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•
Introduction to Law
WHAT IS LAW?
- A rule of conduct or action prescribed
or formally recognized as binding or
enforced by a controlling authority
- Must be obeyed and followed by
citizens subject to sanctions or legal
consequences
- Law in its rural and generic sense refers
to the whole body or system of law
- A rule of conduct formulates and made
obligatory by legitimate power of the
state
- Characteristics of Law
• Rule of conduct
• Promulgated by competent authority
• Just and obligatory
• For common observance and benefit
• Has sanctions and penalties
PRINCIPLE SOURCES OF LAW
- Primary/Direct
• Legislation or statute
• Codification of laws
• Expressed according to the form
necessary to constitute it a law of the
state, and rendered authentic by
certain prescribed forms and
solemnities
• Primary and direct source of law in
the Philippines
- Secondary/Indirect
• Customary Law: practice of the
people that has acquired the force of
law
• Case Law/Precedents: decisions of
courts of last resort, serve as a guide
for future consideration as faith of
their correctness
• Interpretation of laws
• Still part of the legal system
CLASSIFICATION OF LAW
- Statutory/Codified/Enacted
PHIN DIMALANTA
Legislative
• Civil Law System: codified/enacted
• Constitution: adopted by the people
• Statutes: the people through
legislative bodies
- Case Law/Common Law
• Judiciary
• Decisions of the Supreme Court
• Stare Decisis: “Let the decision stand”
• Doctrine of Precedent: Past decisions
guide the determination of current
disputes
• Also known as jurisprudence
- Administrative Law
• Executive
• Executive in nature: by the President
and by government regulatory
agencies
PURPOSE OF THE LAW
- Establish Standards that allow
individuals to interact with the greatest
efficiency and the least amount of
conflict
- Provides a mechanism for a resolution
- Functions
• Keeps the peace
• Shapes moral standards
• Promotes social justice
• Maintains status quo
• Facilitates orderly change
• Facilitates planning
• Provides basis for compromise
• Maximizes individual freedom
PRECEDENCE AND HIERARCHY OF
LAWS
- 1987 Constitution: Supreme Law
- Statutes: created by Congress;
authority derived from 1987
Constitution and cannot be contrary to
the constitution
- Implementing Rules and Regulations:
written by government agencies in the
Executive to put the statue into force
- Court Decisions
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CIVIL LAW SYSTEM
- In ancient Rome, jus civile (civil law) was
used to distinguish proper or ancient
law of Rome VS. jus gentium (common
law) or the law thought to be common
to all the people comprising the Roman
world developed by praetors
(magistrates) and jurists
- So, Roman Emperor Justinian I
commissioned a comprehensive code
of laws = CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS (“Body
of Civil Law”) to set forth the laws of the
Roman Empire
- Philippine Legal System - Spanish Legal
System - French Napoleonic
Codification System
COMMON LAW SYSTEM
- Body of law derived and developed
through judicial decisions
- Followed the rule of a Sovereign King as
the central sovereign power, hence the
development of equity
- Referred to this as “common law”
because it was applied equally all
throughout
- System of following similar previous
cases as the most equitable way of
resolving disputes
- 2 Doctrines: Precedent, and Stare
Decisis
PHILIPPINE LEGAL SYSTEM: A HYBRID
- A combination of Spanish and
American Legal Systems
- American Occupation
• Respected the civil laws of the
Philippines
• Incorporated common law system
• Art. 8. Judicial decisions applying or
interpreting the laws or the
Constitution shall form a part of the
legal system of the Philippines
• Under a PURE common law system, a
“law” is created by the courts when
PHIN DIMALANTA
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there is no law governing a topic

JURISPRUDENCE
- A study of law and the principles on
which it is based
- Civil law judgments are written in more
formalistic style
- Civil Law Decisions
• First identify the legal principles that
might be relevant
• Verify if the facts support their
application
CLASSIFICATION OF LAW
- Statutory Law vs Case Law
• Statute: in the form of legislation by
congress
• Case Law: in the course of judicial
decisions
- Private Law vs Public Law
• Private Law: governs individual
citizens in the private sphere
- EX: Civil Law
• Public Law: governs relationship
between the state and the 

people
- EX: Criminal Law
- Substantive Law vs Procedural Law
• Substantive Law: law/legal standard
that creates and resolves 

issues; creates, defines, and
