A.

Definition

Rule 138
SEC. 5. Additional requirements for other applicants.—All applicants for admission other
than those referred to in the two preceding sections shall, before being admitted to the
examination, satisfactorily show that they have regularly studied law for four years, and
successfully completed all prescribed courses, in a law ,school or university, officially
approved and recognized by the Secretary of Education. The affidavit of the candidate,
accompanied by a certificate from the university or school of law, shall be filed as evidence
of such facts, and further evidence may be required by the court.
No applicant shall be admitted to the bar examination unless he has satisfactorily
completed the following courses in a law school or university duly recognized by the
government: civil law, commercial law, remedial law, criminal law, public and private
international law, political law, labor and social legislation, medical jurisprudence,
taxation and legal ethics.

B. Forensic Science
Code of Sanitation PD 856 S.95

Section 95. Autopsy and Dissection of Remains The autopsy and dissection of remains are
subject to the following requirements:
(a) Person authorized to perform these are:
1. Health officers;
2. Medical officers of law enforcement agencies; and
3. Members of the medical staff of accredited hospitals.
(b) Autopsies shall be performed in the following cases:
1. Whenever required by special laws;
2. Upon orders of a competent court, a mayor and a provincial or city
fiscal;
3. Upon written request of police authorities;
4. Whenever the Solicitor General, provincial or city fiscal as
authorized by existing laws, shall deem it necessary to disinter and
take possession of remains for examination to determine the cause of
death; and
5. Whenever the nearest kin shall request in writing the authorities
concerned to ascertain the cause of death.
(c) Autopsies may be performed on patients who die in accredited hospitals
subject to the following requirements:
1. The Director of the hospital shall notify the next of kin of the death
of the deceased and request permission to perform an autopsy.
2. Autopsy can be performed when the permission is granted or no
objection is raised to such autopsy within 48 hours after death.
3. In cases where the deceased has no next of kin, the permission shall
be secured from the local health authority.
4. Burial of remains after autopsy After an autopsy, the remains shall
be interred in accordance with the provisions in this Chapter.

C. Forensics in the Philippines

Examination of Expert Witness
7. OPINION RULE
SEC. 48. General rule.—The opinion of a witness is not admissible, except as indicated in
the following sections.(42)

SEC. 49. Opinion of expert witness.—The opinion of a witness on a matter requiring special
knowledge, skill, experience or training which he is shown to possess, may be received in
evidence.(43a)

II. Medical Science and the Law

A. Birth
Natural Persons

Article 40. Birth determines personality; but the conceived child shall be
considered born for all purposes that are favorable to it, provided it be born later
with the conditions specified in the following article. (29a)

Article 41. For civil purposes, the foetus is considered born if it is alive at the time it is
completely delivered from the mother's womb. However, if the foetus had an intra-uterine
life of less than seven months, it is not deemed born if it dies within twenty-four hours
after its complete delivery from the maternal womb. (30a)

B. Capacity to Act/Limitation
Article 38. Minority, insanity or imbecility, the state of being a deaf-mute,
prodigality and civil interdiction are mere restrictions on capacity to act, and do
 not exempt the incapacitated person from certain obligations, as when the latter
arise from his acts or from property relations, such as easements. (32a)

Article 39. The following circumstances, among others, modify or limit capacity to
act: age, insanity, imbecility, the state of being a deaf-mute, penalty, prodigality,
family relations, alienage, absence, insolvency and trusteeship. The consequences of
these circumstances are governed in this Code, other codes, the Rules of Court, and
in special laws. Capacity to act is not limited on account of religious belief or
political opinion.

A married woman, twenty-one years of age or over, is qualified for all acts of civil life,
except in cases specified by law. (n)

C. Filiation
Art. 164. Children conceived or born during the marriage of the parents are legitimate.

Children conceived as a result of artificial insemination of the wife with the sperm of the
husband or that of a donor or both are likewise legitimate children of the husband and his
wife, provided, that both of them authorized or ratified such insemination in a written
instrument executed and signed by them before the birth of the child. The instrument shall
be recorded in the civil registry together with the birth certificate of the child. (55a, 258a)

Art. 166. Legitimacy of a child may be impugned only on the following grounds:
(1) That it was physically impossible for the husband to have sexual intercourse with his
wife within the first 120 days of the 300 days which immediately preceded the birth of the
child because of:
(a) the physical incapacity of the husband to have sexual intercourse with his
wife;
(b) the fact that the husband and wife were living separately in such a way that
sexual intercourse was not possible; or
(c) serious illness of the husband, which absolutely prevented sexual
intercourse;
(2) That it is proved that for biological or other scientific reasons, the child could not have
been that of the husband, except in the instance provided in the second paragraph of
Article 164; or
(3) That in case of children conceived through artificial insemination, the written
authorization or ratification of either parent was obtained through mistake, fraud,
violence, intimidation, or undue influence. (255a)

D. Marriage
Art. 45. A marriage may be annulled for any of the following causes, existing at the time of
the marriage:
(1) That the party in whose behalf it is sought to have the marriage annulled was
eighteen years of age or over but below twenty-one, and the marriage was solemnized
without the consent of the parents, guardian or person having substitute parental
authority over the party, in that order, unless after attaining the age of twenty-one,
such party freely cohabited with the other and both lived together as husband and
wife;
(2) That either party was of unsound mind, unless such party after coming to reason,
freely cohabited with the other as husband and wife;
(3) That the consent of either party was obtained by fraud, unless such party
afterwards, with full knowledge of the facts constituting the fraud, freely cohabited
with the other as husband and wife;
(4) That the consent of either party was obtained by force, intimidation or undue
influence, unless the same having disappeared or ceased, such party thereafter freely
cohabited with the other as husband and wife;
(5) That either party was physically incapable of consummating the marriage with the
other, and such incapacity continues and appears to be incurable; or
(6) That either party was afflicted with a sexually-transmissible disease found to be
serious and appears to be incurable. (85a)

Art. 46. Any of the following circumstances shall constitute fraud referred to in Number 3
of the preceding Article:
(1) Non-disclosure of a previous conviction by final judgment of the other party of a
crime involving moral turpitude;
(2) Concealment by the wife of the fact that at the time of the marriage, she was
pregnant by a man other than her husband;
(3) Concealment of sexually transmissible disease, regardless of its nature, existing at
the time of the marriage; or
(4) Concealment of drug addiction, habitual alcoholism or homosexuality or
lesbianism existing at the time of the marriage.
No other misrepresentation or deceit as to character, health, rank, fortune or chastity
shall constitute such fraud as will give grounds for action for the annulment of
marriage. (86a)