Proper Legal Citation

PROPER LEGAL CITATION
Legal Research (Sat. 8am-10am)
ALBA Xyra, BELARMINO Alyssa, FABREGAS Allyssa, ILIGAN Jan Rockefeller, NAGALLO
Fannie, SIRIBAN George, VILLAMIL Mary Nicole
Legal Citation
Considering all the sources of Philippine legal information from the 1900s to present, uniform
standard of Philippine citation is needed for clarity, and consistency.
In legal writing, citations serve two (2) purposes:
1. ATTRIBUTION - citation identifies the source of ideas developed in the text and materials
quoted or referenced therein
2. SUPPORT - citation facilitates support by directing reader to a specific legal or factual

authority in the text.
Types of Sources:
Primary:
 Constitution
 Codes
 Special Laws
 Bills, Resolutions & Committee Reports
 Treaties
 Presidential Acts
 Ordinances
 Cases
Secondary:
 Books and Pamphlets

 Periodical Articles
 Annotations
 Newspapers
 Internet Sources
Statutes

1. Constitution:
Cited by reference to the article, section and the paragraph.

Example: Const. Art. VII, sec. 2
The year is placed in parenthesis when the Constitution is no longer in force.
1
Example: Const. (1935), Art. III, sec. 1, par. (3).
Other legal citations provide that when the current law is cited, the date is not included. Taking
into consideration the number of times the Philippine Constitution was revised, it is important to
include the date.
2. Statutes Proper
Laws passed by the Legislative Department from 101 to present are cited as follows:

· Laws 1901-1934
Example: Act No. 136 (1901)

· Commonwealth Acts, 1935-1945
Example: Com. Act No. 35 (1935)

· Republic Acts, 1946-1972, 1987-present
Example: Rep. Act No. 88 (1946)

· Presidential Decrees, September 21, 1972 – February 1986
Example: Pres. Decree No. 442 (1972)

· Batas Pambansa, January 1979- February 1, 1986
Example: Batas Blg. 129 (1980)
Citation of Statutes by Sources:

· Printed Source
The printed sources are the Official Gazette (O.G.) or the Philippine Permanent and General
Statutes (PPGS)
Example: Rep. Act No. 3019 (1960), 57 O.G., No. 22, 4072 (May 29, 1961) or 4 PPGS
85 (Rev. ed., 1978)

· Electronic Sources
Rep. Act No. 3019 (1960), Available at http://www.lawphil.net/statute/repacts (last visited
August 29, 2012); www.ombudsman.gov.ph/docs/republicacts ((last visited August 29,
2012); www.bsp.gov.ph/regulations/laws (last visited August 29, 2012)
3. Treaties
This includes treaties entered into by the Philippines whether it be Bilateral or Multilateral. Cited
by the name of the treaty and the date when the treaty was signed.
Example:
Philippines Extradition Treaty with the United States, November 27, 1981.
2
8 PTS 978 Philippines Extradition Treaty with the United States,November 27, 1981,
Available at http://www.lawphil.net/international/treaties/extrad.html ;
http://internationalextraditionblog.com/2011/-06/01/philippines-extradition-treaty-with-the-
united-states last visited December 23, 2014

4. Executive/Presidential Issuances
Presidential issuances are cited by the number of the issuance and followed by the date of
issuance. The date is important for each year, the number starts with the first number (No.
1)
Example:
Exec. Order No. 200 (1986)

Proc. No. 1081 (1972)
Adm. Order No. 200 (2005)
There are special presidential issuances under Martial law as follows

· General Orders
Example: Gen. Order No. 1 (1972

· Letters of Instructions
Example: L.O.I. No. 2 (1972)

· Letters of Implementation
Example: L.O. Impl. No. 1 (1972)

· Letters of Authority
Example: L.O.A. No. 1 (1972)
5. Administrative Rules and Regulations
Government offices and agencies promulgate their own rules and regulations. They are cited
by the abbreviation of the name of each agency, followed by the name of the specific rule or
regulation. It is important to indicate the year in parenthesis for each year, the number of the
rules and regulations start with the first number (No.1)

Example:

Administrative Order No. 1 promulgated by the Department of Energy on January 5, 2006 is
thus cited as: DOE Adm. Order No. 1 (2006)
SC Adm. Order No. 1 (2005) is the citation for Supreme Court Administrative Order No. 1
adopted in 2005.
3
6. Ordinances

The laws passed by the city, municipal or provincial government (local government) are in the
form of ordinances. They are cited by providing the name of the city, municipality or the
province, followed by the ordinance number and the date.
Example:
City ordinance no. 1 of the city of Manila passed on June 21, 2004 is cited as : Manila
Ordinance No. 1, June 21, 2004.
7. Court Rules
The Rules of Court is cited like any ordinary code by its name, followed by the rule number and
section.

