INTRODUCTION TO LAW

A. WHAT IS LAW?
a. DEFINITION
i. Broad Sense Vs Strict Legal Sense
ii. Elements
b. CLASSIFICATION
i. Non-legal sense
1. NATURAL LAW
2. PHYSICAL LAW
3. MORAL LAW
4. DIVINE LAW
ii. Legal Sense
1. PUBLIC LAW
2. PRIVATE LAW
Case:
 Bernabe v. Alejo, G.R. No. 140500, January 21, 2002, 424 PHIL 933-945
“x x x. Substantive law creates substantive rights and the two terms in this respect may be
said to be synonymous. Substantive rights is a term which includes those rights which one
enjoys under the legal system prior to the disturbance of normal relations. Substantive law
is that part of the law which creates, defines and regulates rights, or which regulates the
rights and duties which give rise to a cause of action; that part of the law which courts are
established to administer; as opposed to adjective or remedial law, which prescribes the
method of enforcing rights or obtains redress for their invasion.”

 Sebastian v. Morales, G.R. No. 141116, February 17, 2003, 445 PHIL 595-609
“Litigation is not a game of technicalities, but every case must be prosecuted in
accordance with the prescribed procedure so that issues may be properly presented and
justly resolved. Hence, rules of procedure must be faithfully followed except only when for
persuasive reasons, they may be relaxed to relieve a litigant of an injustice not
commensurate with his failure to comply with the prescribed procedure. Concomitant to
a liberal application of the rules of procedure should be an effort on the part of the party
invoking liberality to explain his failure to abide by the rules.”

c. CONCEPTS OF LAW
i. General or abstract sense
ii. Specific or material sense
d. SOURCES OF LAW
i. CONSTITUTION
ii. LEGISLATION
iii. ADMINISTRATIVE OR EXECUTIVE ORDERS, REGULATIONS AND RULINGS
iv. JURIDICIAL DECISIONS OR JURISPRUDENCE
v. CUSTOM
vi. OTHER SOURCES: Principles of justice and equity, Decisions of foreign tribunals, Opinions of text
writers, Religion
Case:
 Nestle Philippines, Inc. v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 86738, November 13, 1991
“In the first place, it is a principle too well established to require extensive documentation
that the construction given to a statute by an administrative agency charged with the
interpretation and application of that statute is entitled to great respect and should be
accorded great weight by the courts, unless such construction is clearly shown to be in
sharp conflict with the governing statute or the Constitution and other laws.”

B. WORLD LEGAL SYSTEMS

a. Roman law
b. Common law
c. Mohammedan law
d. Legal Systems in the Philippines

C. COURTS
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 a. Regular Courts
i. Supreme Court
ii. Court of Appeals
iii. Regional Trial Court
iv. Metropolitan Trial Courts
v. Municipal Trial Courts in Cities
vi. Municipal Circuit Trial Courts
b. Special Courts
i. Sandiganbayan
ii. Court of Tax Appeals
c. Quasi-Judicial Bodies
i. National Labor Relations Commissions,
ii. SEC
iii. LTFRB
iv. Insurance Commission
v. Constitutional Commissions (COA, Civil Service, COMELEC)

D. EFFECTS AND APPLICATIONS OF LAW

a. DATE OF EFFECTIVITY
i. Article 2 NCC
ii. LORENZO M. TAÑADA ET AL. v. HON. JUAN C. TUVERA ET AL. 146 SCRA 446 (1986) G.R. No. L-
63915, December 29, 1986
“Publication is indispensable in every case, but the legislature may in its discretion provide that
the usual fifteen-day period shall be shortened or extended. “

iii. Philippine International Trading Corp. v. Angeles, G.R. No. 108461, October 21, 1996, 331 PHIL
723-752
“We agree that the publication must be in full or it is no publication at all since its purpose is to
inform the public of the contents of the laws.”

b. IGNORANCE OF THE LAW

i. Article 3, NCC
ii. Opeña v. Luna, A.M. No. P-02-1549, December 16, 2005, 514 PHIL 345-351
“Verily, respondent cannot, as the OCA aptly observed, seek shelter from the alleged customary
practice of stenographers of charging a party in an ex parte hearing for all the stenographic
notes transcribed. Ignorance of the law excuses no one, especially those who, by the nature of
their official duties and responsibilities, are expected to be aware of its provisions.”

iii. D.M. Consunji, Inc. v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 137873, April 20, 2001, 409 PHIL 275-302
“The application of Article 3 is limited to mandatory and prohibitory laws. This may be deduced
from the language of the provision, which, notwithstanding a person's ignorance, does not
excuse his or her compliance with the laws. The rule in Floresca allowing private respondent a
choice of remedies is neither mandatory nor prohibitory. Accordingly, her ignorance thereof
cannot be held against her.”

