Sunday, March 31, 2013

Hats off to Prof. Joan Largo

I missed a lot when I missed the first professorial lecture of Prof. Joan Largo given last March 6, 2012. At least that's what I gather from former Chief Justice Panganiban who was gushing about it here.

When I went back to law school in 2010 I already had passed Constitutional Law I. But that was yet the 1973 Constitution. So I decided to refresh myself on the subject. That's how I became a student of Ms Joan.

She was firm but not known for being a terror professor. But I could sense the tenseness of my classmates when they talked of terror professors in the other sections. So one day during class I asked Prof. Joan, since she was an administrator being then the Asst. Dean,  if it was the policy of the school to terrorize students so only the cream of the crop would rise to the top and make it to the fourth year. I think she managed a smile and said that, no, it was not the policy. But neither did they discourage professors who do so. So there.

Yet despite being not a terror professor, the cases she assigned in terms of numbers and magnitude were such that going to bed earlier than 12 MN was a rarity for my classmates and me during that semester.

But the final words of Prof. Joan in her first professorial lecture (get the text here) will mean that it'd be a lucky day if her present students can sleep by 1 AM. :-)

Anyway, congrats Ma'am Joan. Cheer her on, Prof. Daryl. And good luck to her students.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Reyes vs Regalado, GR No. 74433

What is the liability, applying Article 247 of the Revised Penal Code,  of a person who shot and killed the paramour of his wife but also injured third persons as in the case of People vs. Abarca, GR 74433, Sept. 14, 1987?

Reyes, in his textbook The Revised Penal Code, Book Two,  says he is not liable for the injury of third persons:


But Regalado, in Criminal Law Conspectus,  thinks otherwise:


So who is right? Here's the SC ruling:

Did Reyes misread the ruling or was he expressing a dissenting opinion which he usually does in many parts of his book?