Professional Documents
Culture Documents
judges, lawyers, and legal writers in the discharge of their function. Its original meaning
is the continuous repetition of search. To date, it still retains much of that meaning.
Legal research calls for the diligent, intelligent, continued search for something as proof
to a legal stand. It involves: (1) choice of hypothesis, (2) ascertainment of facts, (3) their
classification, (4) elimination of irrelevances, (5) the use of both inductive or deductive
logic, and (6) assertion of a conclusion.
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PRIMARY AUTHORITY
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SECONDARY AUTHORITY
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I. Statutory Law
Statutory law refers to those rules enunciated by the competent authorities for
the governance of the community. It does not only pertains to the enactment of the
legislative department of the government (ex. RA passed by Congress and ordinances
passed by the Sanggunians) but also those rules and regulation which have the force
and effect of law (ex. BIR rules and regulations). It includes the constitution of the State,
departments and other governmental rules, regulations, orders and decisions, the Rules
of Court, treaties to which the state is a signatory and municipal and city ordinances.
Classes of Statutory Law
1. CONSTITUTION that body of rules and maxims in accordance with which the
powers of sovereignty are habitually exercised.
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Malolos Constitution (
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1935 Constitution
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1943 Constitution
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1973 Constitution
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1987 Constitution
President shall have control of all the executive departments, bureaus, and offices. He
shall ensure that the laws be faithfully executed of the Constitution. These orders have
the force and effect of laws and are secured of rights, duties and obligations.
6. GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT RULES AND REGULATIONS
The heads of various departments of the government, bureau heads and heads
of governmental agencies are sometimes authorized by law to issue rules and
regulations necessary to carry out effect of their powers and functions.
7. RULES OF COURT
These are promulgated by the Supreme Court, governing practice pleadings and
procedures before all tribunals. These rules have the force and effect of law if they are
not in conflict with positive or substantive laws.
8. TREATIES agreements or contracts between two or more sovereign nations or
states entered into by agents appointed for the purpose and sanctioned by the
authorities of the respective parties. In the Philippines, the treaty making power resides
in the President to be concurred by at least 2/3 of all the members of the Senate
9. MUNICIPAL ORDINANCES enactments of the legislative bodies of towns and cities
with their territorial jurisdiction.
The doctrine is frequently termed the rule of stare decisis and is in general to
the effect, that when a point has been once settled by decision, it forms a precedent
which is not afterward to be departed from a lightly overruled or set aside, even though
it may seem archaic (antiquated). The rule for its object is the salutary effect of
uniformity, certainty and stability in law.
Stated in simple form and considered in relation to its effect of upon private
affairs, the doctrine is really nothing more than the application of the doctrine of
estoppels to courts decision. It finds it support in the sound principle that when the
courts have announced to the guidance and government of individuals and the public
certain controlling principles of the law or have given a construction to statutes upon
which individuals and the public have relied in the making of contracts, they ought not
after the principles have been promulgated and after these constructions have been
published, to withdraw or overrule them.
The doctrine of stare decisis is grounded in public policy and as such, is entitled
to great weight and must be adhered to, unless the reasons thereof ceased to exist,
clearly erroneous, or are manifestly wrong and mischievous, or unless more harm than
good will result in doing so. It is vital that there be stability in the courts in adhering to
the decisions deliberately made after ample consideration. Parties should not be
encouraged to seek reexamination of determining principles and speculate on a
fluctuation of law with every change in the expounders of it. The Supreme Court in the
case of Secretary of Justice vs Judge Alfredo Catolico (68 SCRA 63) said: Judges
should be reminded of their duty to comply with the law as interpreted by the Supreme
Court as the final arbiter of any justiceable controversy, and of the great mischief and,
prejudice to the administration of justice and unnecessary inconvenience, delay and
expenses to the litigants, that would as needlessly caused, should judges of lower
courts dispose of cases in accordance with their personal views contrary to the final
authoritative pronouncements of the Courts.
The doctrine, however, is not absolute but flexible, so that when in the light of
changing conditions, a rule has been created to be of benefit and use of society. The
courts may lightly depart from it. Stare decisis is a principle of policy and not a
mechanical formula of adherence to the latest decision. However recent and
questionable, when such adherence involves collision with a prior doctrine more
embracing in its scope, intrinsically sounder and verified by experience, the principle
does not mean blind adherence to precedents. The doctrine or rule laid down no matter
how sound it may be, if found to be contrary to law, must be abandoned.
Case
Ordinarily, a case is a controversy brought before the court for adjudication. As
used in legal research, it refers to the published decision of a controversy decide by the
appellate court including the reasons for the adjudication and usually has the following
parts:
Decision of the Court is its judgment, while the opinion represents merely the reason for
the judgment. An opinion is a statement by a court or judge of the reasons for the
decision. Opinion is used either to mean the reasons set out by the court as basis for
decision or the reason and conclusion reached taken together as one mental process. It
consists of a statement of facts pertinent to the points of law involved, the application of
legal principles, and an explanation of the ultimate action taken by the Court upon the
relief prayed for. The opinion of the Court setting forth the reasons of their judgments,
are the course, of great importance in the information they impart as to the principles of
law which govern the court and should guide litigants. The Courts reasoning in the body
of the decision is an aid to the correct interpretation of the law as announced in the
syllabus. While an opinion contains the view of the judge in relation to a given subject, a
decision embraces the findings of a court, upon reaching a decree or judgment may be
entered.
A decision of the court is the final conclusion reached by the judges or justices as to the
application of the law to the facts of the case. While we pray that a decision is the
judgment of the court, it is not the formal decree. It represents the result of the case,
and maybe regarded perhaps as an order for judgment in that it determines the actual
judgment or decree to be thereafter entered.
Judgment is the formal disposition of a case and is usually found in the dispositive
portion of the decision. It may be contained in a short paragraph as for instance:
Wherefore, the petition for review is divided. The order of the Secretary of Justice
dated January 29, 1998 is hereby affirmed. No pronouncement as to cost. So ordered.
The law which was a student has learned and which enabled him to be admitted
to the Bar is mainly the result of the study of various classes and types of law books.
But this knowledge alone is not sufficient to enable him to practice his profession
successfully independent in the use of law books.
Although a lawyer is fully equipped by study, to start the practice of the legal profession,
he soon finds that the knowledge stored in the memory is not sufficient to cope with the
ever changing and ever expanding laws and legal principles brought about by the
changes in the economic, social and political institutions.
We must not also lose sight of the fact that our legal system is an amalgram of Roman
Law and the Anglo-American Legal System. To fully understand some of our laws may
require and examination of law books written in the jurisdiction of origin which may run
to hundreds of volumes.
It is also an undesirable fact that no person however profound his knowledge of the law
maybe can rely solely on his memory or depend on common sense in finding solutions
to legal problems. For one must be certain, he invokes a legal proposition, that is an
accurate exposition of the law and that it has not been rendered obsolete or in
applicable by the enactment of a new law or the enunciation of a new legal principal by
a later court decision.
Consequently the successful lawyer must make the most use of law books. There are
three classes of law book, namely:
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SECONDARY AUTHORITY - Those that are written and published by the
government.
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