LEGAL RESEARCH AND BIBLIOGRAPHY- GROUP 3

GROUP 3- CHAPTERS 5 & 6

Members:

I. PHILIPPINE LEGAL PROFESSION
Reporter: Rhodum Sagario

II. PHILIPPINE LEGAL CITATIONS

Reporter: Adelin Mendoza

Primary Sources
o Constitution
o Statutes Proper
o Treaties
o Executive/Presidential Issuances
o Administrative Rules and Regulations
o Ordinances
o Jurisprudence- Court Decisions
Secondary Sources
o Commentaries
o Treatises
o Article
o Essay of a Speech
o Periodical/Journal Articles

Primary Sources

Constitution
o Const. (1935), Art. VII, Sec. 1
o Const. (1973), Art. X, Sec. 1
o Const. (1987), Art. VII, Sec. 1
Statutes Proper
o Laws (1901-1934) = Act No. 136 (1901)
o Commonwealth Acts (1935-1945) = Com. Act No. 35 (1935)
o Republic Acts (1946-1972, 1987- present) =Rep. Act No. 3019 (1960)
o Presidential Decrees (1972-1986) = Pres. Decree No. 442 (1972)

III. CASE LAW: DURING THE SPANISH PERIOD

Reporter: Kenneth Jane B. Omongos

Statute Law is derived from lawmaking agencies while

Case LAW comes from the judicial authorities of the state.
o Judicial decisions - 2nd major category of primary sources of law

PRE-SPANISH PERIOD
Judge: Chieftain Listens attentively
Jury: Barangay Elders Mental notes of arguments

Trials were held publicly and decisions were rendered promptly.

Accuser and accuse = faced each other
Oath = shows sincerity and honesty
May the crocodile devour me if I tell the any falsehood.
May the lightning strike me if I dont tell the truth and nothing but the truth.
May I die here and now if I will tell a lie.

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May the sun and moon frown upon me.

There was no bible to put ones right, unlike today when the
Bible is not taken seriously by these who swear by it.
WINNER: Disputant with more witnesses
Chieftain, acting as Judge and executive, compels the defeated party to
respect the judgment of the honorable court.
Defeated party had no other recourse than to bow to the inevitable.

SPANISH PERIOD
Ferdinand Magellan (Fernao de Magalhais)
- sailed for the crown of Castille on September 10, 1519
March 16, 1921
- Magellan landed in the Philippines
Three more expedition were sent to the island failed
On November 21, 1564 - Miguel Lopez de Legazpi - landed in
the Visayan island and founded the City of Cebu in 1565

COMPONENTS FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

A. LAW
B. THE JUDICIARY SYSTEM (ordinary, special courts ,and the prosecution)
C. THE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
D. THE PRISON SYSTEM
E. LEGAL PROFESSION

B. THE JUDICIARY SYSTEM

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1 Gobernadorcillos
(Justice of the Peace Court)
governed the town or pueblos
jurisdiction over all civil cases arising among Indios, Chinese mestizos and Chinese
(sum of not more than 44 pesos)
criminal cases limited to minor offenses of which the penalty did not exceed 10 days
of confinement or a fine of 5 pesos
2 Alcalde Mayor (pacified areas)
Corregidor (unpacified areas)
Court of First Instance
exercise judicial powers in provinces
acted as appellate judge for suits originating from the gobernadorcillo
They were political favorites selected without regard to their knowledge of law or of
affairs which they were to administer
In 1866 - their function became entirely judicial, his executive functions were turned
over to the newly established office of the gobernador civil (civil governor)
lawyers alone were qualified to be appointed alcaldes-mayors
known as jueces de primera instancia - exercise jurisdiction within the limits of their
respective partidos (judicial district)
3 REAL AUDENCIA OF MANILA
Supreme tribunal in the Philippines
Civil and criminal jurisdiction over cases appealed from alcalde mayor or Corregidor
and their decision is appealable to the Council of the Indies in Seville, Spain

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Established in the Philippines by Royal Decree of May 5, 1583
judgments were executed without appeal, except in certain cases which either lack of
jurisdiction or high station or great influence of the contesting parties, could be
elevated to Consejo de las Indias - court of final resort
abolished by Royal Cedula on August 9, 1589 but was restored on November 26,
1595 (6 years)

PALACE OF THE
REAL AUDIENCIA
DE LOS GRADOS
IN SEVILLE, SPAIN

Santiago de Vera - first president of the audencia real (June 15, 1584 - 1st session)

