LEGAL RESEARCH

RUFUS B. RODRIGUEZ
A.B. (DLSU), M.A. (XU), LL.B. (UP),
LL.M. (Columbia

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO LEGAL RESEARCH

A. Legal Research, defined

CHAPTER 2

THE LEGAL RESEARCH PROCESS

A. Systematic Approach to Legal Research

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CHAPTER I must become part and parcel of every lawyer's training for him
INTRODUCTION TO LEGAL RESEARCH or her to. provide competent representation and uphold the
standards of the legal profession.
A. Legal Research, defined
In 1992, a special task force of the American Bar Association on
In general, legal research is the process of finding the laws,rules law schools and the legal profession issued a report that stated
and regulations that govern activities in human society. It "[i]t can hardly be doubted that the ability to do legal research is
involves locating both the laws and rules which are enforced by one of the skills that any competent practitioner must possess."
the State and the commentaries which explain or analyze these That report also stated: "[i]n order to conduct legal research
rules. effectively, a lawyer should have a working knowledge of the
nature of legal rules and legal institutions, the fundamental tools
Legal research is also defined as the investigation for of legal research, and the process of devising and implementing
information necessary to support legal decision making. Legal a coherent and effective research design. "
research includes each step of a process that begins with
analyzing the facts of a problem and concludes with applying C. Sources of Legal Research
and communicating theresults of the investigation.
Legal research involves the use of a variety of printed and
B. The Need for Legal Research electronic sources. The printed sources include the Constitution,
statute; court decisions, administrative rules and scholarly
A lawyer is required to provide competent representation to a commentaries. Computer databases containing these and other
client. Competent representation requires the legal knowledge, materials have dramatically changed the nature of legal research
skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the and improved its effectiveness. They have not, however,
representation. Clearly, a lawyer must be able to research the eliminated its complexities. The volume and variety of legal
law to provide competent representation. literature continues to grow, making the researcher's choice of
tools and tactics for each problem more difficult than ever. A
In addition to requirements of professional responsibility, thorough understanding of available legal resources, both
questions relating to competency in legal research may arise in published and computerized, is necessary. There are as many
suits for damages, arising from legal incompetence or claims for procedures as there are problems, and no
malicious prosecution. single approach can work every time.

The knowledge and ability to use fundamental legal research

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 D. Sources of Law courts, and judicial review, in which courts determine the
validity of legislative and executive actions.
Legal sources differ in their relative authority. Some are binding;
others are only persuasive in varying degrees; and some are only A third important primary source is administrative law, or the
useful as tools for finding other material. These variations regulations and decisions of government agencies. State
require that researchers make careful and critical evaluation of agencies promulgate regulations governing behavior within their
the sources they study. Whether researching by book or by areas of expertise. Agencies also act in a "quasi-judicial" capacity
computer, one must be familiar with the three broad categories by conducting hearings and issuing decisions to resolve
of legal literature: (a)primary sources; (b) secondary materials; particular disputes.
and (c) finding tools.
2. Secondary Materials
1. Primary Sources
Publications which are not primary authority but which discuss
Primary sources of law are those recorded laws and rules which or analyze legal doctrine are considered secondary materials.
will be enforced by the State. They may be found in statutes These include treatises, commentaries, and encyclopedias. Some
passed by the legislature, regulations and rulings of of the most influential legal writings are found in the academic
administrative agencies and decisions of appellate courts," journals known as law reviews of law schools, or in publications
like the IBP Journal and the Lawyers Review. Secondary
In a primarily civil law jurisdiction like the Philippines, the materials vary widely in purpose and quality, ranging from
products of legislative actions, codes and statutes, are the first authoritative treatises by great academic scholars to superficial
major primary sources. Codes and statutes have come to govern tracts by hack writers. The best of these works such as the Civil
an even greater variety of human activity. Code of the Philippines by Arturo M. Tolentino and Remedial
Law Compendium by Florenz D. Regalado have a persuasive
The second major category of primary sources is judicial influence on the lawmaking process by virtue of the prestige of
decisions. Our Philippine Supreme Court and Court of Appeals their authors or the quality of their scholarship. Secondary
produce decisions that constitute our case law. sources can help analyze a problem and provide research
references to both primary sources and other secondary
Our judicial system consists of a hierarchy of courts, including a materials,
number of trial courts (RTC, MTC, MCTC), one intermediate
appellate court (CA), and a court of last resort, the Supreme Finding appropriate secondary materials is most often
Court. This system incorporates the processes of appellate accomplished through the use of law library catalogs, legal
review, in which higher courts review the decisions of lower periodical indexes, and other bibliographic aids. In addition,

