LEGAL RESEARCH

ANGELI NESS P. CASADOR

Instructor, 1st Sem., S.Y. 2017-2018

I. INTRODUCTION

LEGAL RESEARCH

a process of finding or locating the law, rules and regulations or case law
applicable to a certain act or set of facts
in a broader sense, can also be defined as the investigation for information
necessary to support legal decision making

LEGAL RESEARCH vs. ORDINARY RESEARCH

As to Objective/Goal resolution of a legal question or issue by applying relevant laws

and jurisprudence

As to Materials Available - need to update and verify every source

- no precisely on point, that is factually identical, authority exists, hence, the
need to analogize
- need for comprehensiveness in primary authority research

ISSUE

Legal Issue - a controversy as to what law and how a law must be applied
Factual Issue - a controversy as to the truth or falsity of a particular fact

NECESSITY OF LEGAL RESEARCH

Phases of case building or the life cycle of a case:

Consultation and counseling
Filing of the case
Pleading writing
Trial
Decision

II. INTRODUCTION TO LAW AND OTHER RELATED CONCEPTS; SOURCES OF

LAW

CLASSIFICATION OF LAW AS TO MANNER OF ITS PROMULGATION:

Natural Law
Positive Law

CLASSIFICATIONS OF POSITIVE LAW

 Substantive or Remedial, depending on whether the law gives a certain right
or whether it merely provides for a procedure for the enforcement of that right.

Private or Public, depending on the scope or content of the law.

Mandatory/Prohibitive or Permissive, according to its force or effect.

SOURCES OF LEGAL RESEARCH

SOURCES OF LAW

Primary sources - the only authority binding with the courts. These are the
actual laws or those laws created by the three branches of the government - the
Legislative, Executive and the Judiciary. These are the recorded laws and rules
which will be enforced by the State. These primary authorities are the ones
which have the primary bearing on any legal problem at hand.

CONSTITUTION
STATUTES

Statutes passed by the legislature are consecutively numbered

and identified by the respective authorities that enacted them.

Statutes passed by the Philippine Commission and the Philippine

Legislature from 1901 to 1935 are identified as Public Acts. (Act
No. 2711, Act No. 4007)

The laws enacted during the Commonwealth period from 1936 to

1946 are referred to as Commonwealth Acts.

Those laws passed by the Congress of the Philippines from 1946 to

1972 and from 1987 under the 1987 Constitution are known as
Republic Acts.

Laws passed by the Batasang Pambansa between 1972 and 1987

are referred as Batas Pambansa

JUDICIAL DECISIONS
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

Secondary sources - Publications which are not primary authority but

which discuss or analyze legal doctrines are considered secondary
materials. Secondary sources offer analysis, commentary, or a restatement of
primary law and are used to help locate and explain primary sources of law.
Secondary sources may influence a legal decision but do not have the
controlling or binding authority as that enjoyed by the primary sources. These
materials are only secondary because they are not binding on courts but they
have persuasive effect.
 LEGAL DICTIONARY
LEGAL PERIODICALS
LAW ANNOTATIONS
LEGAL TREATISE

III. CASE LAW

JUDICIAL SYSTEM

Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction

Trial Courts of General Jurisdiction
Appellate Court
The Court of Last Resort

PARTS OF A JUDICIAL DECISION

Prefatory statement
Facts of the case
Issue/s
Judgment
- body of the judgment or the ratio decidendi, and
- dispositive portion of the judgment or the fallo.

Conflict between the body of the decision and the dispositive portion

GR: The general rule is that where there is conflict between the dispositive
portion or the fallo of the decision and the body of the decision, the fallo
controls. This rule rests on the theory that the fallo is the final order while the
opinion in the body is merely a statement ordering nothing.

EXC: However, where the inevitable conclusion from the body of the decision is
so clear that there was a mere mistake in the dispositive portion, the body of
the decision will prevail.

OBITER DICTUM/DICTA

AYALA CORPORATION, petitioner, vs. ROSA-DIANA REALTY AND

DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, G.R. No. 134284. December 1, 2000

DELTA MOTORS CORP. vs. CA and State Investment House, Inc., G.R. No.
121075, July 24, 1997.

FRANCISCO N. VILLANUEVA, JR., vs. THE HON. COURT OF APPEALS and

ROQUE VILLADORES, G.R. No. 142947. March 19, 2002

FINAL JUDGMENTS VS. INTERLOCUTORY ORDERS

PHILIPPINE BUSINESS BANK VS. CHUA, November 15, 2010

DOCTRINE OF STARE DECISIS

MANILA ELECTRIC COMPANY VS. PHILIPPINE CONSUMERS FOUNDATION,

Inc., G.R. No. 101783, January 23, 2002

REVERSAL

OVERRULING

OPINION/CONCURRING OPINION/DISSENTING OPINION