Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PERSPECTIVE
OF LAW
A Legal Philosophy Report
Submitted to:
Atty. Rochelle Dakanay-Galano
Professor
Table of Contents
a. Historical Perspective as a Starting Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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j. History of Philippine Legal
System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
i. Pre-Spanish Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
ii. The Spanish Regime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
iii. The American Era and the Commonwealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
iv. The Japanese Occupation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
v. Period of the Republic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
d) Folksong
This form of expression of a people's interests and feelings contains
their rejoicings (diyuna), lamentations (panaghoy), longings (mithi), and
aspirations (adhika).
e) Folkdance
It is possible that they were regarded as religious ceremonies in the
beginning. There are appropriate folk dances dedicated tot he people's object
of reverence and awe; folkdances which have to do with ceremonials like
war or hunting; folkdances connected with celebrations or play like wedding
or thanksgiving; folkdances related with work like planting and harvesting;
and folkdances which have to do with love and affection like dances of
courtship, rejection, or fertility.
f) Folkart
This category, broadly known in Pilipino as sining, is composed of the
skill and art peculiar to a people. xxx. To a great extent the first objects were
basically utilitarian or symbolic. Later came the objects of beauty and color.
E. LIFE OF THE LAW
For historical jurisprudence, the folksoul became a storied and
documented being, no longer a theory but a historical being embodying a
soul and spirit of the people. From this observation point, the law is
considered as the revelation and development of the national spirit.
F. BASIC POINTS OF HISTORICAL JURIPRUDENCE
1) STATE AND FOLKSOUL
As human relations progressed from family or clan to community and
further to large-scale territory, a sense of national awareness grew among the
people, "where the individual, without shedding his narrower relationship
with his family and region, became related, and, in certain instances, even
subordinated, to the national interests."
Following the above-mentioned pattern of expansion of human
relations of the people, the process of keeping peace and order grew apace
with it. At the family-clan level, a direct appeal to the head of the family or
clan was enough to resolve human conflicts. As progress continued,
something like a communal type of dispute resolution mechanism emerged.
Eventually, as progress became more complicated, the pattern of dispute
resolution and maintenance of peace and order gave way to the more
complex machinery of the body politic, i.e., the State with a national
government, where the reins of government were placed in the hands of, and
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practiced by, a professional group in the community and where the people
were bound by common centers of interests and purposes.
The State is thus considered as the highest expression of the folk-soul
or diwa of a people. Indeed, it is the highest national structure erected by the
socio-political development of the people. In another way of saying it, the
body politic is considered by historical jurisprudence as the final juristic
personification of a nation or people.
2) LAW NOT DELIBERATELY MADE
In the view of the historical school, therefore, "the law is not
deliberately made by the effort of human reason, but is the product of
common conviction, the folk-soul (which) awakens this conviction, and
(that) the law is historically determined." In the words of Mr. Justice
Cardozo, "history built up the system and the law that went with it." Quoting
Dean Pound, Pascual writes:
Reason alone cannot work miracles in legal development nor
work wonders in constitution making, decision making,
codification, or legislation. The growth of law is a historical
process. It does not proceed from the peremptory or arbitrary
will or wish of the legislators or judges.
G. SIMILARITY IN DIFFERENT LEGAL ORDERS
Historical jurisprudence to reconcile its concept of the nature of law with
phenomenon that in some groups of people there is a similarity in their legal
orders.
HISTORICAL REASON
In the process of development of a group of people, many outside factors
or foreign trait-complexes, may have been assimilated by the people.Some
aspects of the foreign legal system may be inconsistent with the oblutiacs of
the people coming under the dominion of another group of people.
JURISPRUDENTIAL REASON
The precepts of justice and fairness, which is permanent and present in
all men everywhere since they are impressed in the human heart and mind,
explains the resemblance or similarity in some aspects of the legal orders of
different principles
Example: the Philippine legal order provides as a general rule that actions
prescribe by lapse of time, which may be different with different peoples
(folkways).
a. Pre-Spanish Period
Historians have shown conclusively that the early Filipinos lived in
numerous independent communities called barangays under various native
rules which were largely customary and unwritten. Evidence points to the
existence of two codes, namely, the Maragtas Code issued by Datu
Sumakwel of Panay Island some time between 1200 and 1212 AD and the
Penal Code of Kalantiao issued by a datu of that name in 1433.
These customary laws dealt with subjects such as family relations,
inheritance, usury, partnerships, loans, property rights, barter and sale, and
crime and punishment. Like many ancient societies, trial by ordeal was
practiced in the barangay.
b. The Spanish Regime
The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in the Philippines on 16 March
1521 presaged a new era in the history of Philippine law.
Spanish laws and codes were extended to the Philippines either
expressly by royal decrees or by implication through the issuance of special
laws for the islands. The most prominent of these laws and codes were the
Fuero Juzgo, Fuero Real, Las Siete Partidas, Las Leyes de Toros, Nueva
Recopilacion de Las Leyes de Indias, which contained all the laws then in
force in the Spanish colonies and the Novisima Recopilacion, which
comprised all the laws from the fifteenth century up to 1805.
c. The American Era and the Commonwealth
The end of the Spanish-American War, which was followed by the
signing of the Treaty of Paris on 10 December 1898, paved the way for the
cession of the Philippines to the United States. Upon the establishment of
American sovereignty, the political laws of the Philippines were totally
abrogated and Spanish laws, customs and rights of property inconsistent
with the US Constitution and with American principles and institutions were
superseded. The government operated under different organic laws, namely:
Sources:
Pascual,Crislito.IntroductiontoLegalPhilosophy.Tenthed.Quezon:U.P.
LawCenter,2003.
Balbastro, Arturo E.. Philippine Legal Philosophy. Fellowship in
Jurisprudence .NECICA U.P. Faculty Development Program.
Websites:
http://aboutphilippines.ph/filer/phil_history-of-law.pdf
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