1.

Legal Medicine is a branch of medicine which deals with the application of medical knowledge to the purposes of law
and in the administration of justice. It is the application of basic and clinical, medical and paramedical sciences to
elucidate legal matters.
Originally the terms legal medicine, forensic medicine and medical jurisprudence are synonymous and in
common practice are used interchangeably. This concept prevailed among countries under the Anglo-American
influence.

2. A physician who specializes or is involved primarily with medicolegal duties is known as medical jurist, (meoical
examiner, medicolegal officer, medico-legal expert). Inasmuch as administration of justice is primarily a function of the
state, physicians whose duties are mainly medico-legal in nature are mostly in the service of the government.

3. Law is a rule of conduct, just, obligatory, laid by legitimate power for common observance and benefit. It is a science
of moral laws founded on the rational nature of man which regulates free activity for the realization of his individual and
social ends under the aspect of mutual demandable independence. (1 S.R.)
The word "law" includes regulations and circulars which are issued to implement a law and have, therefore, the
effect of law.
Characteristics of Law:
a. It is a rule of conduct;
b. It is dictated by legitimate power; and
c. Compulsory and obligatory to all (Civil Code by Padilla).

Forms of Law:
a. Written or Statutory Law (Lex Scripta):
This is composed of laws which are produced by the country's legislations and which are
defined, codified and incorporated by the law-making body.
Example: Laws of the Philippines,
b. Unwritten or Common Law (Lex non Scripta):
This is composed of the unwritten laws based on immemorial customs and usages. It is
sometimes referred to as case law, common law, jurisprudence or customary law.
Example: Laws of England

Forensic: It denotes anything belonging to the court of law or used in court or legal proceedings or something fitted for
legal or public argumentations.

Medicine: Medicine is a science and art dealing with prevention, cure and alleviation of disease. It is that part of science
and art of restoring and preserving health. The term medicine is also applied to a science and art of diagnosing, treating,
curing and preventing disease, relieving pain, and improving the health of a person.

Legal is that which pertains to law, arising out of, by virtue of or included in law. It also refers to anything conformable
to the letters or rules of law as it is administered by the court.

Jurisprudence: It is a practical science which investigates the nature, origin, development and functions of law. It is a
science of giving a wise interpretation of the law and making just application of them to all cases as they arise. Judicial
decisions applying or interpreting the laws shall form a part of the Philippine jurisprudence. The decisions contemplated
are those rendered by the Supreme Court which is the final arbiter on legal issues. However, the decisions of the Court
of Appeals may serve as precedent for inferior courts on points of facts.
Civil Law — is a mass of precepts that determines and regulates the relation of assistance, authority, and obedience
between members of a family and those which exist among members of a society for the protection of private interest
(Sanchez Roman).

Criminal law is that branch or division of law which defines crimes, treats of their nature and provides for their
punishment. It is a body of specific rules regarding human conduct which have been promulgated by political authority,
which apply uniformly to all members of the classes to which the rules refer, and which are enforced by punishment
administered by the state.

Remedial law is that branch or division of law which deals with the rules concerning pleadings, practices and procedures
in all courts of the Philippines. It is the law which gives a party a remedy for a wrong. It is intended to afford a private
remedy to a person injured by the wrongful act. It is a designed law, which redresses an existing grievance or introduces
regulation conducive to public good.

Special Laws:
a. Dangerous Drug Act (R.A. 6425, as amended)
b. Youth and Child Welfare Code (P.D. 603)
c. Insurance Law (Act No. 2427 as amended)
d. Code of Sanitation (P.D. 856)
e. Labor Code (P.D. 442)
f. Employee's Compensation Law

Principle of Stare Decisis:

A principle that, when the court has once laid down a principle of law or intepretation as applied to a certain
state of facts, it will adhere to and apply to all future cases where the facts are substantially the same. The principle is
one of policy, grounded on the theory that security and certainty require that accepted and established legal principles,
under which right may accrue, be recognized and followed, though later found to be not legally sound, but whether
previous holding of court shall be adhered to, modified or overruled is within the court's discretion under the
circumstance of the case before it.

Distinction Between an Ordinary Physician and a Medical Jurist:

1. An ordinary physician sees an injury or disease on the point of view of treatment, while a medico-jurist sees injury or
disease on the point of view of cause.
2. The purpose of an ordinary physician examining a patient is to arrive at a definite diagnosis so that appropriate
treatment can be instituted, while the purpose of the medical jurist in examining a patient is to include those bodily
lesions in his report and testify before the court or before an investigative body; thus giving justice to whom it is due.
3. Minor or trivial injuries are usually ignored by an ordinary clinician inasmuch as they do not require usual treatment.
Superficial abrasions, small contusion and other minor injuries will heal without medication. However, a medical jurist
must record all bodily injuries even if they are small or minor because these injuries may be proofs to qualify the crime
or to justify the act.
Examples: a. The presence of physical injuries of a victim of sexual abuse may be presumptive proof that force
was applied in the commission thereof, hence the crime committed must be rape.
b. The presence of physical injuries on the offender of the crime of physical injuries may be a proof
that the victim acted in self-defense.
Some Basic Principles Governing Application and Effects of Laws:
1. Ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance therewith or "ignorantia legis nominem excusat" (Art 3,
Civil Code):
The main reason for the provision is to prevent ignorance of the law as a means of defense for violation
of the law. The provision refers to all kinds of domestic laws on grounds of expediency, policy and necessity.
"Ignorance of the law" may refer to the literal wordings of the law and also to the meaning or interpretation
given to the law. But the rule is not inflexible. It may only be applied when it is clearly manifested and
inexcusably ignorant of the law. Mere ignorance of the facts of the law would furnish immunity from the
punishment for violation of the penal code and immunity from the liability for actual loss for violation of
personal or property right.

2. Laws shall have no retroactive effect, unless the contrary is provided (Art. 4, Civil Code):
A law can only be applied to cases after its promulgation arid must not be given retroactive application.
A law, however, may be given retroactive effects in the following instances: a. When the law provides the
contrary (Art. 4, Civil Code). b. Penal laws shall be given retroactive effect if favorable to the accused who is not
habitually delinquent (Art. 22, Revised Penal Code). c. When the statute is remedial in nature because there is
no vested right in the rules of procedure. d. When the law creates a new substantive right.

3. Rights may be waived, unless the waiver is contrary to law, public order, public policy, morals or good customs,
or prejudicial to a third person with a right recognized by law (Art. 6, Civil Code):
A right is the power, privilege, faculty which entitles a man to have, or to do, or to receive from another
within the limits prescribed by law. Waiving is the intentional or voluntary relinquishment, abandonment or
throwing away, renunciation, surrendering of a known right.

The rights granted to a person by law may be waived but in the following cases, the law does not allow
such waiver:
a. When such waiver will be contrary to the existing law.
b. When it is against public order, public policy, morals and good customs.
c. When in so waiving it is prejudicial to a third person with a right recognized by law.

4. Customs which are contrary to law, public order or public policy shall not be countenanced (Art. 11, Civil Code).
A custom must be proved as a fact according to the rules of evidence (Sec. 12, Civil Code):
Custom is a usage or practice of the people, which by common adoption and acquiescence and by long
and unvarying habit, has become compulsory and has acquired the force of a law with respect to the place and
subject-matter to which it relates (Black's Law Dictionary, 4th ed.). Customs constitute sources of supplementary
law in default of specific legislation. However, if the custom is contrary to the existing law or to ' public order
and policy, the law must prevail.

5. Laws are repealed only by subsequent ones, and their violation or non-observance shall not be excused by
disuse, custom or practice to the contrary.