Kimberly Mae Gango

LEGAL RESEARCH

Introduction

 DEFINITION OF LEGAL RESEARCH

O It is the process of finding the laws, rules and regulations that govern activities in
human society.
O Involves locating both the laws and rules which are enforced by the state and the
commentaries which explain or analyze these rules.
O Also defined as the investigation for information necessary to support legal
decision making.
O Includes each step of a process that begins with analyzing the facts of a problem
and concludes with applying and communicating the results of the investigation.
 NECESSITY FOR LEGAL RESEARCH
O In order to provide a competent representation. This requires legal knowledge,
skill, thoroughness and preparation.
O To uphold the standards of the legal profession
O In order to become a competent practitioner.

In order to conduct legal research effectively, a lawyer should have:

o a working knowledge of the nature of legal rules and legal institutions

o the fundamental tools of legal research, and
o the process of devising and implementing a coherent and effective research design

CASE BRIEFING

 Case Briefing - a digest or condensation of a case. It is a written summary identifying the

essential components of a court opinion.
 ELEMENTS:
o Citations
o Parties
o Facts - events between the parties leading to the litigation
o Prior Proceedings - what happened in the lower courts
o Issue - questions including the rule of law applied to the facts
o Ruling/Holding - resolution of the issue or the court’s decision on the question
that is actually before it
o Reasoning - Rule of Law applied
o Disposition
o Comments – opinion
CASE LAW

 While statute law is derived from the lawmaking agencies of the government, case law
comes from the judicial authorities of the State.
 DEFINITION: the decisions, interpretations made by judges while deciding on the legal
issues before them which are considered as the common law or as an aid for
interpretation of a law in subsequent cases with similar conditions.
 Case laws are used by advocates to support their views to favor their clients and also it
influences the decision of the judges.
 It comes from judicial authorities of the state and is the 2nd major category of primary
sources of law.

 Case law may be divided into:

1. Decision Proper

a. Decisions of the Supreme Court

b. Decision of the Court of Appeals
c. Decisions of the Sandiganbayan
d. Decisions of the Court of Tax appeal
e. Decisions of the Regional Traila courts
f. Decisions of the Municipal, Municipal Circuit and Metropolittan trial courts

2. Subordinate Decisions

a. Decisions of the Senate electoral tribunal and house of representative

electoral tribunal

b. Decisions of administrative agencies exercising qausi judicial powers, such as:

i. Commission on Elections
ii. Civil Service Commission
iii. Commission on Audit
iv. National Labor relation commission
v. Insurance commission
vi. Housing and land Use regulatory board
vii. Department of Agrarian Adjudication board
 JUDICIAL SYSTEMS at present

o TRIAL COURTS OF LIMITED JURISDICTION

 – limited to civil suits involving relatively smaller amounts of money and
to minor violations of criminal laws.
 These are the tribunals in which most of the controversies that occur in the
community are heard and at least provisionally decided.
 They are the courts closest to the people. In this level, justice is
administered fairly and with dignity.
 Metropolitan trial courts
 Municipal trial courts
 Municipal circuit trial courts

o TRIAL COURTS OF GENERAL JURISDICTION

 – involves an amount of money or a potential criminal sentence
 beyond the jurisdictions of the MTC, MCTC, MTC.
 Regional Trail Courts (Court of First Instance)
 Shari’a courts under the Muslim code.

o THE INTERMEDIATE APPELLATE COURT

 – is the body that generally has exclusive appellate jurisdiction over the
decisions of the Regional Trial Courts and other quasi-judicial agencies.