2 chambers:
- Civil Suits
- Criminal Suits (each headed by a President)
- Royal Decree of October 24, 1870, composition of Royal Audencia:
- President
- 2 presidents of 2 branches
- 8 associate justices
- 1 prosecuting attorney and other officials
1893 - Audencia Territorial de Manila
jurisdiction limited to Manila and fifteen enumerated provinces adjacent
thereto
original jurisdiction over civil cases (depends on the amount involved,
dignity of the parties, account of importance)
May 19, 1893 - Audencia de lo Criminal de Cebu and Audencia de lo
Criminal de Vigan
appellate court having jurisdiction over criminal cases outside the
territorial jurisdiction of the audencia of Manila
Composition: President, 2 associate justices, a prosecuting attorney,
an assistant prosecuting attorney, and a secretary, with necessary
clerks.
Were in operation at the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution

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4 Council of the Indies

5 The CROWN
unquestioned head of Spanish government having absolute power had the
power to reverse the
rulings of the Council
of the Indies
SPECIAL COURTS

A Ecclesiastical Courts

- Has jurisdiction over all

civil crimes and offenses
committed by the clergy of other
persons having a sacerdotal character, over marriage and divorce and violations of
the cannon law.
- Exercised exclusively by judges of first instance, who were designated ecclesiastical
judges, and regarded as court vicars of the Archbishop of Manila, and the suffragan
bishops of the other
diocese (Nueva Caceres, Cebu, and Jaro)
- EC in Manila: 1 provisor and vicar-general ecclesiastical judge, 1 ecclesiastical prosecuting
atty., 1 notary
- Supreme government: 1 secretary, 1 vice-secretary, 1 archivist, 1 accountant
- Large proportion, if not all, of these officials were members of the religious orders

B Army and Navy Courts

- Took cognizance not only of purely military offenses, but of civil and criminal cases affecting
soldiers and other persons having military privileges.
- Royal Decree of February 1, 1869 this special jurisdiction of the military courts was turned
over to the ordinary courts.

C Treasury Courts

- Decemeber 4, 1786 Intendente Corregidor have the jurisdiction over legal cases affecting
royal treasury, including contraband, smuggling, etc.
- September 16, 1813 was withdrawn & transferred to civil judges who were lawyers, and
took cognizance in first instance, with appeal to the audencia.
- Treasury court was later abolished by virtue of a Royal Decree of February 1, 1869 which
lodged in the ordinary courts exclusive jurisdiction over cases affecting the treasury.

D Commercial Courts

- Established by the Royal Decree of July 26, 1832

- Consist of 1 prior, 2 consuls, 2 substitute consuls, and subordinate personnel
- It has jurisdiction over all transactions, contracts, and other agreements or matters growing
out of the commerce of the islands.
- Royal Decree of February 1, 1869 abolished and cognizance over all cases relating to
commerce vested in the ordinary courts.

E Contentious Courts

- Royal Decree of June 4, 1861 established a court Tribunal Contencioso which hears and
decides complaints against the administration of government, with final appeal to the council
of state in Spain.

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- In 1806 - composition (1 president and 3 magistrates)
- Abolished on 1869 reestablished but in 1875 abolished and suspended on 1888 and
continued until 1890

F Probate Courts

- For the adjudication of probate cases

- On 1883 the court was abolished, and the matters which it had jurisdiction were transferred
to the judges of First Instance

Prosecution

- represented the government and its ins-titutions in the enforcement of the law and
in all civil and criminal actions to which the state was a party

LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

CUERPO DE

Municipal police under local

government officials

GUARDIA CIVIL

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National constabulary

assigned to a
particular

provinces under the

provincial commanders
who reported

directly to the governor

and
PRISON SYSTEM
captain general.

OLD BILIBID
The formal prison system in the
Philippines started only during the
Spanish regime, where an organized
corrective service was made
operational. Established in 1847
pursuant to Section 1708 of the
Revised Administrative Code and
formally opened by Royal Decree in
1865, the Old Bilibid Prison was
constructed as the main penitentiary
on Oroquieta Street, Manila and
designed to house the prison

A. Municipal jails
B. Provincial jails
C. Major penitentiaries (Bilibid prison and those in Cavite, Zamboanga and Marianas)
D. Penal farms or Colonies in Palawan, Davao, Cotabato and Zamboanga

IV. AMERICAN PERIOD- JUDICIAL SYSTEM AT PRESENT

Reporter: Iphraim Abbas

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American Period

With the establishment of the American military government following the surrender of the
American army, provost courts and military commissions were created.

At the same time civil courts were recognized for certain civil purposes.

In place of the Audencia territorial de Manila, was a Supreme Court composed of a Chief
Justice and eight associate Justices.

