INTRODUCTION TO STATUTORY

CONSTRUCTION
PREPARED BY: NEL BRYAN N. MONINIO

Construction defined.
Construction is the art or process of
discovering and expounding the meaning and
intention of the authors of the law, where that
intention is rendered doubtful by reason of
ambiguity in its language or of the fact that the
given case is not explicitly provided for in the
law.

Construction
is
the
drawing
of
warranted
conclusions
respecting
subjects that lie beyond the direct
expression of the text, conclusions
which are in the spirit, though not
within the letter of the text.
Interpretation is the art of finding the true
meaning and sense of any form of words.

Law means a rule of conduct

formulated and made obligatory
by legitimate power of the state.

It includes:
statutes elected by the legislature
Presidential Decrees
Executive Order
Other presidential issuances

Rulings
of
the
Supreme
Court
construing the law, rules and regulations
Ordinances passed by sanggunians of
local government units.

Statutes is an act of the legislature as an

organized body, expressed in the form,
passed according to the procedure, required
to constitute it as part of the law of the land.

Statutes
enacted
by
legislature passed by:
Philippine Commission
Philippine Legislature
Executive Order
Batasang Pambansa
Congress of the Philippines
(presidential decrees)

the

Statutes may either be public of Private.

Public statute affects the public at large or whole
community.
Private statute applies only to a specific person or
subject.

Statutes may classified into ; general, special and local

laws.
General laws - applies to the whole state and operates
throughout the state alike upon all the people or all of a
class.
Special Laws relates to particular persons or things of
a class or to a particular community, individual or thing.
Local Laws whose operation confined to a specific
place or locality.

Permanent
statutes

and

temporary

According to its duration

Permanent statute one whose operation is
not limited in duration but continues until
repealed.
Temporary statute whose duration is for a
limited period of time fixed in the statute
itself or whose life ceases upon the happening
of an event.

Other classes of statutes (application):

prospective
retroactive

Other classes of statutes according to:

operation
declaratory
Curative
Mandatory
Directory
Substantive
Remedial
Penal

Manner of referring to statutes.

Public Acts - Statutes passed by the Philippine Commission
and the Philippine Legislature from 1901 to 1935.
Commonwealth Acts laws enacted during commonwealth
from 1936 to 1946 by the the Congress of the Philippines.
Republic Acts laws passed by the Congress of the
Philippines from 1946 to 1972 and from 1987 under the 1987
Constitution.
Batas Pambansa Laws promulgated by the Batasang
Pambansa.

Statutes passed by the

PARTS
STATUTES

OF

A prefatory statement or explanation or a finding

of facts, reciting the purpose, reason, or
occasion for making the law which it is prefixed.

Title

Enacting clause
By authority of the President of the United States, be it
enacted by the United States Philippine Commission.
(Philippine Commission)
by authority of the United States, be it enacted by the
Philippine Legislature (Philippine Legislature)
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the Philippines in Legislature assembled and by authority of the
same. (bicameral Philippine Legislature)
Be it enacted by the National Assembly of the Philippines
later become Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives in Congress assembled, (Commonwealth)
Be it enacted by the Batasang Pambansa in session
assembled.
NOW THEREFORE, I, _____________, President of the
Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the
Constitution, do hereby decree as follows
Now, therefore, I, __________, hereby order.

Purview or body of statute is that part

which tells what the law is all about. The
main and operative part of the statute
containing its substantive and even
procedural provisions.

Conclusion: Statutory Construction

One skill every law student needs is the ability to read statutes.
Because statutes are a primary source of law, the ability to read,
understand, and apply a statute can be critical to academic
success in many law school classes. As an attorney, your ability to
read and interpret statutes will enable you to provide better legal
advice to your clients and predict legal outcomes. But reading
statutes is not always as easy as it seems on the surface.