 Court of Appeals
 Presiding Justice
 50 Associate Justice
 Special appellate courts:
 The Sandiganbayan – appellate jurisdiction over ceratin
criminal cases decided by the Regional Courts, and also
original jurisdiction over certain types of criminal cases
 Court of Tax appeals – act only on protests of private
persons adversely affected by the tax and customs laws.

o THE COURT OF LAST RESORT (Supreme Court)

 – at the top of the hierarchy
 determines with finality what the law is and should be.
 It has the power to review on appeal or certiorari final judgments and
order of lower courts in certain cases such as when errors or questions of
law are invoked and where the Constitution or validity of statues are
involved.
 It has original jurisdiction over petitions for certiorari, prohibition,
mandamus, quo warranto and habeas corpus.

 Chief Justice
 14 Associate Justice
 THE PRINCIPLE OF JUDICIAL COURTESY is based on the hierarchy of courts
and applies only to lower courts in instances where, even if there is no writ of preliminary
injunction or TRO issued by a higher court, it would be proper for a lower court to
suspend its proceedings for practical and ethical considerations.
In other words, the principle of “judicial courtesy” applies where there is a strong
probability that the issues before the higher court would be rendered moot and moribund
as a result of the continuation of the proceedings in the lower court or court of origin.

 THE DOCTRINE OF JUDICIAL STABILITY OR NON-INTERFERENCE in the

regular orders or judgments of a co-equal court is an elementary principle in the
administration of justice: no court can interfere by injunction with the judgments or
orders of another court of concurrent jurisdiction having the power to grant the relief
sought by the injunction.
The rationale for the rule is founded on the concept of jurisdiction: a court that
acquires jurisdiction over the case and renders judgment therein has jurisdiction over its
judgment, to the exclusion of all other coordinate courts, for its execution and over all its
incidents, and to control, in furtherance of justice, the conduct of ministerial officers
acting in connection with this judgment.

 LAW OF THE CASE has been defined as the opinion delivered on a former appeal, and
means, more specifically, that whatever is once irrevocably established as the controlling
legal rule of decision between the same parties in the same case continues to be the law
of the case, whether correct on general principles or not, so long as the facts on which
such decision was predicated continue to be the facts of the case before the court
The doctrine of law of the case simply means, therefore, that when an appellate
court has once declared the law in a case, its declaration continues to be the law of that
case even on a subsequent appeal, notwithstanding that the rule thus laid down may have
been reversed in other cases.
 DOCTRINE OF PRECEDENT

o STARE DECISIS, ET NO QUITA MOVERE – what has been settled must not
be disturbed.
RES JUDICATA – a matter finally decided on its merits by a court having
competent jurisdiction and not subject to litigation again between the same

o REVERSAL – has reference to the action of the Supreme Court on a lower court
judgments in the same particular controversy. When the Supreme court reviews
the judgment of the lower court in a case and concludes the lower court reached
an erroneous result in the case, it will reverse, set aside the lower court’s
judgment.
OVERRULES – one of the past decisions of the Supreme court, the
conclusiveness of that earlier decision as a settlement of its particular controversy
is not affected, but the overruled decision is no longer an authoritative precedent
for other cases that may arise in the future.

o RATIO DECIDENDI - is the holding of the principle of law on which a

case was decided. It sets the precedent and is binding on courts in the future.
OBITER DICTUM – is the language in a decision that is not necessary to the
decision.

o BINDING – also called mandatory; when it comes from the decisions of Supreme
Court and it is the ratio decidendi of the case.
PERSUASIVE – if the dicta comes from a respected justice, it may be persuasive
to the Court. Persuasive authority can come from decisions of appellate courts in
other jurisdictions.

