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StatCon Outline Prelims
StatCon Outline Prelims
StatCon Outline Prelims
HIGHLIGHTS
I. Statutes, in general
As to Interested Parties:
- PUBLIC - One which concerns the interest of the public at large
- PRIVATE - One which relates to, concerns and affects particular individuals
As to Purpose:
- REMEDIAL - Statutes which afford a remedy, or improve or facilitate existing remedies
As to Period of Effectivity:
- PERMANENT - One whose operation or activity is not limited to some particular term or
period, but continues in force until repealed or amended.
- TEMPORARY - One whose operation or effectivity is limited to a fixed period or term. It
continues in force up to the expiration of said period or term, unless
earlier repealed or amended.
As to Stage of Enactment:
- ORIGINAL - One which purports to be independent of existing statutory provision.
- AMENDATORY - One which expressly adds to or supplements, or works out an
improvement in the original law.
- REPEALING - One which revokes or terminates another statute.
- ADOPTED - Those which are adopted wholly or in part by another state.
- RE-ENACTED - These are pre-existing statues which are passed by the legislature
which originally enacted them in the same terms or in substantially the
same language and for the same purpose and object as the original
statute.
case 2: National Federation of Labor (NFL) v. Eisma (GR L-61236, 31 January 1984)
case 3: Paat v. CA (GR 111107, 10 January 1997)
case 4: People v. Mapa (GR L-22301, 30 August 1967)
case 5: Daoang v. Municipal Judge of San Nicolas (GR L-34568, 28 March 1988)
case 6: Paras v. Comelec (GR 123169, 4 November 1996)
B. Statutory Construction vs. Judicial Legislation
- To ascertain the true intent of the statute, the court may avail of intrinsic aids, or those found in the
printed page of the statute, and extrinsic aids, those extraneous facts and circumstances outside the printed page.
> Title - It may indicate the legislative extent or restrict the scope of law
> Preamble - It may, when the statute is ambiguous, be resorted to clarify the ambiguity, as a key to open
the minds of the lawmakers as to the purpose of the statute.
> Context of the whole text - best source from which to ascertaun the legislative intent is the statute itself
> Legislative History - Where a statute is susceptible to several interpretations, there is no better means of
ascertaining the will and intention of the legislature than that which is afforded by the history of the statute. The
history of a statute refers to all its antecedents from its inception until its enactment into law.
> Legislative debates, views and deliberations - Where there is doubt as to what a provision of a statute
means, that meaning which was put to the provision during the legislative deliberation or discussion on the bill may
be adopted.
> Reports of the Commission - In construing the provisions of the code as thus enacted, courts may properly
refer to the reports of the commission that drafted the code in aid of clarifiying ambiguities therein.
> Prior laws from which the statute is based - Legislative history will clarify the intent of the law or shed
light on the meaning and scope of the codified or revised statute.
> Change in phraseology - Courts may investigate the history of the provisions to ascertain legislative
intent as to the meaning and scope of the amended law.
> History of the times - The history of the times out of which the law grew and to which it may be
rationally supposed to bear some direct relationship.
A. Literal Construction
Statutes are to be interpreted in their ordinary, commonly accepted usage. When the language of
the law is clear and unequivocal, the law must be taken to mean exactly what it says. When
statutory norm speak s unequivocally, there is nothing for the Courts to do but apply it.
b. Implications
B. Executive Construction
D. Strict Construction
E. Liberal Construction
V. Subjects of Construction
The Constitution
- it is the written instrument agreed upon by the people...as the absolute rule of action and
decision for all departments and officers of the government, and in opposition to which
any act or rule of any department or officer of the government, or even of the people
themselves, will be altogether void.