regulates rights
• Procedural Law: a method of
enforcing rights or obtaining 

redress
EFFECTIVITY OF LAWS
- Laws shall take effect after fifteen days
following the completion of their
publication either in the Official Gazette
or in a newspaper of general circulation
- Tañada v Tuvera
• It is enough that it is published for
the dissemination of local news and
general information
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• Need not have the largest circulation
so long as it is of general circulation
• Without publication, law does not
become effective as it violates due
process
Legal Research
- Process of finding the laws, rules, and
regulations that govern activities in
human society
- Locating both the laws and rules which
are enforced and the commentaries
which explain or analyze these rules
- Investigation for information necessary
for legal decision making (facts – issue
– ruling)
- Begins with analyzing the facts of a
problem and concludes with applying
and communicating the results of the
investigation
NEED FOR LEGAL RESEARCH
- To provide competent legal
representation which requires the legal
knowledge, skill, thoroughness and
preparation reasonably necessary for
the representation
• Working knowledge of legal rules
and the institution that makes up the
legal system
• Fundamental tools of legal research
• Devising & Implementing a coherent
and effective research design
- Uphold the standards of the legal
profession
- The sources if legal research may be
printed or electronic sources
SOURCES OF LAW
- May be printed or electronic sources
• Electronic sources improved speed
and effectivity
- Varies by degree of authority
- Primary Sources
PHIN DIMALANTA
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• Constitution, Statutes, Court
Decisions, Administrative Rules
• Statutes passed by legislature,
administrative rulings and court
decisions
• Recorded laws and rules that will be
enforced by the State
• Binding and authoritative
- Secondary Sources
• Can help analyze a problem and
provide research references to
primary sources and secondary
materials
• Discuss or analyze legal doctrines
• Usually annotations or
commentaries
• Persuasive, and reference authorities
• EX: treatises, commentaries, and
encyclopedias
- Finding Tools
• A means for lacking primary sources
• Has no authority
• EX: SCRA Quick Index Digest, CD Asia,
PHILJURIS
LEGAL RESEARCH PROCESS
- Always ends to answer the question
“Whether or not”
- Identify and analyze the significant
facts
• Begins with compiling a descriptive
statement of legally significant facts
• Factual analysis leads to formulating
the legal issue that will be
researched
• The investigation and inquiry stage
• TARP Rule: technique to analyze your
facts
- Thing or subject matter
- Cause of action
- Relief sought
- Persons or parties involved
- Formulate the legal issue/s to be
presented
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• Initial intellectual activity that
presumes some knowledge of the
substantive law
• To classify and categorize the
problem into general and
increasingly specific subject areas to
begin to hypothesize legal issues
• Consult general secondary sources
for an overview of all relevant subject
areas
- They are tools and not the object
of research
- Research the issue presented
• Organize and Plan: Write down all
sources to be searched under each
issue to be researched, even if
sources are repeated
• Identify, Read and Update All
Relevant Constitutional Provisions,
Statutes and Administrative
Regulations
- Statutory Compilations: tables of
contents and indexes that list
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
the subject and topics covered by
the statutes
- Computer-Assisted Legal Research
(PHILJURIS/LEX LIBRIS)
- Secondary Sources: treaties and
commentaries and law review
articles, commonly cite relevant
constitutional provisions, statues,
and administrative regulations
- Refine the Search: expand your
arguments
• Do not limit your search to cases the
support your position, anticipate
both sides of an argument and
identify the cases that indicate
contrary conclusions
- Update
• To determine whether the
authorities have been interpreted or
altered in any way, or whether new
cases, statutes or regulations have
been published
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• Congress passes new statutes and
modify old ones
• Supreme Court either refines the law
or reaffirms the law or even changes
the interpretation of the law
Legal Bibliography
BIBLIOGRAPHY VS LEGAL
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Bibliography: list of descriptions of
published materials either relating to a
