College of LawCollege of Law

San Beda College (San Beda College (MendiolaMendiola))

July 19, 2011July 19, 2011

� The process of identifying and retrieving

information necessary to support legal

decision-making…(It) includes each step of a

course of action that begins with the analysis course of action that begins with the analysis

of the facts of a problem and concludes with

the application and communication of the

results of the research.

I. Statutes or statutory law

- Constitution: fundamental law of the law

a. Legislature:

- The Congress, comprised of the Senate and - The Congress, comprised of the Senate and

the House of Representatives

- Acts (1900-1935, 4,275)

- Commonwealth Acts (1935-1945, 733)

- Republic Acts (1946-1972; 1987-2011, 10,153)

- Mga Batas Pambansa (1979-1985, 884)

b. Executive

- Office of the President and Administrative

Agencies

- Presidential Decrees (Marcos 1972-1985,

2,034), Executive Orders, Presidential 2,034), Executive Orders, Presidential

Proclamations

- Treaties and international agreements

- Administrative/Departmental Orders,

Rules, Rulings, Memorandum Orders and

Circulars

- Local government ordinances

c. Judiciary

- Rules of Court

- Civil Procedure

- Special Proceedings

- Criminal Procedure- Criminal Procedure

- Evidence

- Summary Procedure

II. Jurisprudence or case law

- Decided or written opinions by courts

- Decisions and resolutions of the Supreme

Court of the Philippines (1901 to the present:

over 70,000 cases)over 70,000 cases)

III. Muslim Law or Shari’a Law

- limited application

Classification of Law by Authority

Classification of Law by SourceClassification of Law by Source

� MANDATORY AUTHORITY

� Consists of the law itself, as expressed in the verbatim

texts of the statute or case law.

� Mandatory authorities must be followed and must be

cited first.cited first.

� PERSUASIVE AUTHORITY� Laws and decisions of other jurisdictions

� Opinions of government agencies (BIR, DOJ)

� Executive interpretation of legislative enactments is accorded weight by the judiciary

� Persuasive authorities may be followed.

�PRIMARY SOURCE� Official records of the statute or case law

as published by the issuing agenciesas published by the issuing agencies

�SECONDARY SOURCE� Published by unofficial sources

� PRIMARY SOURCE� Statutory law▪ Congressional records

▪ Official Gazette (O.G.)▪ Official Gazette (O.G.)

▪ Pursuant to E.O. No. 200 (1987): newspapers of general circulation

� Case law▪ Philippine Reports

▪ Official Gazette

▪ Advanced Sheets

� SECONDARY SOURCE

� Statutory law

▪ Vital Legal Documents

▪ Commentaries, textbooks▪ Commentaries, textbooks

� Case law

▪ Supreme Court Reports Annotated (SCRA)

▪ Supreme Court Decisions (SCAD)

Advantages of Using Electronic Media

Factors to Consider in Choosing an Factors to Consider in Choosing an

Electronic Legal Research Library

Current Electronic Legal Research

Resources

� The use of available technology (e.g.,computers, the internet, PDAs) and electronic media (e.g., optical discs, hard drives, e-books, flash drives) for legal drives, e-books, flash drives) for legal research

� This has become a popular methodology because the information is more updated and the use of search engines facilitate easier, faster, more accurate research.

� Can store large amounts of information

� Storage for hundreds of thousands of pages

� Portable

� Can be carried around easily� Can be carried around easily

� Takes up very little space

� An entire library can fit in a space as big as one

textbook

� Facilitates faster research

� Search engines and customized search

templates produce search results in seconds

� Information is flexible and more easily manipulated

� Can be copied to another electronic medium, printed,

edited more easily

� Information is easier to update and can be more currentInformation is easier to update and can be more current

� Files are easily processed and uploaded

� Durable

� Can last a lifetime with proper use

� Cost-effective

� Cheaper in the long run; contains considerably

larger volume of materials

� Currency� Is the database up-to-date? Is the information up-

to-date?

� Accuracy

� What are the sources of the information?

� Reliability

� Who published or operates the website?

� Usability

� Is the information inside the library arranged

properly? With a subject index?

� Does it have a search engine? What are the type � Does it have a search engine? What are the type

of searches that can be done?

� Can the information be cited as a mandatory or

persuasive authority?

� Is the library a primary or secondary source of

legal information?