Next were the Courts of First Instance, and a he boom he municipal and justice of the peace
courts. A special court, he Court of land Registration, was also created, but I ceased to exist
on the 21s of July 1914, and am function were transferred o Court of Instance.

Although with the annexation of the Philippines to the United States, most of the essential
principles of the United States Constitution operated in the Philippines; they did not include
the right of trial by jury.

Judicial System at Present

A. Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction

1 Metropolitan trial court

2 Municipal trial court

3 Municipal Circuit trial Courts

These are the tribunals in which most of the controversies that occur in a community are heard and,
at least provisionally, decided.

These courts are very limited jurisdiction may be at bottom of the judicial totem pole.

B. Trial Courts of General Jurisdiction

1 Regional Trial Courts (formerly Courts of Firs Instance)

If a civil claim or criminal prosecution involves an amount of money or a potential criminal sentence,
beyond his jurisdiction of Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction, it must be filed and heard in the RTC.

C. The Intermediate Appellate Court

1 Court of Appeals

Before a part can go to the court of as resort, he has to go first to the intermediate appellate court.

The Court of Appeals is the body that generally has exclusive appellate jurisdiction over the decisions
of the Regional trial Courts and other quasi-judicial agencies.

D The Court of Last Resort

The Supreme Court is the the court of last resort

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It has the power to review on appeal or certiorari final judgments and order of lower courts in certain
cases such as when errors or questions of law are invoked and where the Constitution or validity of
statutes are involved.

Doctrine of Precedents

By the common law doctrine of precedent or principle of stare decisis, decided cases are
usually considered to be the primary source of law and hence, pas judicial decisions are
generally binding for the disposition of factually similar present controversies.

Stare decisis, et no quieta movere, is the Latin maxim meaning, to follow precedent.

Reversal and Overruling

Reversal has reference to the action of the Supreme Court on lower courts judgments in the
same particular controversy. When the Supreme Court reviews the judgment of the lower
court in a case and concludes the lower court reached an erroneous result in the case, it will
reverse, i.e., set aside, the lower courts judgment.

When the Supreme Court overrules one of is pas decisions, he conclusiveness of that earlier
decision as a settlement of is particular controversy is not affected, but the overruled decision
is no longer an authoritative precedent for other cases that may arise in the future.

Ratio decidendi and Obiter Dictum

Ratio decidendi is the holding of the principle of law on which a case was decided. It is the
ration decidendi that sets the precedent and is binding on courts in the future. The ratio
decidendi must be considered in conjunction with their facts of the case.

In contrast obiter dictum is language in a decision that is not necessary to the decision.
Dictum comes from the Lain verb decire to say, and refers to what is said by the way.
Although dictum is no binding on future cases, I might be persuasive.

V. CASE LAW MATERIALS

Reporter: Evren Managuit

1. Decisions Proper

A. Decisions of the Supreme Court

The preparation for the publication of the decisions of the Supreme Court and the
Court of Appeals of the Philippines is entrusted to the respective court reporter of each court.
When a decision is rendered by the Supreme Court, a written opinion or memorandum
exemplifying the ground and scope of the judgment of the court shall be filed with the Clerk of
Court and shall be recorded by him in an opinion book. When the court shall deem a decision
to be of sufficient importance to necessitate publication, the Clerk shall furnished a certified
copy of the decision to the Reporter. The Reporter then prepares and publishes with each
reported decision a concise synopsis of the facts necessary to a clear understanding of the
case, stating the names of counsel, together with the material points raised and determined,
citing each case, which shall be confined ,as near as possible to points raised and determined,
citing each case, which shall be confined, as near as possible to points of law decided by the
courts on the facts of the case without necessity of reciting the facts.

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(1.) Official Repositories of Decisions of the Supreme Court. Appear in the three official
publications, namely:

a.) Advance Sheets

b.) Official Gazette

c.) Philippine Reports

d.) Philippine Reports (Reprints)

e.) Jurisprudence Filipina

(2.) Unofficial Reporting Of Supreme Court Decisions

a.) Philippine Decisions

b.) Philippine Reports Annotated

c.) Philippine Reports Annotated (Central)

d.) Supreme Court Reports Annotated (SCRA)

e.) Supreme Court Decisions (SCD)

f.) Philippine Law and Jurisprudence (PHILAJUR)

g.) Supreme Court Unpublished Decisions (SCUD)

h.) Supreme Court Advance Decisions (SCAD)

i.) Supreme Court Excerpts (SCEX)

j.) Summary of Supreme Court Rulings

k.) Citations: Excerpts of Supreme Court Decisions

l.) Title Index to Supreme Court Decisions 1945-1978

m.) Supreme Court Decisions Title Index, 1982-1985

n.) The Sandiganbayan Reporter

o.) The PCCG Reporter

B.) DECISIONS OF THE COURT OF APPEALS

1.) Appellate Court Reports

2.) Advance Sheets

3.) Official Gazette

4.) Court of Appeals Reports

5.) Court of Appeals Reports Annotated

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C.). DECISIONS OF THE SANDIGANBAYAN

