US v. Pulongbaret · G.R. 5110

Petitioner: US
Respondent: Pulongbaret
Citation: G.R. No. 5110
Court: Supreme Court
Decided: August 19, 1909

Whether defendants committed the crime of adultery

Summary

This 1909 Supreme Court case involved the criminal prosecution of Fabiana Legaspi and Paulino Pulongbaret for adultery. The husband caught them flagrante delicto at night and called police for arrest. The Supreme Court affirmed their conviction, establishing that circumstantial evidence is sufficient for adultery convictions when it leaves no reasonable doubt. The Court found that a man being discovered alone at night with another man's wife, she being in bed and absent from her husband's home without consent, constitutes sufficient proof. However, the Court increased their penalty, ruling they were not entitled to the mitigating provisions of article 11 of the Penal Code, demonstrating the Court's strict approach to adultery cases during the American colonial period.

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Featured in research

In-depth Intellegal research that discusses this case.

Adultery and Concubinage in the Philippines (RPC Arts. 333-334)

By the Intellegal Editorial Board · August 19, 1909

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