Example: Rule of Court, Rule 14, sec.1

The Supreme Court through the proposal of the Committee of Revision of Rules Courts been
amended the Rules of Court by subject, such as Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure,
Evidence, and Special Proceedings. They are now cited by said amendments as follows:

 Criminal Procedure, Rule 115, se. 1 (2000)
 Civil Procedure, Rule 70, sec. 1 (1997)
JURISPRUDENCE
General Format:
<SURNAME of party> v. <SURNAME of other party>, <VOLUME>, <TITLE and PAGE of

REPORT>, (<YEAR OF PROMULGATION)>
E.g. Ariaga v. Javellana, 92 Phil. 330 (1952)
Notes:
 In text, underscore or italicize title of the case name, and place source in footnote
 If two or more actions are consolidated, cite only first listed.
<SURNAME of party> v. <SURNAME of other party>, <VOLUME>, <TITLE and PAGE of
REPORT>, (<YEAR OF PROMULGATION)>
E.g. Ariaga v. Javellana, 92 Phil. 330 (1952)
Notes:
 In text, underscore or italicize title of the case name, and place source in footnote
 If two or more actions are consolidated, cite only first listed.
Exception to the General Rule:

Islamic and Chinese names
 WRONG: Lim v Ladislao
 CORRECT: Lim Sian Tek v Ladislao
4
Compound names
 WRONG: People v Cruz
 CORRECT: People v De la Cruz
Names of corporations, associations,business firms and partnerships
 WRONG: Balite v Jollibee
 CORRECT: Balite v Jollibee Foods Corp., Inc.
Person is named in his official capacity – name of the person only
 WRONG: City of Manila v. Subido, in his capacity as Civil Service Commissioner
 CORRECT: City of Manila v. Subido
Complete name of office
 Collector of Internal Revenue v. Tan Eng
Municipalities, Cities, Provinces
 Province of Rizal v. R.T.C.
 City of Cebu v. Ledesma
Person is named in his official capacity – name of the person only
 WRONG: City of Manila v. Subido, in his capacity as Civil Service Commissioner
 CORRECT: City of Manila v. Subido
Complete name of office
 Collector of Internal Revenue v. Tan Eng
Municipalities, Cities, Provinces
 Province of Rizal v. R.T.C.
 City of Cebu v. Ledesma
Cases involving the Government of the Philippines and criminal cases
 Government v. ___
 Commonwealth v. ___
 Republic v. ___
 U.S. v. ___
 People v. ___
In re instead of In the matter of
 In re Barretto
Jurisprudence: Court decisions from the Supreme Court down to the lower courts can be
identified through their case number cited as follows:
 The standard citation is the Family name of the parties, G.R. No. and the date
 Instead of “vs.” use only “v.”
 People of the Philippines is cited as “People” and Republic of the Philippines is cited as
“Republic”.
Court decisions from the Supreme Court down to the lower courts can be identified
through their case number cited as follows:
1. Supreme Court decisions – G.R. No. _____ date of promulgation
5
2. Court of Appeals decisions – C.A.-G.R. No. _____-R, CV, CR or SP, date of promulgation
3. Sandiganbayan decisions – Sandiganbayan Crim. Case No. _____ date of promulgation
4. Metropolitan Trial Courts – MeTC (Place and Branch No.) Civil or Criminal Case No.
_____, date of promulgation People v. Santiago, MeTC (Quezon City, Branch II) Crim. Case
No. 4444, May 10, 2015
5. Municipal Trial Courts and Municipal Circuit Trial Courts decisions – MTC or MCTC (Place)
Criminal or Civil Case No. _____, date of promulgation
6. Shari’ah District and Circuit Courts – Shari’ah Dist/Circ. Ct. (Place) Case No., date of
promulgation
Case Report - Supreme Court