 FORM OF DECISIONS
o MAJORITY OPINION / UNANIMOUS
o CONCURRING
o SEPARATE CONCURRING OPINION
o SEPARATE OPINION
o DISSENTING

 CASE LAW MATERIALS

1. Decision proper

a. Decisions of the Supreme Court

Official:
i. Advance Sheet – after the finality of the decision, they are published in
mimeographed form; made available to the bench and the bar at the
earliest date possible, much earlier than their publication
 ii. Official Gazette – official publication of the government printed by the
Bureau of Printing; the decisions of the Supreme Court are published
under the section “Decisions of the Supreme Court”
iii. Philippine Reports – from August 8, 1901, printed by the Bureau of
Printing, now the Government Printing Office; arranged according to dates
of their promulgation
iv. Philippine Reports (Reprints) – the destruction of libraries and reserve
copies of Philippine Reports in the Bureau of Printing during the war
necessitated the reprinting of these reports and the undertaking was
entrusted by the Supreme Court to the Lawyer’s Cooperative Publishing
Co.
v. Jurisprudence Filipina – Spanish edition of the Philippine Reports, also
printed by the Bureau of Printing; arranged in the same order as that of the
Philippine Reports
Unofficial:

a. Philippine Decisions
b. Philippine Reports Annotated
c. Philippine Reports Annotated (Central)
d. Supreme Courts Reports Annotated (SCRA)
e. Supreme Court Decisions (SCD)
f. Philippine Law and Jurisprudence (PHILJUR)
g. Supreme Court Unpublished Decisions (SCUD)
h. Supreme Court Advance Decisions (SCAD)
i. Supreme Court Excerpts (SCEX)
j. Summary of Supreme court’s Rulings
k. Citations: excerpts of Supreme Court Decisions
l. Title Index to Supreme Court Decisions 1945 – 1978
m. Supreme Court Decisions Title Index 1982-1985
n. The Sandiganbayan Reporter
o. The PCGG Reporter

b. Decision of the Court of Appeals

i. Appellate Court Reports
ii. Advance Sheets
iii. Official Gazette
iv. Courts of Appeals Reports
v. Court of Appeals Reports Annotated
 c. Decisions of the Sandiganbayan
i. Sandiganbayan Reports
ii. Sandiganbayan Reporter

d. Decisions of the Court of Tax appeal

i. Official Gazette
ii. Court of Tax appeals Digest of Cutoms and Real Property Tax cases
iii. Court of Tax appeals Digest of internal Revenue Cases by Colon
Publication

e. Decisions of the Regional Trail courts

f. Decisions of the Municipal, Municipal Circuit and Metropolitan Trial Courts

2. Subordinate Decisions

a. Decisions of the Senate electoral tribunal and house of representative

electoral tribunal

1. HRET Reports: Final Orders, Resolutions and Decisions – 7 vols.

b. Decisions of administrative agencies exercising quasi-judicial powers

 Agencies with implied quasi-judicial powers – agencies mostly with

investigative functions:
i. Department of Foreign Affairs
ii. Commission on Immigration and Deportation
iii. Office of the President
iv. Secretary of Justice
v. National Wages Council
vi. Philippine Patens Office
vii. Bureau of Land Transportation
viii. Civil Service Commission
ix. Professional Regulatory Commission
x. Tanodbayan (Ombudsman)

 Agencies with express quasi-judicial powers – agencies given judicial functions

over cases which would otherwise go the regular courts of justice were it not for
the grant of such powers to these agencies.
 i.Insurance Commission
ii.National Labor Relations Commission
iii. Commission on Elections
iv. Government Service Insurance System
v. Social Security System
vi. National Seamen Board
vii. Commission on Audit
1. COA Regulations and Jurisprudence by Central book Supply
viii. Employee’s Compensation Commission
ix. Civil Aeronautics Board

 Administrative Bodies and Agencies exercising quasi-judicial functions

prepared by UP Law Center

1. Department of Finance
a. Bureau of Internal Revenue
b. Bureau of Customs
c. Insurance Commission
d. Central Board of Assessment Appeals
e. Fiscal Incentives Review Board
f. Phil. Export and Foreign Loan Guarantees Corp.
g. Phil. Crop Insurance Corp.