c. PROSPECTIVE APPLICATION
i. Article 4, NCC
ii. Gauvain v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 97973, 97998, January 27, 1992
“The petitioners Benzonan and respondent Pe and the DBP are bound by these decisions for
pursuant to Article 8 of the Civil Code "judicial decisions applying or interpreting the laws or the
Constitution shall form a part of the legal system of the Philippines." But while our decisions form
part of the law of the land, they are also subject to Article 4 of the Civil Code which provides that
"laws shall have no retroactive effect unless the contrary is provided."

iii. People v. Lacson, G.R. No. 149453, April 1, 2003, 448 PHIL 317-463
“The two-year period fixed in the new rule is for the benefit of both the State and the accused. It
should not be emasculated and reduced by an inordinate retroactive application of the time-bar
therein provided merely to benefit the accused. For to do so would cause an injustice of hardship
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 to the State and adversely affect the administration of justice in general and of criminal laws in
particular.”

iv. SR. INSP. JERRY C. VALEROSO v. PEOPLE, G.R. No. 164815, February 22, 2008, 570 PHIL 58-79
“As a general rule, penal laws should not have retroactive application, lest they acquire the
character of an ex post facto law. An exception to this rule, however, is when the law is
advantageous to the accused. According to Mr. Chief Justice Araullo, this is not as a right of the
offender, but founded on the very principles on which the right of the State to punish and the
commination of the penalty are based, and regards it not as an exception based on political
considerations, but as a rule founded on principles of strict justice.”

d. REPEAL OF LAWS
i. Article 7, NCC
ii. Simplicio Palanca v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 106685, December 2, 1994
“Besides, a Central Bank Circular cannot repeal a law. Only a law can repeal another law. Article
7 of the Civil Code of the Philippines provides: Laws are repealed only by subsequent ones and
their violation or non-observance shall not be excused by disuse, or custom or practice to the
contrary.”

e. FAITHFULNESS TO THE CONSTITUTION

i. Article 7, NCC
ii. Bartolome v. Social Security System, G.R. No. 192531, November 12, 2014
“As applied, this Court held in Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Fortune Tobacco Corporation
that:
As we have previously declared, rule-making power must be confined to details for regulating
the mode or proceedings in order to carry into effect the law as it has been enacted, and it
cannot be extended to amend or expand the statutory requirements or to embrace matters not
covered by the statute. Administrative regulations must always be in harmony with the
provisions of the law because any resulting discrepancy between the two will always be resolved
in favor of the basic law. “

f. COMPUTATION OF PERIODS
i. Article 13, NCC
ii. Sec. 31, Book I of EO 292 (Administrative Code of 1987)
iii. National Mktg. Corp. v. Tecson, G.R. No. L-29131, August 27, 1969, 139 PHIL 584-589
“Pursuant to Art. 7 of said Code, "whenever months ... are referred to in the law, it shall be
understood that the months are of 30 days," not the "natural," or "solar" or "calendar" months,
unless they are "designated by name," in which case "they shall be computed by the actual
number of days they have. This concept was later, modified in the Philippines, by Section 13 of
the Revised Administrative Code, Pursuant to which, "month shall be understood to refer to a
calendar month." 4 In the language of this Court, in People vs. Del Rosario, 5 with the approval
of the Civil Code of the Philippines (Republic Act 386) ... we have reverted to the provisions of the
Spanish Civil Code in accordance with which a month is to be considered as the regular 30-day
month ... and not the solar or civil month," with the particularity that, whereas the Spanish Code
merely mentioned "months, days or nights," ours has added thereto the term "years" and
explicitly ordains that "it shall be understood that years are of three hundred sixty-five days."

g. INTERPRETATION
i. Article 10, NCC
ii. STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION
iii. Intrinsic vs Extrinsic
iv. When necessary & when not
v. A.M. No. RTJ -04-1868, August 13, 2004
“It is axiomic that when the law is clear, the function of the courts is simple application, not
interpretation or circumvention.”
vi. Amatan v. Aujero, A.M. No. RTJ-93-956 (Resolution), September 27, 1995, 318 PHIL 611-619
“In instances where a literal application of a provision of law would lead to injustice or to a
result so directly in opposition with the dictates of logic and everyday common sense as to be
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 unconscionable, the Civil Code admonishes judges to take principles of right and justice at heart.
In case of doubt the intent is to promote right and justice. Fiat justice ruat coelum. Stated
differently, when a provision of law is silent or ambiguous, judges ought to invoke a solution
responsive to the vehement urge of conscience.”

h. DUTY TO RENDER JUDGMENT

i. Article 9, NCC
ii. Reyes v. Lim, G.R. No. 134241, August 11, 2003, 456 PHIL 1-14
“This is a case of silence or insufficiency of the law and the Rules of Court. In this case, Article 9
of the Civil Code expressly mandates the courts to make a ruling despite the silence, obscurity or
insufficiency of the laws. This calls for the application of equity, which fills the open spaces in
the law.”

i. LAW& EQUITY
i. Agra v. Philippine National Bank, G.R. No. 133317, June 29, 1999, 368 PHIL 829-850
“Laches is a doctrine in equity while prescription is based on law. Our courts are basically courts
of law and not courts of equity. Thus, laches cannot be invoked to resist the enforcement of an
existing legal right. “

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