The Sandiganbayan a collegiate trial court established by the Constitution to try crimes by
public officers, published the Sandiganbayan Reports in 1980, which contained its decisions
from December 1979 to February 1980. However, this was not succeeded by other volumes.
This writer has compiled and published the Sandiganbayan Reporter which contains all cases
decided by the Supreme Court involving the Sandiganbayan.

D.) DECISIONS OF THE COURT OF TAX APPEALS

E.) DECISIONS OF THE REGIONAL TRIAL COURTS

F.) DECISIONS OF THE METROPOLITAN TRIAL COURTS, MUNICIPAL TRIAL COURTS

AND MUNICIPAL CIRCUIT TRIAL COURTS

VI. SUBORDINATE DECISIONS

Reporter: Oeruel Bautista

A. THE SENATE ELECTORAL TRIBUNAL AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE

ELECTORAL TRIBUNAL

The SET and HRET which shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election,
returns, and qualifications of their respective Members. It shall be composed of nine
MEMBERS, three of who shall be Justices of Supreme Court designated by the Chief Justice
tand from the respective houses.

B. Administrative Agencies Exercising Quasi-Judicial Powers

1. Agencies with implied quasi-judicial powers

These are agencies mostly with investigative functions. Just to name a few examples,
these are the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the President, Secretary of
Justice, Professional Regulatory Commission and Tanodbayan.

2. Agencies with express quasi-judicial powers

These are agencies which are actually given judicial functions over cases which otherwise
go to the regular courts of justice were it not for the grant of such powers to these
agencies. These are the Insurance Commission, the Commission on Elections, the National
Labor Relations Commission, Social Security System, Commission on Audit and other
similar agencies.

C. Publications of Administrative Agencies Exercising Quasi-Judicial Functions

The following agencies have published some of their decisions:

1. Civil Service Commission

2. Commission on Audit
3. Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board
4. Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board
5. Securities and Exchange Commission
6. Bureau of Internal Revenue

VII. LAW BOOKS OF SECONDARY AUTHORITY

Reporter: Roy John V. Malaluan

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- Works which are not primary authority but which digest, discuss or analyze legal provisions,
judicial decisions or define and explain legal doctrines and terms are considered SECONDARY
MATERIALS.
- Secondary materials include:
o Case Digests
o Treatises and Textbooks
o Bar Reviewers
o Legal Periodicals
o Legal Encyclopedia
o Law Dictionaries

CASE DIGESTS

- Compilations of paragraphs containing concise summaries of points in cases, grouped under

appropriate headings.
- Each paragraph is complete in itself when it has concisely and accurately stated the point
decided with reference to precise facts.
- Some examples:
o Philippine Digests
o Republic of the Philippines Digest or Republic Digest
o Velayos Digest
o SCRA Quick-Index Digest
o Compendium of Philippine Jurisprudence

TREATISES AND TEXTBOOKS

- These are expositions by legal writers on statutory law and case law pertaining to a particular
subject and published in book form.
- It embodies a range of publications, including multi-volume works, textbooks, and shorter
monographs.
- Usually able to treat a subject in greater depth.

BAR REVIEWERS

- Helpful to graduating law students and reviewers for the bar.

- Presents a concise presentation of the law, legal doctrines and leading Supreme Court
decisions in capsulized form.
- Usually very current and include the latest SC decisions.

LEGAL PERIODICALS

- Indispensable in the United States, not widely used in the Philippines.

- Contain both articles by established scholars and student-written comments and case notes.
Both lead articles and comments are marked by extensive footnotes, making them useful
research tools.

LEGAL ENCYCLOPEDIA

- A comprehensive treatise of the entire field of law.

- It presents in concise form, brief but comprehensive statements of the current law upon said
topics.
- A subject-book which presents to the user the means of making his own definition.
- It deals with a whole field of law and gives a literary statement of law.

LAW DICTIONARY

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- Useful for identifying the definitions of words in their legal sense or use.
- Earliest law dictionary- Diccionario de Administracion de las Islas Filipinas in 1887,
followed by Diccionario Juridico Recopilador in 1922.
- Philippine Law Dictionary by Federico Moreno.

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