Section 20. No person shall be imprisoned for debt
or non0payment of a poll tax.
1.
Explain the prohibition against imprisonment for
debt.
The cases touching on the subject reveal
that the constitutional prohibition, stated in
full, means this: No person may be
imprisoned for debt in virtue of an order in a
civil proceeding, either as a substitute for
satisfaction for a debt or as a means of
compelling satisfaction; but a person may be
imprisoned as a penalty for a crime arising
from contractual debt and imposed in a
proper criminal proceeding.
Note: debt is
any liability to pay money growing out of
a contract, express or implied.
2.
What are the instances where a person may be
imprisoned for fraudulent debt?
If the fraudulent debt constitutes a crime
(e.g. estafa) and
The debtor has been duly convicted.
3.
Does the conversion of the monetary indemnity,
imposed as part of a criminal penalty, into
subsidiary imprisonment violate the prohibition
of imprisonment for debt?
No, because the obligation to indemnify was
not ex contractu but ex delicto.
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- Fall '16
- Debt, criminal law, Estafa, fraudulent debt