given subject or author
• Literature bearing on a particular
subject or field of law
- Legal Bibliography: science or the study
of law books
• Authors, publishers, dates, editions,
and degree of authoritativeness
LEGAL RESEARCH VS LEGAL
- Legal Research: the method or system
of inquiry and investigation involving
the actual use of the law books
• Inquiry and investigation necessary
to be made by lawyers and legal
writers in the performance of their
functions
• Object is to establish propositions of
law
- Legal Bibliography: study of the
materials essential to the inquiry of the
researcher
- One who is conducting legal research
must have the knowledge of legal
bibliography
- To provide legal basis for a claim, one
must present for consideration the
authority which must be applied, and
which the court is bound to apply
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IMPORTANCE AND AIM OF LEGAL
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Analyze the legal question to answer/
solve the legal problem or issue
- Gives the investigator that sense of
assurance and confident in the
successful preparation and prosecution
- “Law is a science but practice is an art”
- To convince the court requires the
citation of authority
Statutory Law
- All codified and enacted
- Hierarchy of authority
• The 1987 Constitution: expression of
sovereign will and independence
• Treaties and international
agreements
• Statutes enacted by the Legislature
• Administrative rules and regulations
• Ordinances enacted by the
Autonomous regions: CAR, BARMM
• Ordinances enacted by local
government units: councilor sand
board members
THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION
- Law of the highest authoritativeness
and obligation
- Supreme law of the land
- Ultimate authority to which reference
must be made to determine validity of
other statutes
- The fundamental law or supreme law
of the land promulgated by the people.
A law, to which all other laws must
conform
- The written instrument by which the
fundamental powers of the
government are established, limited
and defined and by which these
powers are distributed among the
several departments for their safe and
PHIN DIMALANTA
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useful exercise for the benefit of the
people
HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE
CONSTITUTION
- Spanish period
• Philippines was governed by special
laws
• No constitution because it would
make Filipinos equal in the eyes of
the law
- Treaty of Paris
• Spain sold the Philippines to the
United States for $20 million
• Marked the commencement of
constitutionalism in the country
- Malolos Constitution
• Made by the Filipino revolutionaries
• Copied from the Spanish
Constitution
• Was not put into effect
- American Period
• Organic laws from the US
- Result of the Philippines under
direct control of the US and
treated as a federal state
- Takes place of a constitution as the
fundamental law of the local
government
• McKinley’s Instructions
- Establishment of courts and
government
- Philippine Commission:
unicameral legislative body
• Spooner Amendment
- Form of a rider to the Army
Appropriations Bill (Annual law for
expenditure)
- Established a civil government
- Ended military government
• The Philippine Bill 1902
- Provide for the administration of
civil government
- Extended to the Philippines the Bill
of Rights of the US Constitution
• The Philippine Autonomy Act 1916
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- Chief organic act
- Bicameral Legislature: Senate (by
district) and House of
Representatives
- President: Manuel L. Quezon
- Speaker of the House: Sergio
Osmeña
- Commonwealth Period
• Tydings-McDuffie Law 1934
- Relinquishment of American
Sovereignty over the Philippines
• 10 year transition
• All Filipino government
• 1935 Constitution
- Had a Preamble, National
Territory, Bill of Rights, Form &
Structure of Government
- Unicameral Legislative Body:
National Assembly
- Patterned after the American
Constitution
- Japanese Occupation
• 1943 Constitution
- Through Jose P. Laurel
- Removal of rights (Habeas Corpus,
Bill of Rights)
- Mac Arthur 1944: the 1943
Constitution is declared null & void
because it is not an expression of
Philippine sovereignty
- Period after Philippine Independence
• Martial Law Declaration
- September 21, 1972
- Constitutional Convention
• 1973 Constitution
- Javellana v Executive Secretary
- Supreme Court rules as ratified
• Provisional/Freedom Constitution
1986
- Revolutionary Government
- Proclamation No. 1: taking power
in the name of the people and by
the will of the Filipino people
(extra constitutional & extra-legal)
