DLSU College of Law

LEGAL RESEARCH AND THESIS WRITING

Course Description:

A study of the methodology, skills and techniques of legal research.

Course Requirements:

Class Standing/Quizzes/Exercises (60%):.

Legal Reference Sources Report (10%):.
Research Paper (30%):

House Rules:
- Academic honesty: Academic dishonesty, such as plagiarism, cheating, and fabrication will
merit a failing grade for the course, without prejudice to the filing of disciplinary charges
depending on the gravity of the offense.
- No make-up quizzes & classroom exercises will be given for absentees.
- Proper citation formats must be used for the papers to be submitted.
- Attendance: A 5-pt incentive will be added to the student’s class attendance for perfect
attendance. Students are also expected to come to class on time .Those who come after
attendance had been called shall be marked absent.
-Decorum: Students are expected to listen not only to the lectures but also to recitations. They
are allowed to engage in relevant and non-distracting conversations during class; however,
they risk being called to recite or to explain what the conversation was about. Students are
also not allowed to use gadgets (laptops, netbooks, tablets, smartphones, etc.) in class. Cell
phones must be turned off or switched to silent mode before entering the classroom.

COURSE OUTLINE

A. Legal Information Sources (Legal Bibliography)

1. Introduction
 Course Overview
 Expectations
2. Philippine Legal System
 Historical development: From the Pre-Spanish period to the present 3rd Philippine
Republic
 Government structure: the three branches of government, constitutional commissions,
other government agencies, local government units
3. Classification of Legal Information Sources: as to authority, as to source, as to character
4. Legal Information Sources: Statute law, Case law, Citators
 Statute Law: General Classification:
o Conventional / Subordinate
 1. Tanada v. Tuvera, G.R. No. L-63915, April 24, 1985.
2. Tanada v. Tuvera, G.R. No. L-63915, December 29, 1986.
3. Biraogo v. Philippine Truth Commission of 2010, G.R. No. 192935
December 7, 2010,
4. Gerochi v. Department of Energy , G.R. No. 159796, July 17, 2007

o External / Internal

5. Overview of Rules of Court

6. Rule 138

 Statute Law: Specific classifications: constitution, statutes proper, treaties and other
international agreements, presidential issuances, administrative rules and regulations,
municipal charters, municipal legislation, legislative rules, court rules

7. Javellana v. Executive Secretary, G.R. No. L-36142, March 31, 1973.

8. Santiago v. COMELEC, G.R. No. 127325. March 19, 1997.
9. Lambino v. COMELEC, G.R. No. 174153, October 25, 2006.
10. Saguisag et. al., v. Executive Secretary, G.R. No. 212426, January 12, 2016
11. Chapter 2, Book III, Executive Order No, 292
 Case Law:
o Conventional decisions: Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan

12. Velarde v. Social Justice Society, G.R. No. 159357, April 28, 2004.

o Subordinate decisions: Decisions of administrative bodies with quasi-judicial

functions
5. Secondary source materials (annotations, dictionaries, encyclopedias, legal forms,
directories and law lists, textbooks and treatises, etc.)
6. Foreign legal sources
 US Laws and Cases
 International Law

Activities for Part A – Reports on legal reference sources; Quizzes

B. Methods of Legal Research

1. Introduction to research
 Research Process
 Research Ethics
- Plagiarism as breach of ethics
- In Re: Letter of the UP Law Faculty entitled "Restoring Integrity: A Statement by
the Faculty of the University of the Philippines College of Law on the Allegations of
Plagiarism and Misrepresentation in the Supreme Court.", A.M. No. 10-10-4-SC, 19
October 2010.

- In Re: Charges Of Plagiarism, Etc., Against Associate Justice Mariano C. Del

 Castillo. A.M. No. 10-7-17-SC, 8 February 2011.

- UP BOR v. CA , G.R. No. 134625, 31 August 1999.

- Plagiarism v. copyright infringement

 Laws and policies in information dissemination

- Right to access to information

Censorship and freedom of expression
Freedom of information
Exceptions to FoI
Chavez v. President Commission on Good Government, G.R. No.. 130716,
December 9, 1998.
Gonzalez v. Narvasa, G.R. No. 140835, August 14, 2000.
Ba-Ra 7941 v. COMELEC, G.R. No. 177271, May 4, 2007.

- Right to privacy and confidentiality

Ople v. Torres- G.R. No. 127685, Jul. 23, 1998.
Disini v. Secretary of Justice - G.R. No. 203335, February 11, 2014.
Vivares v. St Theresa’s College, G.R. No. 202666, September 29, 2014.

2. Preliminary Legal Research Procedure

 Gathering and analyzing the facts
 Identifying the legal issues and organizing these in a logical order
3. Legal information seeking: Print sources/Electronic legal databases (official, unofficial)
 Background research using legal dictionaries and encyclopedias
 Using printed legal sources
 Computer-assisted legal research
o Reputable sources (LEXIS, WestLaw, Lex Libris, CDAsia Online, e-SCRA,
Official government sites)
o Popular Websites
4. Research proper
 Determine the scope of the research
 Determine which legal sources can best answer your research problem
o Primary & secondary authorities
o Controlling & persuasive authorities
 Locate relevant laws and cases using both print and electronic means
 Determine the value of your laws and cases (e.g., are they still good law?) through the
use of verification sources (digests, annotated law reports, Shepard's Citations)
 If necessary, research on legislative history of statutes
5. How to cite sources (using standard legal citators, e.g., Feliciano, Harvard Blue Book, etc.)

Activities for Part B – Case digests, legal memoranda, Research paper writing
References:

1987 Constitution

Aguirre, V.V.M (2001) From basic to Computer assisted Research. Philippine Journal of Law
Librarians 5, 40

Santos, A.M. (2003) Basic Information for legal Research in the Philippines. In Doing Legal
Research in Asian Countries. Japan; Institute of Developing Economies
Elias, Stephen (2012), Legal Research : How to Find & Understand the Law.
Gupit, F.A. (1995), Guide to Philippine Legal Materials.
Hames, Joanne Banker & Ekern, Yvonne (2000), Legal Research, Analysis, and Writing : an
Integrated Approach
Hoffman, Marci (2008), International and Foreign Legal Research : a Coursebook.
Moreno, F. (1973), Philippine Legal Bibliography.
Murray, Michael D. & Christy Hallam DeSanctis (2009), Legal Research Methods.
Putman, William H. & Albright, Jennifer R. (2014), Legal Research, Analysis, and Writing
Rodriguez, R. (2002), Legal Research.