I started the Lawyered! series because of my fascination with Marshall Eriksen of How I Met Your Mother. I was a freshman law student then and I wanted to make studying the law seem cooler than it actually is. I started by listing the Top Reasons Why You Should a Law Student. To this day, this blog post remains to be my most viewed entry, with _ views to this date. It was so well-shared, Internet-wise, that I even met someone for the first time who said to me, "You were the one who made that 'Why Date a Law Student' List right?" That was one of the best days of my life. (I know, so conceited, please forgive me.)
But I didn't want the Lawyered! series to revolve around making being a law student cool. I wanted to make the law relate-able to other people who're neither studying nor practicing it. I wanted to relate it to things I love (TV series, mostly) to, sort of, popularize it and make it understandable to laymen.
So far, I have tried to explain the following:
1. The right to travel using former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Lily Aldrin-Eriksen
2. The plain view doctrine as an exception to the search warrant rule using White Collar
3. The formula used by the Philippines for computing the votes needed for a party-list to win a seat (or at most 3 seats) in the House of Representatives using my below-average Math skills
I admit I have been remiss in my (self-imposed) duty to popularize the law by writing more posts under the Lawyered! series. I will remedy that--well sort of--by illustrating how the Latin maxim: Nullum crimen nulla poena sine lege (in English: There is no crime if there is no law punishing it) was applied by Barney Stinson.
Crimes* are considered crimes because they prohibited by law. Although crimes can either be mala in se (prohibited because of their nature) or mala prohibitum (prohibited because of a law), their prohibition must still be provided in a statute because our legal system is governed, mainly, by civil law--in contrast to the US' common law system.
Parricide is considered a crime because of its nature but such prohibition is still manifested in Article 246 of the Revised Penal Code:
Art. 246. Parricide. — Any person who shall kill his father, mother, or child, whether legitimate or illegitimate, or any of his ascendants, or descendants, or his spouse, shall be guilty of parricide and shall be punished by the penalty of reclusion perpetua to death.
Crossing a street is not prohibited by its nature. It is only prohibited because there is a local ordinance saying that crossing a street on a place not designated as a the proper place to cross the street.
Without Article 246, parricide, although considered wrong in almost all cultures, will be unpunished by the State. Without the said local ordinance, jaywalking will be considered simply as crossing a street.
In How I Met Your Mother's episode "Magician's Code" (S07E23), Barney was apprehended by casino security guards because he rode a motorcycle, which was displayed as the jackpot price for a specified slot machine, on the casino floor to help his friend Marshall get to New York to witness the birth of his first-born.
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| The alleged offense |
When Barney was interrogated on why the casino guards shouldn't rat him out to the police, he argued:
Go ahead call them [the authorities]. But first can you show me the rule that says you can't drive a motorcycle on the casino floor?
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| Barney lawyered the sh** out of the guards. All those years being friends with Marshall paid off. |
The guards weren't able to show him a rule that prohibited motorcycles on the casino floor because there is no rule. He was set free. The guards let Barney go unpunished because riding a motorcycle is, in itself, not prohibited. It will only be prohibited if it is prohibited in certain premises by rules or regulations, which are lacking in this instance.
Nullum crimen nulla poene sine lege. There is no crime when there is no law punishing it.
To extend this discussion further, Barney was not punished even if the casino authorities put up a sign that says "NO MOTORCYCLES ON THE CASINO FLOOR" after he committed said act because the application of the law is not retroactive. To make Barney liable for an act which was considered prohibited after he committed it is to commit injustice to him. A person's conduct is to be guided by existing rules. One is not expected to calculate his actions based on the probability that said act will be considered prohibited in the future.
Nullum crimen nulla poene sine lege.
Lawyered!
*A crime prohibited in the Revised Penal Code is called a felony while a crime prohibited in special laws is called an offense.
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You may want to read other posts from the Lawyered! series:
Lawyered!: The Law-down
Lawyered!: Top Reasons Why You Should Date A Law Student
Lawyered!: Do the Math
Lawyered!: PGMA is Lily
Lawyered!: Plain view doctrine and White Collar
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