I'm Giancarlo Enrico S. Pozon, a Wushu instructor, investor and Barrister... That's right, Barrister; I graduated from law school and took the Bar Exams, now I'm waiting for the results. I created this blog to make Philippine Law easy to understand for the average person. It's all about free legal advice. There are many law blogs. But the problem is that many of them are written for lawyers and law students. They use words that can't be understood by ordinary people.
Many lawyers, judges and law students consider themselves as superior to most human beings because of their knowledge of the law. It bothers me since the law is supposed to serve society. Since the law is meant to serve society as a whole, it is important that is must be understood by everybody.
This does not mean that we should all become lawyers. It means that although law is a highly specialized profession, the first duty of everybody in this profession is to make the law understandable to all; that's why all these articles are free legal advice.
Like I said, this blog is about law -but it's for the ordinary people, not the lawyers. It's for the ordinary folk so they will know what is good and bad for them, and that making them aware of the law will help us all improve society as a whole. This is free legal advice for everybody!
We already know that torts are generally classified as property and personal torts. Now, we go further. Torts are further subdivided into three groups mentioned in a previous post (violations under the law.) Those violations fall under violations of negligence. Now we will look into negligence some more.
The further subdivisions of torts are negligent torts, intentional torts and strict liability.
Culpa Criminal
Remember penalties. Criminal negligence is committed through reckless or simple imprudence. If the crime would have been a grave felony, the penalty would be arresto mayor maximum to prision correccional medium; if a less grave felony, arresto mayor minumum to medium; and if a light felony, arresto menor maximum. Crimes of simple negligence are punishable with arresto mayor minimum for less grave crimes and arresto mayor medium to maximum for grave felonies. There is no imprisonment for light felonies of simple negligence. If, however, there was damage to property in simple negligence or reckless imprudence, there is a fine imposed.
Culpa Contractual
Contractual violations are governed by the Civil Code's provisions on contracts. Contracts have guidelines and prescribe certain penalties in case specific violations mentioned in the documents (or the law) are committed. Violations of contracts are punished by payment of the amount the contracting parties agreed on for violations. Contract violations can't be punished by imprisonment unless a law is violated as well.
Culpa Aquiliana
Also known as quasi-delicts. They're neither crimes nor contract violations. They may happen between contracting parties, but are penalized separately; they can also happen between people who have no contractual relation at all. The interesting thing here is what the tortfeasor must pay for the damage he committed because of his own negligence -but the victim must prove that there was negligence. Note: for culpa aquiliana, the negligent act of the tortfeasor must be the cause of the damage.
Negligence
Was the person who did the act that caused damage to the victim acting negligently? If not, he's not negligent. Could a prudent person foresee the result of his actions? If he could and took the necessary precautions, he's not negligent. These questions are always asked in many forms for the courts to find out if a tort was committed. Negligence is conduct. So good faith can't be used as a defense. Diligence is a defense in torts.
0 comments:
Post a Comment