- Suspended the 1973 Constitution
- 1987 Constitution
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• Preamble, National Territory,
Declaration of Principles and State
Policies, Bill of Rights, Citizenship,
Suffrage, Legislative Department,
Executive Department, Judicial
Department, Constitutional
Commissions (COA, CSC, COMELEC),
Local Government, Accountability of
Public Officers, National Economy
and Patrimony, Social Justice and
Human Rights, Education Science
and Technology Arts Culture and
Sports, The Family, General
Provisions, Amendments (change
detail or legal basis) and Revisions
(change something fundamental),
Transitory Provisions
TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL
AGREEMENT
- Has the force of a statute/law
- Pact between 2 countries or more with
a view to the public welfare
- An agreement between or among
states which generally governs their
mutual conduct with one another
- Ratification is done by the Senate
- Must not be against the Constitution
• Treated as special laws (special law
over general law)
• Authority is the one later in time
- Whenever the Philippines enters into a
treaty and is in violation of republic
acts, the government must make
amendments as stated in international
law
- Bilateral Treaty: between 2 countries
(EX: JAPEPA)
- Multilateral Treaty: between 3 countries
or more (EX: UN Charter, Paris
Agreement
STATUTES ENACTED BY LEGISLATURE
- Advantages: clear, definitive, and
formal (deliberative process)
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- Codification: systematic and logical
compilation of all the statues on a
certain subject of law
• Makes it binding
- Article VI, 1987 Constitution: legislative
power in vested in the Congress (24
Senators, 300 Representatives)
• Voted by legislative district
• Party list system
• Practicable, contiguous, compact,
and adjacent territory
• Population of at least 250k
• At least one representative
• Census every three years
- Types of Legislation
• Constitution
• Statues
• Administrative rules
• Ordinances
- Form of Statues: every bill has to have
only one subject expressed in the title
to prevent log-rolling legislation
• The title must indicate in broad but
clear terms in nature, scope and
consequences of the proposed law
and its operation
ENACTMENT OF STATUTES
• 3 readings in separate days
- Except when the President certifies
the bill as urgent
• At least 3 days before the passage,
printed copies should be distributed
• If the president certifies the bill as
urgent, the 2nd and 3rd reading can
be on the same day
• First Reading
- Title is read by Secretary General
or Senate Secretary
- It is then given to the appropriate
committee
- Invite experts to talk about the bill
- Committee submits substitute bill
• Second Reading
- Substitute bill is filed
- Legislative debate/interpolate
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- Chairman of Committee: sponsor/
defendant of the bill
- Primary author: First to file
• Third Reading
- Printed copies are distributed
- The bill is voted on
• In case of conflicting provisions, the
Bicameral Conference Committee is
constituted to reconcile differences
• Bill becomes Law by
- Approved and signed by the
President
- Rejected/vetoed by President and
may be overrides by congress if
2/3 of each house agrees to pass
the bill
- Inaction: bill lapses into law after
30 days
CONSTRUCTION
- Process of construing the meaning of
the law
- General Rule: plain meaning
• Don’t resort to external, extrinsic aids
- Resort to using extrinsic aids if the
result would be cruel, monstrous,
absurd, impractical, unjust, or
unreasonable
- Use of extrinsic aids to find out intent
by purpose interpretation by looking at
legislative history
HISTORY OF PHILIPPINE
LEGISLATION
- Pre Spanish Period
• Already had a system of law and
order
• Umalahokan: announcing new rules
& promulgations made by chieftain
• Maragtas and Kalantao Code
• Concept of a Penal Code
- Spanish Period
• Influence of Romans in the Spanish
legal system
• Code of Euric & Brevarium of Alaric:
first process of codification
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• Fuero Juzgo & Fuero Real: dealing
with matters of both the people and
the government (judicial procedures),
and the affairs of men
• Las Siete Partidas: separation of laws
for organization
- 1st: natural law
- 2nd: political/public law
- 3rd: judicial law
- 4th: civil law
- 5th: obligations & contracts
- 6th: succession law
- 7th: penal laws (to penalize or
criminalize needs to either have a
fine or imprisonment)
• Leyes de Toro, Nueva Recopilacion, &
Novisma Recopilacion: shows the
dynamism of the law
- Modern Spanish Period
