PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION b.
1 Substantive law
Introduction
LAW
- A rule of conduct, just, obligatory
promulgated by legitimate authority,
and of common observance and benefit.
POLITICAL LAW
- That branch of public law which deals
with the organization and operations of
the governmental organs of the state
and defines the relations of the State
with the inhabitants of its territories.
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
- The study of the maintenance of the
proper balance between authority as
represented by the three inherent
powers of the State and liberty as
guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
- That branch of public law which fixes
the organization of the government,
determines the competence of the
administrative authorities who
execute the law, and indicates to the
individual remedies for the violation of
his rights.
Classification of laws:
a. According to the extent of their
enforceability or applicability:
a.1. General law
- enforceable throughout the entire territory
of a state, is applicable to all people, or
applicable to all persons I the same class if
the law applies to a specific class.
a.2 Special law
- may be limited to a specific territory of a
state or is applicable to a particular person.
a.3 Local law
- special law that is limited to a specific
territory
b. According to whether a right is created or
a procedure of the enforcement of a right
is provided:
- is one that creates a right and imposes an
obligation.
b.2 Procedural law
- is one that provides for the mechanisms or
steps by which a right may be enforced or a
wrong may be redressed.
c. According to the person affected
c.1 Public law
- governs the conduct of the state,
government, public officials and employees,
their relations with each other, and their
relationships with the people.
c.2 Private law
- is any portion of a law that governs, defines,
regulates and administers the relationships
among private individuals, corporations, and
organizations.
d. According to their force
d.1 Mandatory law
- commands the doing, performance, or
observance of an act
d.2 Prohibitory law
- operates to restrain the commission of an
act, or command a person from not doing an
act.
d.3 Directory law
- provides for either a direction or an
instruction, the observance of which is matter
of convenience.
e. According to their effect and operation
e.1 Prospective law
- applies to acts, situations or events that will
happen after its effectivity
e.2 Retroactive law
- applies to acts, situations, or events that
happened even before its passage or
enactment.
CONSTITUTION
- That body of rules and principles in
accordance with which the powers of
sovereignty are regularly exercised.
CONSTITUTION of the PHILIPPINES
- That written instrument by which the
fundamental powers of the government
are established, limited, and defined
 and by which these powers are
distributed among the several
departments or branches for their
safe and useful exercise.
CLASSIFICATION of CONSTITUTION:
a. Written
- Is one whose precepts are embodied in
one document or set of documents
b. Unwritten
- Consists of rules which have not been
integrated into a single, concrete form
but are scattered in various sources.
c. Enacted (conventional)
- Formally struck off at a definite time
and place following a conscious or
deliberate effort taken by a
constituent body or ruler.
d. Evolved (Cumulative)
- Is the result of political evolution, not
inaugurated at any specific time but
changing by accretion rather than by
any systematic method.
e. Rigid
- One that can be amended only by a
formal and usually difficult process
f. Flexible
- One that can be changed by ordinary
legislation.
Qualities of a good written Constitution:
1. Broad
2. Brief
3. Definite
Essential Parts of a good written
Constitution:
1. Constitution of Liberty
2. Constitution of Government
3. Constitution of Sovereignty
Interpretation of the Constitution
1. Verba legis
- The words used in the Constitution mus
be given their ordinary meaning
2. Ratio legis et anima
- The words of the Constitution should
be interpreted in accordance with the
intent of the framers.
3. Ut magis valeat quam pereat
- The constitution has to be interpreted
as a whole.
DOCTRINE of CONSTITUTIONAL
SUPREMACY
- If a law or contract violates any norm
of the Constitution, that law or
contract, whether promulgated by the
legislative or the executive branch of
the Government or entered into by
private persons for private purposes, is
null and void, and without any force and
effect. Since the constitution is the
fundamental and supreme law of the
land, it is deemed written in every
statute and every contract.
STATE
- A community of persons more or less
numerous permanently occupying a
definite territory, having a government
of their own to which the great body
of inhabitants render obedience, and
enjoying freedom from external
control.
ELEMENTS of STATE
1. People
- This refers to the inhabitants living
within a territory.
2. Territory
- It includes not only the fixed portion
of land over which the jurisdiction of
the State extends, but also the rivers
and lakes therein, a certain area of the
sea which abuts upon its coasts, and
the air space above the land and
waters.
3. Government
- Refers to the agency through the will
of the state is formulated, expresses
and carried out.
4. Sovereignty
- The term may be defined as the
supreme power of the state to
command and enforce obedience to its
will from people within its jurisdiction
and corollarily, to have freedom from
foreign control.
 INHERENT POWERS of the STATE:
1. Police Power
- The fundamental right of a State to enact
laws or regulations for promoting the
common good of the people in relation to
the right and enjoyment of persons to life
and property.
2. Power of Eminent domain
- Is the right or power of the State or of
those to whom the power has been lawfully
delegated to take private property for
public use upon paying to the owner a just
compensation to be ascertained according
to the law.
3. Power of taxation
- Is the power of the State to levy or
impose charges upon persons, property,
occupation, and others, as may be defined
by law in order to defray the expenses of
the government and to enable it to fully
discharge its functions.
BRANCHES of the GOVERNMENT
1. Legislative Department
- Legislative power is the power to make,
amend, and repeal laws.
- It is vested in the Congress of the
Philippines which shall consist of a
Senate and a House of
Representatives.
2. Executive Department
- Executive power is the power to
administer and enforce laws.
- It is vested in the President of the
Philippines.
POWERS of the PRESIDENT:
1. Appointing power
2. Control power
3. Military power
4. Pardoning power
5. Borrowing power
6. Diplomatic power
7. Budgetary power
8. Veto Power
9. Information power
10. Residual power
3. Judicial Department (Judiciary)
- It is the power to apply or interpret
the law.
- Vested in one Supreme Court and in
such lower courts as may be
established by law.
DOCTRINE of SEPARATION of POWERS
- The principle of separation of powers
refers to the constitutional
demarcation of the three fundamental
powers of government.
- It means that the constitution has
blocked out with deft strokes and in
bold lines, allotment of power to the
executive, the legislative and the
judicial departments of the
government.
- The principle is intended to secure
action, to forestall action, to prevent
despotism and to obtain efficiency
DOCTRINE of CHECKS and BALANCE
- This principle was not created to make
one stronger than the other, but to
maintain harmony of the government as
a whole.
- A benefit of this concept is that no
branch exercise some “check” over the
other branches.
- The system of checks and balances
ensure that one great branch of the
government should never assert
supremacy over the other.
DOCTRINE of STARE DECISIS
- Judicial decisions applying or
interpreting the laws or the
Constitution shall form a part of the
legal system of the Philippines.