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court decisions and other secondary sources frequently provide CHAPTER 2
citations to persuasive treatises and law review articles."
THE LEGAL RESEARCH PROCESS
3. Finding Tools
A. Systematic Approach to Legal Research
Our legislative, executive and judicial branches of government
have been enacting and promulgating codes, statutes, rules, In order to solve legal problems accurately and
regulations and court decisions and these have grown into a comprehensively, there must be a systematic approach to legal
large body of law. The researcher therefore needs search research.
materials or finding tools in order to locate these legal sources.
Without a topical approach to legal sources, researchers could Four basic steps are recommended, namely:
not find existing statutes or decisions on point. 1. Identify and analyze the significant facts.
2. Formulate the legal issues to be researched.
A varied group of finding tools provides such access. Digests 3. Research the issues presented.
reprint headnotes summarizing points of law from court 4. Update
decisions in a subject classification and annotations summarize
cases on particular topics. The SCRA Quick Index-Digest is one 1. Identify and Analyze the Significant Facts
finding tool available to the legal researcher. PHIL.JURIS and LEX
LIBRIS, two comprehensive and competing computer-based legal The first task is to identify and analyze the facts surrounding the
research systems, provide the capability to search for cases and particular problem. Some facts have legal significance; others do
other documents by using practically any word or combination not. The process of legal research begins with compiling a
of words. descriptive statement of legally significant facts. Factual analysis
is the first step in formulating the legal issues to be researched.
Finding tools do not persuade, nor do they themselves have any
primary or persuasive authority. Finding tools are only a means The TARP Rule is a useful technique to analyze your facts
for locating primary sources. It is then necessary to read those according to the following factors:
primary sources to determine their applicability to a particular T - Thing or subject matter;
situation. In legal research, as in other aspects of the lawyer's A - Cause of action or group of defense;
work, one must employ a highly developed sense of relevance – R - Relief sought;
a keen appreciation of which sources are legally and factually P - Persons or parties involved.
relevant
to the specific inquiry.

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The thing or subject matter in a problem or controversy may be involves a violation of a contract, the research could start by
a significant element. For example, when a party claims that reading the textbooks or treatises on obligations and contracts
there if? a violation of the terms of a contract, the contract by noted authorities. At this stage, these secondary sources are
becomes an essential fact in the dispute. used to provide background information and to help you
formulate issues; they are the tools, not the objects of research.
The next thing to be done is to identify the claim or cause of
action of the plaintiff and the defense that might be put up by Writing a clear, concise statement of each legal issue raised by
the defendant. In a dispute over a contract, the cause of action the significant facts is an important and difficult task.
may be breach of contract.
Once statements of the issues have been drafted, they shoulbe
What is the relief sought? It might be a civil action for damages arranged in a logical pattern to form an outline. Logically, related
to answer for the injury caused by the breach of the contract or issues may be combined as sub-issues under a broader main
an action for specific performance to compel the other party to issue.
perform a specific act as mandated in the contract or to enjoin
the other party from doing a specific act probably in violation of 3. Research the Issues Presented
the contract.
After the facts have been analyzed and the issues have been
The parties or persons might be individuals, or might be a group framed, it is time to begin researching the first issue.
that is significant to the solution of the problem or the outcome
of the lawsuit. Similarly, the relationship between the parties, a. Organize and Plan.
such as exists between lessor or lessee in a contract of lease Good legal researchers, as a rule, are systematic,
will be of special importance to the case." ' methodical, and
organized; and they keep good records. For each issue, it is
2. Formulate the Legal Issues to be Researched important to decide which sources to use, which sources not to
use, and the order in which sources should be examined. The
This is the initial intellectual activity that presumes some best practice is to write down all sources to be searched under
knowledge of the substantive law. The goal is to classify or each issue to be researched, even if sources are repeated.
categorize the problem into general, and increasingly specific,
subject areas and to begin to hypothesize legal issues. b. Identify, Read, and Update All Relevant Constitutional
Provisions, Statutes, and Administrative Regulations.
Consult general secondary sources for an overview of all These primary sources can be identified in several ways.
relevant subject areas. In the example above, if the legal issue

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Statutory Compilations.
Statutory compilations almost always have tables of contents After identifying the relevant cases, as you read and brief or
and indexes that list the subjects and topics covered by the digest each case, be sure to note its full citation, the ponente of
statutes. Because relevant statutory provisions are often found the decision, the date of the decision, the relevant facts, the
in several places in the compiled statutes, consult both the table holding, a summary of the court's reasoning, and the sources
of contents and the index. cited by the court. Each of the sources cited should be read and
briefed and new cases should be added to your list. Each case
Computer-Assisted Legal Research. you brief should be incorporated into your outline.
The Constitution, statutes and administrative regulations are
available on PHILJURIS and LEX LIBRIS. It is possible to search the b.Refine the Search. After you have identified, read, and
full text of these documents for statutes and regulations that organized the primary sources, go to secondary sources to refine
apply to your problem. the search and expand your argument. If the problem involves a
Secondary Sources. Secondary sources such as treatises and statute, the legislative history might suggest the legislature's
commentaries and law review articles, commonly cite relevant intent in passing the act and the problem the law was intended
constitutional provisions, statutes, and administrative to remedy. Historical, social, economic, and political information
regulations. can put legal arguments in their proper context and can support
policy arguments.
c.Identify, Read, and Update All Relevant Case Law.
After identifying and reading the relevant constitutional 4. Update
provisions, statutes
and administrative regulations, you must identify, read, and Law changes constantly. Our Congress passes new statutes and
update the case law that has interpreted and applied those modify old ones. Our Supreme Court either refines the law or
forms of enacted law, as well as other case law that is relevant reaffirms the law or even changes the interpretation of the law.
to your fact situation. Consult the Philjuris or Lex Libris to determine whether the
authorities have been interpreted or altered in any way, or
Do not limit your search to cases that support your position. A whether new cases, statutes or regulations have been
competent researcher will anticipate both sides of an argument published."
and identify the cases that indicate contrary conclusions."
Treatises and commentaries on the codes and statutes cites
cases that interpret the statutes they discuss. As to computer
assisted legal research, both Philjuris and Lex Libris can be
searched for cases that have cited the statute."