• Codigo de Comercio, Codigo Penal,
The Codes of Civil and Criminal
Procedure, & Codigo Civil: Seen until
now in the Philippine system of law
• Legislation in the colonies: genesis of
law, evolution of law
• Materials on the Spanish laws
- Had the concept of Gazette and
Bulletin
- Secondary Materials: Manresa,
Castan Tobenas
- To see the intent behind laws,
wisdom (the why) of the law
- Philippine Revolution
• Malolos Congress
• Never took into effect due to
American occupation
- American Period
• Assembled and compiled repository
rules and administration
• System of Justice and System of
Government
• Repositories: Public Laws, Philippine
Permanent and General Statutes,
Compilation of Laws and Regulations
Relating to Public Lands in the
Philippine Islands
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- Commonwealth Period
• 1935 Constitution
• Enactment of 733 statutes published
as Public Laws of the Commonwealth
- Patterned after Public Laws of the
American Period
- Japanese Period
- Period after Independence
• Start of Republic Acts
• Bicameral Congress
- Martial Law Period
• 2,036 Presidential Decrees
- Lack of check and balance
• unicameral Congress
- Aquino’s Revolutionary Government
• 302 Executive Orders
- 1987 Constitution
• Restored Bicameral Congress
*Publications on Philippine Statutes, In
General: prima face evidence of its
authenticity
*Spanish gave the Philippines
interpersonal relations law and the
Americans gave the system of
government
ADMINISTRATIVE RULES &
REGULATIONS
- Implementation rules of laws
• HRR of the government
• Personel arm of the government
ORDINANCES ENACTED BY
AUTONOMOUS REGION
- For CAR and Muslim Mindanao
- Legislative assemblies of these
autonomous regions enact ordinances
to govern the region and may create
administrative agencies to operate in
the regions
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ORDINANCES ENACTED BY LOCAL
GOVERNMENT UNITS
- Govern the welfare of the people
- Only an adjacent power to the congress
- Created by councilors and board
members of the local government
- It’s basis is the police power of the state
as delegated to the LGU’s
Case Law
- The decisions, interpretations made by
judges while deciding on the legal
issues before them which are
considered as the common law or as
an aid for interpretation of a law in
subsequent cases with similar
conditions. Case laws are used by
advocates to support their views to
favor their clients and also it influences
the decision of the judges
- It comes from judicial authorities of the
state and is the 2nd major category of
primary sources of law
- Classes
• Decisions Proper (Judicial): SC, CA,
Sandiganbayan, CTA, RTC, MTC, MeTC
• Subordinate Decision (Quasi-Judicial):
SET, HRET (Election Controversies),
Constitutional Commissions
(COMELEC, CSC, COA), Administrative
Agencies (IC, HLURB, DARAB, NLRC)
- Implied: virtue of their functions
- Expressed: granted by law
- Decision: Judgment, decree, or
determination (conclusion) of findings
of fact and/or of law by a judge,
arbitrator, court, governmental agency,
or other official tribunal (court)
- Why is the Supreme Court the court of
last resort?
• All legal issues must end at some
point
• The law is what the supreme court
says it is
PHIN DIMALANTA
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HISTORY OF PHILIPPINE JUDICIAL
SYSTEM
- Pre Spanish Period
• Chieftain as the judge and Barangay
Elders as the jury
• Value to the truth at that time
• The person with more witnesses is
adjudges as the winner
• Proof that there is already a
communal justice system before the
Spanish colonization
• No sources cited in the book
- Spanish Period
• Body of laws to govern the conduct
of the people
• Judicial System: mechanism for the
adjudication of disputes
• Law enforcement agencies: uphold
and enforce the law & court
decisions
• Prison system: public punishment
• Legal Profession: advocated of
individuals in protecting their rights
• Spanish Laws
- Laws of general application
(Spanish law extended to the
Philippines)
- Council of Indies
- Laws & Regulations promulgated
by Spanish authorities
• Structure (Hierarchy of Courts)
- The Crown - Council of Indies -
Real Audencia - Alcaldes-Mayores -
Gobernadorcillos
- Similar to the Philippine Judicial
System today
• Special Courts (Jurisdiction):
Ecclesiastical, Army & Navy, treasury,
Commercial, Contentious, Probate
(Wills and Succession)
- American Period
• First Court: Military Court
• Move to a Civil Court
• No Jury System
- The Philippines had a foundation
of a Civil Law system
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- Americans saw parts of the
archipelago as uncivilized
JUDICIAL SYSTEM AT PRESENT