Philippine Reports: ,<volume>, Phil. <page> (year)
 Diaz v. Estrera, 78 Phil. 637 (1947).
Official Gazette: G.R. No. ___, <date promulgated>, <volume> O.G. page <Month and year of
issue>
 Espiritu v. Rivera, G.R. No. 17092, September 30, 1963, 62 O.G. 7226 (Oct.
1966).
General Register (Advance decisions of the SC): G.R. No. ___, <date of promulgation>
 Estepa v Diansay, G.R. No. 14733, September 30, 1960.
Disciplinary cases: G.R. Adm. Case No. ___, <date of promulgation>
In re Uy, G.R. Adm. Case No. 533, April 29, 1968.
Case Report – Court of Appeals

Appellate Court Reports: volume C.A. Rep. page (year)
 Chunaco v. Singh, 8 C.A. Rep. 488 (1947).
Court of Appeals Reports, 2nd series: volume C.A. Rep. 2d page (year).
 Flores v. Valpeña, 2 C.A. Rep. 2d 64 (1962).
CA General Register (advance decisions of the CA): C.A.-G.R. No. ___, date of promulgation
 Caliboso v. Bueno, C.A.-G.R. No. 20401-R, April 8, 1960.
Official Gazette: C.A. No. ___, date of promulgation, volume O.G. page (month and year of
issue)
 Manila Electric Co. v. Allarde, C.A.-SP No. 11850, May 15, 1987, 86 O.G. 3447 (May,
1990).
Sandiganbayan: Sandiganbayan Crim. Case No. ___, date of promulgation, volume

Sandiganbayan Rep. page (year of issue)
 People v Sabarre, Sandiganbayan Crim. Case No. 001, December 12, 1979, 1
Sandiganbayan, Rep. 305 (1979).
CTA: CTA Case No. ___, date of promulgation
 Abad v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, CTA Case No. 717, June 4, 1963.
6
RTC: RTC (Place and Branch No.) Case No. ___, date of promulgation
 People v. Johnson, RTC (San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, Br. 45) Crim. Case R-
1681, August 6, 1984).
MTC/MCTC: MCTC or MTC (Place) Case No. ___, date of promulgation
 People v. Soliven, MCTC (Paoay-Currimao, Ilocos Norte) Crim. Case No. 992-C,
November 11, 1983).
Citations repeatedly used:
a. “Ibid” – Used for successive citations of the same volume and the same page or exactly
the same document.
b. “Id.” – More popularly used for successive citations but has different page.
Example:
1
E.M. Fernando. The Constitution of the Philippines. 999 (2d ed., 1977)
2
Id. at 1012
3
Id. at 500
c. “Supra” – This is used to identify a citation that has been previously cited whether it be on
the same page or the preceding page.
Example:
5
E.M. Fernando, supra at 505
6
Ong v. People, supra at 119
d. Supra note is used when the citation previously cited is too far.
Example:
1
E.M. Fernando. The Constitution of the Philippines. 999 (2d ed., 1977)
20
E.M. Fernando, supra note 1 at 600 (where: Note 1 is the footnote where the book was
first cited and 600 is the specific page of the book that is used)
21See note 1, supra (where: you are citing exactly what is found in footnote No.1)
References:
Legal Research and Citation of the Philippines (Santos-Ong, 2018)

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What are the different types of legal sources cited?

What are the different types of legal sources cited?

How are statutes cited?

How are statutes cited?

PROPER LEGAL CITATION

Legal Research (Sat. 8am-10am)

In legal writing, citations serve two (2) purposes:

2. SUPPORT - citation facilitates support by directing reader to a specific legal or factual

 Books and Pamphlets

Cited by reference to the article, section and the paragraph.

Citation of Statutes by Sources:

Exec. Order No. 200 (1986)

There are special presidential issuances under Martial law as follows

5. Administrative Rules and Regulations

<SURNAME of party> v. <SURNAME of other party>, <VOLUME>, <TITLE and PAGE of

Exception to the General Rule:

1. Supreme Court decisions – G.R. No. _____ date of promulgation

Case Report - Supreme Court

Case Report – Court of Appeals

Sandiganbayan: Sandiganbayan Crim. Case No. ___, date of promulgation, volume

Citations repeatedly used:

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