- Statute
- Civil Code
- Article
- Art. 2230
- Topic
- Exemplary damages in criminal offenses
- Year
- 1949
The provision
ARTICLE 2230. In criminal offenses, exemplary damages as a part of the civil liability may be imposed when the crime was committed with one or more aggravating circumstances. Such damages are separate and distinct from fines and shall be paid to the offended party.
Key points
Article 2230 governs exemplary damages in criminal offenses. As part of the civil liability, they may be imposed when the crime was committed with one or more aggravating circumstances. They are separate and distinct from any fine and are paid to the offended party.
The provision ties the award to the presence of aggravating circumstances in the offense. It is read with Article 2229 (definition of exemplary damages) and Article 2234 (the need to first establish entitlement to moral, temperate, or compensatory damages), and with the Revised Penal Code rules on aggravating circumstances.
The aggravating circumstance that justifies the award is drawn from the Revised Penal Code, and Philippine jurisprudence has clarified that any aggravating circumstance — whether generic or qualifying, and whether or not it raised the penalty — can support exemplary damages in the civil aspect of the criminal case. Because these damages are separate from any fine and are paid to the offended party, they form part of the civil liability ex delicto rather than the penalty itself, and remain subject to the discretion recognized in Article 2233.