Libro Primero Título III. De las causas que eximen de responsabilidad penal

Is not imputable:

1.The minor.

2.Whoever, at the time of the act or omission, lacks, due to mental illness, incomplete or retarded psychic development, or transitory mental disorder, the capacity to understand the unlawful nature of the act or to conduct himself in accordance with that understanding, unless the transitory mental disorder was deliberately sought by the agent.

These are grounds of justification:

Legitimate defense

1º.Whoever acts in defense of his person, property or rights, or in defense of the person, property or rights of another, provided that the following circumstances concur:

a)Unlawful aggression;

b)Rational necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it;

c)Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the defender. It shall be understood that these three circumstances concur with respect to one who repels one who seeks to enter or has entered another's dwelling or its dependencies, if his attitude denotes the imminence of a danger to the life, property or rights of the inhabitants.

The requirement provided for in literal c) is not necessary when it concerns the defense of his relatives within the degrees established by law, of his spouse or cohabitant, of his adoptive parents or adopted children, provided that the defender has not taken part in the provocation.

State of necessity

2º.Whoever has committed an act compelled by the necessity of saving himself or saving others from a danger, not voluntarily caused by him, nor otherwise avoidable, provided that the act is proportionate to the danger.

This exemption extends to one who causes damage to another's patrimony, if the following conditions concur:

a)Reality of the harm sought to be avoided;

b)That the harm be greater than that caused to avoid it;

c)That there be no other practicable and less harmful means to prevent it.

Whoever had the legal duty to face the danger or to sacrifice himself may not plead state of necessity.

Legitimate exercise of a right

3º.Whoever performs an act, ordered or permitted by law, in the legitimate exercise of the public office he holds, of the profession to which he devotes himself, of the authority he exercises, or of the assistance he provides to justice.

Causes of exculpation are:

Invincible fear

1º.Committing the act driven by invincible fear of an equal or greater, certain or imminent harm, according to the circumstances.

External force

2º.Committing the act coerced by irresistible external material force, directly employed upon him.

Mistake

3º.Committing the act in the rational belief that an unlawful aggression exists against his person, provided that the reaction is proportionate to the supposed risk.

Due obedience

4º.Committing the act by virtue of due obedience, without prejudice to the liability corresponding to the person who ordered it. Obedience is considered due when it meets the following conditions:

a)That there is hierarchical subordination between the person who orders and the person who executes the act;

b)That the order is issued within the scope of the attributions of the person who issues it, and is vested with the legal formalities;

c)That the illegality of the order is not manifest.

Justified omission

5º.Whoever incurs in any omission while prevented from acting, by legitimate and insuperable cause.