Notes: Legal Research and Thesis Writing - : by Maria Carmela Rojo Caupayan

CHAPTER I- Introduction to Legal Research materials; materials which are not primary authorities
but annontate, discuss or analyze legal doctrines and

Legal research – the process of finding the laws, rules, and are considered secondary authorities: treatises,
regulations that govern activities in human society. commentaries, legal encyclopedias, law reviews of law
- the investigation for information necessary to support schools, looseleaf services, hornbooks, casebooks, etc.
legal decision making.
*purpose: to ascertain legal consequences of a specific set *Restatements of the Law –series of important
of actual or potential facts. Key: organization commentaries on American Law which attempt to
organize and articulate the rules of American
Sources of legal research common law
 printed: Constitution, statutes, court decisions,
administrative rules, scholarly commentaries *Looseleaf Services –frequently supplemented
 electronic: computerized, computer databases research tools which focus on specific subject areas
and contain primary legal sources, finding aids and
Characteristics of legal materials secondary materials
*legal authority –any published source of law setting forth
legal rules, legal doctrine, or legal reasoning that can be *Legal Encyclopedias – mutli-volume sets describing
used as bases for legal decisions. systematically the entire body of law wherein
**authority – types of legal information and the degree of expository statements on principles of law are
persuasiveness of legal information alphabetically and topically arranged.
Sources of Law (3 Broad Categories of Legal Literature) *Hornbooks –popular reference to a series of
1. Primary Sources –recorded laws and rules enforced by treatises, each of which reviews a certain field of la
the State; recorded authoritative statements of legal in summary textual form as opposed to a casebook
rules by governmental institutions to be enforce by which is a teaching tool and includes many reprints
the State of court opinions
1. First primary sources: product of legislative *Practice Manuals – provide good understanding of
actions, codes, statutes the procedural and substantive law as well as
2. Second primary sources: judicial decisions “hands on” instruction necessary to file and
*judicial system – a hierarchy of courts: trial prosecute case
courts (RTC, MTC, MCTC), intermediate appellate
court (CA), court of last resort (Supreme Court) *Form-Books – aids in drafting legal documents and
3. Third primary sources: administrative law include sample instruments which are standard
(regulations and decisions of government agencies) guides for an atty
*Mandatory authority – authority that a given court *Annotations – explanations or commentaries or

