REMEDIAL LAW REVIEW LECTURE
By DEAN WILLARD B. RIANO
TIPS, REMINDERS and WORDS OF
ENCOURAGEMENT
How to Study Right:
1. Passing the Bar does not depend on how many
hours you stay awake and read. It depends on
what and how you are reading.
2. The Bar is not a memory bar exams. It is
understanding. The Bar Examiners will not look
at an accurate answer, but a reasonable
answer.
3. Do not explore the most difficult aspects. Focus
on the basics and fundamentals!
4. The bar exams is not difficult. What makes it
difficult is your fear.
5. Don’t think about the future. Just enjoy the
journey.
6. Civil Procedure is sometimes 70% of the entire
bar. Most of the time it is 65%, and the others
are footnotes.
7. Answers should be responsive to the question.
Answer only what is being asked. Be direct to
the point! Do not suggest other answers.
8. “There is no failure in the Bar. Only delayed
success. Success in this world is always
delayed.”
DOCTRINE OF HIERARCHY OF COURTS
 Applies only when there is a concurrence of
jurisdiction of courts, e.g. Certiorari
 Before going to the higher court, seek relief first
before the lower courts.
 Also known as the Doctrine of Concurrent
Jurisdiction
1. CAUSE OF ACTION
1.1. Filing of a Complaint
1.2. Paying of Docket Fees
-No money, no honey. Unless, you apply as an
indigent litigant if you have no means to
support yourself and basic necessities.
2017 BAR
Accion Publiciana
Jurisdiction: MTC or RTC, depending on the assessed
value of the real property
Accion Reinvindicatoria
Jurisdiction: MTC or RTC, depending on the assessed
value of the real property
Effect of Filing of a Complaint on Jurisdiction (Bar 1981
and 2009): The court automatically acquires jurisdiction
over the person of the plaintiff, because the plaintiff is
deemed to have voluntarily submitted himself to the
jurisdiction of the court.
Sample Situation (BAR)
There was a businessman who resides in Australia and
he had business partners in the Philippines but despite
several requests and later several demands, he was
never given an accounting of the business or any
financial statement. So he hired lawyers in the
Philippines duly authorized Special Power of Attorney to
file a complaint for and in his behalf against his partners
in the Philippines. The complaint was for accounting and
damages. The defendants in the Philippines filed a
motion to dismiss on the ground that the court had no
jurisdiction over the person of the plaintiff because the
latter did not even come to court to file the complaint.
Decide.
Ans.: The motion should be denied. Jurisdiction over the
plaintiff is acquired by the filing of a complaint in court
in his name. Personal appearance is not a mode of
acquiring jurisdiction.
(Side Discussion: Sections 1-9 and 14-16 are bar areas in
NIL)
REMEDIAL LAW vs. SUBSTANTIVE LAW
Substantive Law- creates rights and obligations
COA, thus there was a splitting of a single COA here. The
remedy of the defendant is to file a motion to dismiss in
any of those two cases on the ground of litis pendentia.
BUT, if Mr. X had a passenger and that passenger got
injured, that is a different COA.
 A quasi-delict is classified as an independent
civil action.
Actions which have a main and incidental part belong to
the same COA. For example, an action for collection of a
sum of money is the main action, and interest and
damages are the incidental part.

Remedial Law- provides for the procedure on how these

rights are protected and these obligations are enforced;
only implements substantive law.
 There is no remedial law if there is no
substantial law.
CAUSE OF ACTION
RULE-MAKING POWER OF THE SUPREME COURT
 Authority to promulgate rules for the
proptetion and enforcement of constitutional
rights, rules concenring the admission of the
bar. Rules on the IBP and the rules for the
protection of the underprivileged.

 Sec. 2, Rule 2, ROC Limitations (Art. VIII, Section 5, 1987 Constitution):

o It involves a right and there is a
violation of that right. 1. It must be simplified and inexpensive
2. Uniform in all courts of the same grade
Splitting a Single COA 3. They must not increase, diminish or modify
 If you have one COA, you can only file a single substantive rights.
complaint for that COA. It cannot be divided
into several parts and file those parts as
separate actions.

Situation:

Mr. X is driving his car in a lawful, prudent and diligent

manner. Then, here comes another driver who was
driving so fast (we call him “the road devil”) and rear-
ended the car of Mr. X. As a result, Mr. X suffered from
serious physical injuries and his car was smashed. When
he recovered from his injuries, he filed an action for
damages for his physical injuries. And while the case
was pending, he also filed another complaint for
damages to his car.

Question: Is there a splitting of a single COA? If there is,

what is your remedy if you were the defendant?

Answer: There is only one COA. There was only a single

act of negligence which had two effects: physical
injuries and damage to property. They belong to a single