2. Department of Justice
a. Land Registration Authority
b. Commission on Immigration and Deportation (now Bureau of
Immigration)

3. Department of Agriculture
a. Sugar Regulatory Authority
b. National Irrigation Administration
c. National Meat Inspection Commission
d. National Food Authority
e. Quedans Guarantee Fund Board
f. Phil. Coconut Authority
g. Bureau of Plant Industry
4. Department of Public Works and Highways
a. Bureau of Research and Standards
b. Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System
c. Local Water Utilities Administration

5. Department of Labor and Employment

a. National Labor Relations Commission
b. Phil. Overseas and Employment Administration
c. National Manpower and Youth Council
d. National Maritime Polytechnic
e. Employee’s Compensation Commission
f. National Wages Council
g. Bureau of Labor Relations
h. Bureau of Working Conditions
i. National Conciliation and Mediation Board

6. Department of Health
a. Bureau of Food and Drugs
b. Phil. Medical Care Commission
c. Dangerous Drugs Board
d. Bureau of Research and Laboratories
e. Bureau of Licensing and Regulation

7. Department of Trade and Industry

a. Bureau of Trade Regulation and Consumer Protection
b. Videogram Regulatory Board
c. Board of Investments
d. Bureau of Patents, Trademark and Technology
e. Export Processing Zone Authority
f. Garments and Textile Export Board
g. Bureau of Product Standards

8. Department of Environment and Natural Resources

a. Land Management Bureau
b. Environment Management Bureau
c. Forest Management Bureau
d. Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau
e. National Electrification Administration
f. National Quarantine Office
 9. Department of Transportation and Communication
a. Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board
b. Maritime Industry Authority
c. Philippine Ports Authority
d. Toll Regulatory Board
e. Civil Aeronautics Board
f. National Telecommunications Bureau
g. Bureau of Air Transportation (Air Transportation Office)

10. Others
a. Professional Regulatory Commission
b. Security and Exchange Commission
c. Social Security Commission
d. Central Bank
e. Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board
f. National Bureau of Investigation
g. National Land Titles and Deeds Authority
h. Register of Deeds

c. Publications of Administrative Agencies Exercising Quasi-Judicial Functions

2. Commission on Elections
- The COMELEC has not published its decisions
3. Civil Service Commission
- Civil Service Board of Appeals have been published by author Rivera
- annually
4. Commission on Audit
- COA Regulations and Jurisprudence – 1998 by JV Go published by
Central Book Supply
- COA Decisions Digest (1994-2000) by Reynaldo Montalbo
5. National Labor Relations Commission
- Has not published its decisions
6. Insurance Commission
- Has not published its decision
7. Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board
- Human Settlements Regulatory Commission Legal Digest, 1981, 3 vols.
8. Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board
- Book entitled Jurisprudence on Agrarian Relations by Ibay, 1973
9. Securities and Exchange Commission
- SEC Decisions, 1977-1981, published by Legal Database Systems
 - The decision making powers of the SEC were transferred to the regular
courts by virtue of the Securities Regulation Code, RA 8799

10. Bureau of Internal Revenue

- Complete Numbered BIR Rulings by the Career Development Center
- Digest of BIR Rulings by E.O. Ordono, 1986 to 1998

11. Intellectual Property Office

- The IPO has not published its decision

d. Computerized Legal Research Services

1. Lex Libris – produced by CD Asia, Inc., with the following databases:

a. Laws (Philippine Edition), Vol. I;

b. Taxation (Phil. Edition), Vol. II;
c. Jurisprudence (The Phil. Supreme Court Reports), Vol. III
d. Department of Justice (Opinions of the Secretary), Vol. IV
e. Local Autonomy and Local Government, Vol. V
f. Environment and Natural Resources, Vol. VI
g. Labor and Social Legislation, Vol. VII
h. Elections, Vol. VIII
i. Trade, Commerce and Industry, Vol. IX
j. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Vol. X
k. Securities and Exchange Commission, Vol. XI

2. Philjuris – contains a digitized compilation of the decisions and resolutions

of the Supreme Court. It is produced by Gigabytes Research Systems, Inc.