is bound to follow: constitutional provisions, extensive notes based on the issues within an
statutes, international conventions and treaties, opinion of a court usually appended after a
judicial decisions, administrative rules and reprinted case in a compilation.
regulations, ordinance and court rules.  statutory –brief history of the law and facts of
cases interpreting statutes passed by the
*Persuasive authority –law or reasoning which a legislature which are usually found in codes and
given court may, but is not bound to follow: compilations and cites research references to
opinions of the secretary of justice and secondary materials
administrative agencies, foreign judicial opinions
 textual –expository essays of varying lengths on
which have a significant effect upon Phil.
significant legal cases with the essays
jurisprudence.
3. Finding Tools –search materials that locate legal/
2. Secondary Materials –publications which are not
primary sources: SCRA Quick Index-Digest, PHILJURIS,
primary in authority but which discuss or analyze legal
LEX LIBRIS, search books, indexes, digests, law
doctrines/ problems and provide research references
dictionaries, tables, citators etc.
to both primary sources and other secondary
1 Notes: Legal Research and Thesis Writing| by Maria Carmela Rojo Caupayan
*Digests –reprint headnotes summarizing points of 2. Formulate the legal issues to be researched
law from court decisions in a subject classification;
indexes to reported cases providing brief, 3. Research the issues presented
unconnected statements of court holdings on point a) Organize and plan
of law which are arranged by subject. b) Identify, read, and update all relevant constitutional
provisions, statutes, and administrative regulations
*Law dictionaries –collect definitions of legal terms in *statutory compilations, computer-assisted legal
alphabetical order with citations to sources either research.
from a statute, decision or text c) Identify, read, and update all relevant case law
d) Refine the search
*Citators – research aids which provide notational
information on the statues of a particular case law or 4. Update
the current status of a statute.
**Shepardize –process of checking the status of Approaches in Searching for Authority
cases or statutes in the Shepard’s citations. 1. Law finding techniques
*Descriptive word/ Index or fact method
*Indexes –alphabetical lists of important words and *Table of contents, Topic or analytic method
concepts covered in a book, a set of books or *Known authority, Statute or case method
research sources that assists the researcher in *Definition method
locating the primary or secondary sources. 2. Sources to obtain background information:
code commentaries, treatises, legal periodical articles
*Directories –lead to information about lawyers, law wherein one can elicit background information on a
firms, law schools, law libraries, courts or specific statute
administrative agencies.
CHAPTER III- Fundamental Research Skill: Case Briefing
*Tables –alphabetical listings of case names or and Synthesis of Cases
statutes with references to the law reports or
publications where the cases or laws can be located; Case Briefing
gives the comparative/ parallel citations to official Case Brief –a student’s digest or condensation of a
and unofficial case reports or compilation by statutes reported case. Components:
*Facts – relevant, describe the events between the
*Annotations –summarize cases on particular topics parties leading to the litigation and tell how the case
came before the court that is now deciding it.
*Other sources: opinions of legal experts, other state *Issue(s) – the question that the court must decide
and foreign sources to resolve the dispute between the parties in the case
before it; a question that combines the rule of the law
CHAPTER II – Legal Research Process with the material facts of the case (facts that raise the
dispute)
Four Basic Steps (Systematic Approach) *Ruling – court’s decision on the issue.
1. Identify and analyze the significant facts
*Factual analysis (TARP Rule) – first step in *** *** ***
formulating the legal issues to be researched.
-Thing or subject matter Treaties – pacts between two or more sovereign nations
-Cause of action or ground of defense a) bilateral agreement, b) multilateral agreement
-Relief or object sought
-Persons or parties involved, places Statutes proper –term to designate legislation enacted by
national legislatures in the ordinary course of law-making
*Sources of information
- People Administrative regulation –a subsidiary law designed to
- Tangible evidence explain or carry out the details of statutes that govern an
- Books, periodicals and reports administrative agency.
- Expert witnesses
rule – any agency statement of general applicability that Sources:
implements or interprets a law, fixes and describes the 1. Legal Research by Rufus B. Rodriguez
procedures in, or practice requirements of, an agency, 2. The Law Library: Revisiting Traditional Legal Research
including its regulations; including memoranda or Methods by Myrna S. Feliciano
statements concerning the internal administration or
management of an agency not affecting the rights of, or
procedure available to the public.
agency –any department, bureau, office, commission,

authority, or officer of the National Government
authorized by law or executive order to make rules, issue
licenses, grant rights or privileges, occupation or
business, and officials in the exercise of disciplinary
power as provided by law
Court rules –govern the pleading, practice and procedure

before all courts in the Philippines. 5 Major Parts dealing
with civil actions: special proceedings, criminal
procedure, evidence, and legal ethics
Case law –court opinions. 2 categories:

(a) conventional decisions –enforce all rulings rendered
by regularly or specially constituted courts of justice
(b) subordinate decisions –include all rulings made by
administrative and legislative tribunals
case reports –chronological compilations of court decisions

(in volume)
court decisions:
*Supreme Court Decisions
*Court of Appeals Decisions
*Sandiganbayan Decisions
2 forms of state court decisions:

*official reports – issued under the auspices of the courts
themselves as authoritative text of their decisions
*unofficial reports – issued by commercial publishers
Digests:
*General digests – contain the most recent summaries
every month
*Decennial digests – contain summaries covering 10-year
periods
*Century digests –contain summaries for cases written
from 1658 – 1896

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CHAPTER I- Introduction to Legal Research materials; materials which are not primary authorities

but annontate, discuss or analyze legal doctrines and

Mandatory authority – authority that a given court Annotations – explanations or commentaries or

agency –any department, bureau, office, commission,

Court rules –govern the pleading, practice and procedure

Case law –court opinions. 2 categories:

case reports –chronological compilations of court decisions

2 forms of state court decisions:

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