- All courts are courts of both law and
equity and have jurisdiction over all
civil, criminal, and probate cases
- Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction
• Metropolitan Municipal & Municipal
Circuit Courts
• Jurisdiction limited to civil suits
involving relatively smaller amounts
of money and minor violations of the
criminal laws
• Do not call them “inferior courts”,
instead say first-tier trail courts
- Trial Courts of General Jurisdiction
• Involves a higher amount of money
or a potential criminal sentence
• Known as the Regional Trial Courts
• Also have the Shari’a Courts with
jurisdiction over Muslim Mindanao
- Intermediate Appellate Court
• A unanimous vote shall be necessary
for a decision
• Court of Appeals
• Generally has exclusive appellate
jurisdiction over the decisions of the
regional trial Court and other quasi-
judicial agencies
• Special Appellate Courts:
Sandiganbayan, Court of Tax Appeals
- Court of Last Resort
• Supreme Court
• Determines with finality what the law
is and should be
• Power to review on appeal final
judgements and order of lower
courts
PARTS OF A DECISION
- Title (indicating the names of the
parties)
- Syllabus (summary of important points
of decision)
PHIN DIMALANTA
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- Portion of the report that carries
authority
- Statement of facts
- Abstracts of briefs of counsels
(Arguments)
- Opinion of the court
- Dispositive portion (decision) of the
case
- Separate Dissenting or Concurring
Opinion of Justices
DOCTRINE OF PRECEDENT
- Decided Case
• An authoritative settlement of the
particular controversy before it
• As a precedent for future cases
- Stare decisis, Et no quita movere: What
has been settled must not be disturbed
- Res Judicata
• A particular manner finally decided,
or settled by judgement, on its
merits by a court having competent
jurisdiction and not subject to 

litigation again
• Conclusive as to the rights of the
parties and their privies
• Constitutes an absolute bar to
subsequent actions involving the
same claim, demand or cause of
action
• Requisites
- The former judgment must be
final
- The court that rendered it had
jurisdiction over the subject matter
and the parties
- It is a judgment on the merits
(rendered after consideration of
evidence and stipulations)
- There is — between the first and
the second actions — an identity
of parties, subject matter and
cause of action
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LAW OF THE CASE
- The doctrine that “when a court
decides upon a rule of law, that
decision should continue to govern the
same issue in subsequent stages in the 
 • The conclusiveness of that earlier
same case.”
- The doctrine is one of policy only
- Disregarded when compelling
circumstances require a
redetermination of the point of law
decided on the prior appeal
- When an intervening or
contemporaneous change in the law
has transpired by the establishment of
new precedent by a controlling
authority or the overruling of former
decisions
STARE DECISIS
- The principle that the decisions of a
court are a binding authority on the
court that issued the decisions and on
the lower courts for the disposition of
factually similar controversies
- “Adherence to precedents,” states that
once a case has been decided one way,
then another case, involving exactly the
same point at issue, should 
 - Persuasive: if the dicta comes from a
be decided in the same manner
- Vertical (Obligation or applies
precedent from a higher court) vs
Horizontal (policy or from the same
court)
- The Supreme Court is not bound by
this doctrine because it can overturn
precedents
REVERSAL VS. OVERRULING
- Reversal: has reference to the action of
the Supreme Court on a lower court
judgments in the same particular
controversy
• 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
PHIN DIMALANTA
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reverse, set aside the lower court’s
judgment
- Overruling: one of the past decisions of
the Supreme court
decision as a settlement of its
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 VS. OBITER
DICTUM
- Ratio Decidendi: The holding of the
principle of law on which a case was
decided; sets precedent & binding on
courts in the future
- Obiter Dictum: the language in a
decision that is not necessary to the
decision
BINDING VS. PERSUASIVE
- Binding: also called mandatory; when it
comes from the decisions of Supreme
Court and it is the ratio decidendi of
the case
respected justice, it may be persuasive
to the Court. Persuasive authority can
come from decisions of appellate
courts in other jurisdictions
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