He threatened me in the heat of an argument and then dropped it — is that still a crime?

The provision is written for exactly this situation

Article 285 includes any person who, in the heat of anger, shall orally threaten another with some harm not constituting a crime, and who by subsequent acts shows that he did not persist in the idea involved in his threat. Read that carefully. The heat of anger and the later backing down are not exceptions written into a graver offence — they are the description of this one. The Code has looked at the quarrel that flares and subsides and decided it belongs in the lightest class of threats, rather than nowhere at all.

Two limits that decide which article applies

First, the harm threatened must be one not constituting a crime. A threat to do something that would itself be an offence is outside this paragraph and falls to be considered under a graver provision. Second, the paragraph applies only where the circumstances do not bring the act within Article 282 of the Code. So the classification does not follow from the shouting; it follows from what was actually threatened and the circumstances in which it was said. Two arguments of identical volume can land in different articles for that reason.

Desistance has to be shown by acts

The phrase is by subsequent acts shows that he did not persist. What counts is conduct after the words — walking away, taking no step towards carrying the threat out, the matter genuinely ending. A person who repeats the threat later, or who begins to do something about it, is not described by this paragraph however hot the original moment was. That is why what happened in the days after the argument often matters more to the classification than the argument itself, and why an account of it is worth writing down while it is exact.

What is worth recording, either way

Write down the words as closely as you can recall them, the date and time, and who else was present, before the recollection blurs into the general sense of the quarrel. Keep any messages sent afterwards by either side, since they are usually the clearest evidence of whether the matter was pursued or dropped. If this is a continuing situation with a neighbour or a relative, the pattern over time matters as much as the single incident. Take that record to a lawyer rather than deciding the classification yourself.

Related provisions

• Revised Penal Code, Article 285 — Other Light Threats
• Revised Penal Code, Article 282 — Grave Threats