth of a certain matter at a hearing before a competent authority, shall deny
the truth or say something contrary to it.

30. Forgery - The essence of forgery is giving a document the appearance of a true and
genuine document. Not any alteration of a letter, number, figure or design would amount
to forgery. At most, it would only be frustrated forgery.

31. Grave scandal - consists of acts that are offensive to decency and good customs. They
are committed publicly and thus, give rise to public scandal to persons who have
accidentally witnessed the acts.

32. Illegal Detention - Committed by a private individual public officer who unlawfully detains
or deprives a person of his liberty.

33. Illegal Exactions - This can only be committed principally by a public officer whose
official duty is to collect taxes, license fees, import duties and other dues payable to the
government. Mere demand for a larger or different amount is sufficient to consummate
the crime. The essence is the improper collection (damage to government is not
required)

34. Illegal marriage - Illegal marriage includes also such other marriages which are
performed without complying with the requirements of the law, or marriages where the
consent of the other is vitiated, or such marriage which was solemnized by one who is
not authorized to solemnize the same.
35. Imprudence - Failure in precaution.

36. Incriminating Innocent Person - the act of planting evidence and the like in order to
incriminate an innocent person.

37. Inducing A Minor To Abandon His Home - What constitutes the crime is the act of
inducing a minor to abandon his home of his guardian, and it is not necessary that the
minor actually abandon the home.

38. Infanticide - the victim is younger than three days or 72 hours old; can be committed by
a stranger. If a stranger who conspires with the parent, both commit the crime of
infanticide.

39. In Flight – From the moment all exterior doors are closed following embarkation until the
same doors are again opened for disembarkation.

40. Insurrection - more commonly employed in reference to a movement that seeks merely
to effect some change of minor importance, or to prevent the exercise of governmental
authority with respect to particular matters or subjects.

41. Interlocutory Order - one issued by the court deciding collateral or incidental matter; it is
not a final determination of the issues of the action or proceeding.

42. Intriguing Against Honor - is referred to as gossiping: the offender, without ascertaining
the truth of a defamatory utterance, repeats the same and pass it on to another, to the
damage of the offended party.

43. Libel - Defamation is in writing or printed media.

44. Slander - oral defamation.

45. Defamation - public and malicious imputation calculated to cause dishonor, discredit, or
contempt upon the offended party.

46. Malfeasance - Doing of an act which a public officer should not have done.

47. Malversation - is otherwise called embezzlement. Crime is committed by approaching,

taking, or misappropriating/consenting, or through abandonment or negligence,
permitting any other person to take the public funds/property.

48. Manifestly Unjust Judgment – manifestly contrary to law that even a person having
meager knowledge of the law cannot doubt the injustice; not an abuse of discretion or
mere error of judgment.
49. Medical Malpractice - which is a form of negligence, consists in the failure of a physician
or surgeon to apply to his practice of medicine that degree of care and skill which is
ordinarily employed by the profession generally, under similar conditions, and in like
surrounding circumstances.

50. Misfeasance - Improper doing of an act which a person might lawfully do.

51. Monopoly - is a privilege or peculiar advantage vested in one or more persons or

companies, consisting of the exclusive right or power to carry on a particular business or
trade, manufacture a particular article, or control the sale or the whole supply of a
particular commodity. It is a form of market structure in which one or only a few firms
dominate the total sales of a product or service.

52. Mutiny - the unlawful resistance to a superior, or the raising of commotions and
disturbances on board a ship against the authority of its commander.

53. Negligence - Failure in advertence.

54. Nonfeasance - Failure of an agent to perform his undertaking for the principal.

55. Perjury by Making False Accusations - giving of a false statement under oath or making
a false affidavit, imputing to the person the commission of a crime.

56. Person In Authority – any person directly vested with jurisdiction, whether as an
individual or as a member of some court or governmental corporation, board or
commission.

57. Piracy - it is robbery or forcible depredation on the high seas, without lawful authority
and done with animo furandi and in the spirit and intention of universal hostility.

58. Political Crimes – are those directly aimed against the political order, as well as such
common crimes as may be committed to achieve a political purpose. The decisive factor
is the intent or motive.

59. Prevaricacion - means the negligence and tolerance in the prosecution of an offense.

60. Proposal - when the person who has decided to rise publicly and take arms against the
government for any of the purposes of rebellion proposes its execution to some other
person or persons.

61. Prostitutes - women who habitually(not just 1 man) indulge in sexual intercourse or
lascivious conduct for money or profit (If a man indulges in the same conduct, the crime
committed is vagrancy.)
62. Quasi-Recidivism - Commission of Another Crime During Service of Penalty Imposed for
Another Previous Offense.

63. Rebellion - more frequently used where the object of the movement is completely to
overthrow and supersede the existing government.

64. Revealing Secrets With Abuse Of Office - Essence of this crime is that the offender
learned of the secret in the course of his employment. He is enjoying a confidential
relation with the employer or master so he should respect the privacy of matters
personal to the latter.

65. Ruffians – brutal, violent, lawless.

66. Sedition - It is the raising of commotions or disturbances in the State. It is sufficient that
the public uprising be tumultuous. The purpose may be political or social.

67. Seduction - enticing a woman to unlawful sexual intercourse by the promise of marriage
or other means of persuasion without the use of force. It applies when there is an abuse
of authority (qualified seduction) or deceit (simple seduction).

68. Service Mark – is a mark used in the sale or advertising of services to identify the
services of one person and distinguish them from the services of others and includes
without limitation the marks, names, symbols, titles, designations, slogans, character
names, and distinctive features of radio or other advertising.

69. Slavery - This is committed if anyone shall purchase, kidnap, or detain a human being
for the purpose of enslaving him.

70. Trade-Name Or Trade-Mark – is a word or words, name, title, symbol, emblem, sign or
device, or any combination thereof used as an advertisement, sign, label, poster, or
otherwise, for the purpose of enabling the public to distinguish the business of the
person who owns and uses said trade-name or trade-mark.

71. Treason – breach of allegiance to the government by a person who owes allegiance to it.
The levying of war against the government would constitute treason when performed to
aid the enemy.

72. Tumultuous - caused by more than 3 persons who are armed or provided with means of
violence.

73. Unfair Competition - consists in employing deception or any other means contrary to
good faith by which any person shall pass off the goods manufactured by him or in which
he deals, or his business, or services for those of the one having established goodwill, or
committing any acts calculated to produce such result.
74. Unintentional Abortion - requires physical violence inflicted deliberately and voluntarily
by a third person upon the pregnant woman. If the pregnant woman aborted because of
intimidation, the crime committed is not unintentional abortion because there is no
violence; the crime committed is light threats.

75. Unlawful Arrest - This felony consists of making an arrest or detention without legal or
reasonable ground for the purpose of delivering the offended party to the proper
authorities.

76. Vagrants - Those who have no apparent means of subsistence and who have the
physical ability to work yet neglect to apply themselves to some useful calling.