Christian Lester R.

Almonte Legal Writing 1

JD 1 B2

For Quiz No. 2: Answer the following completely:

1. What are FALLACIES? Provide two examples for at least 10 types of

fallacies.

Fallacies are false reasoning which leads to mistake of idea. In

some definitions it is more like an illogical way on the making of
an argument and in terms of interpretation, claims and opinions
it is more likely found. There examples of fallacies to wit:

1. Straw Man
Example: Mark says “The Los Angeles Lakers is good on their
game last week beating the Boston Celtics” Chris respond
with “ You think LA is the best team in the NBA?”.

Example: Jos complained about the government saying that “

The economic status of the Philippines is falling” Jamie
respond “ So the Marcos government is the worst
government?

2. Begging the Question

Example: Mary said “ Carla is pretty” Jerome ask why?, Mary
replied “ Because she said she is pretty.”
Example: Dwane said “ Lebron is the goat”, interviewer asked
why?, Dwayne replied “Because the people sid he is the goat”.

3. Ad Hominem
Ex: Trisha during an argument of about the government is
always ask why the opposing party from here party should not
won, she replied that because the supporters of the opposing
party are dumb.
Ex: During a debate Tyson always attacked the personal
appearances of his opponents rather than dealing with the
argument itself.

4. Post Hoc
 Ex: Some people argue that most people study at night
because it is more effective to the brain to study, so those
people studying at day time are not really studying?
Ex: Eating especially Rice will get you fat, so eating other form
of carbohydrates will not get you fat?

5. Loaded Question
Ex: Do you still beat your kids? Even though it is answerable
by yes or no, the desired answer of the person making that
questions presumes that you are a wife beater.
Ex: Do you still kick your dog? (Same rulling to the first
example)

6. False Dichotomy
Ex: Where do you want to eat fried chicken, at Jollibee or
McDonalds?
Ex: What time do you want to study, now or after 5 minutes?

7. Equivocation
Ex: Orange is a fruit, my phone is colored orange, therfore it
is a fruit.
Ex: God is Jesus, other religion call the supreme being as
God, therefore the other religions are worshiping Jesus.

8. Appeal to Authority
Ex: Mary said “ The Earth is flat” How do you know? “
because my teacher told me”
Ex: James said Peter ate his homework” how do you know?
Because his teacher said it was a piece of cake.

9. Hasty Generalization
Ex: You are a firefighter, therefore you are not afraid of being
burned.
Ex: You are a Law student, therefore you know a lot of laws
already. 

10. Appeal to Popular Opinion

Ex: Did you know that we came from apes? How did you know
that? According to some scientist and other people who
doesn’t believe in God, they always raise that argument, and
some of the aspect of Apes are similar to us human being.
 Ex: Pluto is not a planet, how did you know that, it was posted
on facebook by a random individual which states that it is not
a planet and it got a lot of likes.

2. Give at least 10 writing habits to avoid.

1. Overusing “ultimately” to tidily wrap up an article

2. Using “in-depth” so much it loses meaning
3. Using “in fact” in reference to non-facts
4. Transforming nouns into verbs and verbs into nouns
5. Using “luckily” when there’s no luck involved
6. Overusing “in other words”
7. Misusing identifier-name commas
8. Using “etc.” when you’ve run out of things to say
9. Putting em dashes in too many places
10. Starting sentences with “For example”

3. What are the sources of law in the Philippines? Explain each source precisely
and concisely.

Sources of law in the Philippines are to wit:

A. The Constitution- the highest and fundamental law of
the land, promulgated by the people. It is a charter
creating the government as it speaks for the entire people
from whom it derives its claim to obedience.

B. Legislation- the law which are made by the legislative

body which the power to legislate law is vested in the
congress and this is called the statutes.

C. Precedent- this means the decision or principle

enunciated by a court of competent jurisdiction on a
qusrion of law do not serve as guide but also as
authorithy to be followed by all other courts of equal or
inferior jurisdiction in all cases involving the same
question until the same is overruled or reveresed by a
superior court.
 D. Custom- Custom have the force of law only when they are
acknowledged and approved by society through long and
uninterrupted usage.

E. Court Decision- Judicial decisions which apply or

interpret the constitution and the laws are part of the
legal system in the Philippubes but they are not laws.
However, although judicial decisions are not laws, they
are evidence of the meaning and interpretations of the
laws. Adhering the doctrine of STARE DECISIS which
means that once a case has been decided one way, then
another case involving exactly the same question or point
of law should be decided in the same manner.

4. Compare and contrast libel from plagiarism. How does one cite online legal
sources?

Plagiarism is a use of someone’s published or unpublished work

without any consent from the author. It is a violation considering
the person who is using the intellectual property of another is
also crediting and claims that it is from his own idea which
contradicts to the law and the author has the right to review the
work of that individual and may sue the latter while on the case
of Libel it is a form of defamation which is also illegal but this case
is different from plagiarism as the second mentioned talks about
copying works of another without consent but Libel is an act
which critizes the work of other individuals or group.

In order to cite online legal sources shows the following:

1. author (the person or organisation responsible for the

site.
2. year (date created or revised)
3. site name (in italics)
4. name of sponsor of site (if available)
5. accessed day month year (the date you viewed the site)
6. URL or Internet address (between pointed brackets).
 5. How does one make an effective bibliography using APA and MLA format?

To make an effective bibliography using APA and MLA format you

should first know the type in which you are going to write. APA is
primarily used in the Social and Behavioral Sciences and also in the
field related to education while MLA is used in Humanities subjects
such as literary studies, media and language studies.