Internet (Online Resources)

Optical MediaOptical Media

� INTERNET: A massive network of computers

linked together and communicating with

each other through a series of protocols

� Carries the information sources and services that � Carries the information sources and services that

comprises the web

� WORLD WIDE WEB (www): The information

sharing model built on top of the Internet

� FREE ACCESS SITES� Non-commercial; access is free

� There are over 200,000 sites on the web with legal

informationinformation

� Examples of Foreign sites

▪ Cornell Legal Information Institute – www.law.cornell.edu

▪ Findlaw – www.findlaw.com

▪ World Legal Information Institute – www.worldlii.org

▪ Internet Legal Research Group - www.ilrg.com

▪ LexisOne – www.lexisone.com

� COMMERCIAL OR SUBSCRIPTION SITES

� Pay-for-use sites

� Password is required to access data

Foreign-run sites� Foreign-run sites

▪ Westlaw - published by Thompson Reuters

www.westlaw.com

� COMMERCIAL OR SUBSCRIPTION SITES

▪ Lexis-Nexis

▪ Has content from over 33,000 sources

Features the Shepard’s Citation Service, ▪ Features the Shepard’s Citation Service,

LexisNexis Case Summaries, Headnotes

▪ Includes coverage and analysis of laws of

more than 230 countries

▪ www.lexisnexis.com

� A storage medium or device in which information, including sounds and/or images, or software code, has been stored, either by mastering and/or replication, which may be accessed and read using a lens scanning accessed and read using a lens scanning mechanism employing a high intensity light source such as a laser or any such other means as may be developed in the future. (Sec. 3 (i), Republic Act No. 9239, The Optical Media Act of 2003)

� CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only-Memory)� Stores up to 650 megabytes of data

� Can store up to 300,000 text pages

� Stamped by a vendor; once stamped, it cannot be erased or filled with new dataerased or filled with new data

� Conforms to a standard size and format so it can be used in any CD-ROM player

� DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disc Read-Only-Memory)� Holds a minimum of 4.7 gigabytes of data,

enough for a full-length movie or app. 2 million text pages

� Free Access Sites▪ The Official Government Portal of Republic of the

Philippines – www.gov.ph

▪ Senate of the Philippines – ww.senate.gov.ph▪ Senate of the Philippines – ww.senate.gov.ph

▪ House of Representatives – www.congress.gov.ph

▪ Supreme Court website – sc.judiciary.gov.ph

▪ Chan Robles – www.chanrobles.com

▪ Lawphil – www.lawphil.net

� Commercial Sites

▪CD Asia Online – www.cdasiaonline.com

▪Contains Laws and Jurisprudence▪Contains Laws and Jurisprudence

� PRIMARY SOURCES

� Case Law – Supreme Court e-library

(distributed to courts)

� SECONDARY SOURCES� SECONDARY SOURCES

� Publications of private companies/entities

▪ Accesslaw, Inc. – Laws Annotated and

Comprehensive Access to the Tax System

▪ Agoo Institute – e-Library: A Century and 10

years of Supreme Court Decisions

▪ EMSAVIL Law Office – E-Juris

�CD Asia publications

▪The Philippine Law Library ▪ Includes the popular Lex Libris series

▪ Laws Philippine Edition, Taxation Philippine Edition, ▪ Laws Philippine Edition, Taxation Philippine Edition,

Jurisprudence, Department of Justice (Opinions of

the Secretary), Local Autonomy and Local

Government, Environment and Natural Resources,

Labor and Social Legislation, Philippine Elections,

Trade Commerce and Industry, Securities and

Exchange Commission, and Persons and

Family Relations

�CD Asia publications▪Other titles in the PLL – Bangko Sentral ng

Pilipinas, The Student Edition, The Bench

Companion, National Administrative Register, Companion, National Administrative Register,

Proceedings of the 1986 Constitutional

Commission, Impeachment Proceedings Against

Joseph E. Estrada, DAR Legal Information Archive,

Compendium of Philippine Customs Laws and

Regulations, and Government Procurement

Policy Board.

�CD Asia publications

▪ The Legal Knowledge Titles▪ Education Law and the Private Schools by Atty. Ulpiano

Sarmiento IIISarmiento III

▪ Philippine Judicial and Legal Forms by Atty. Theodore O.

Te

▪ Indigenous Peoples and the Law by Atty. Sedfrey M.

Candelaria, et al.

▪ Philippine Legal and Judicial Ethics (featuring the book

“The Good Lawyer” by Atty. Bobby A. Quitain)

▪ Lexicon of Philippine Legal Terms by the CD Asia

Editorial Board

�CD Asia publications▪ The Philippine Legal Encyclopedia Series▪ Philippine Law Encyclopedia

▪ Philippine Taxation Encyclopedia▪ Philippine Taxation Encyclopedia

�Subject Index� Catalogue of materials for the same

subject matter

� Search through the group possible through

tagging of basic data units

ex. Philippine Law Encyclopedia, The

Student Edition

� Hyperlinks� A word, phrase, or image that allows the

user to jump to a new document or

another section of a databaseanother section of a database

� Useful in looking for related or

connected information –

ex. Philippine Taxation Encyclopedia

�Search Engines� A tool that sifts through the pages of a

compilation, matching the search

parameters with available information.parameters with available information.

� General and site specific search engines

� Used together with search templates and

indexed or tagged information

ex. Supreme Court , CD Asia Online,

The Student Edition

� Search Parameters� Formulation of search query using key word/s or

phrases with connectors and special characters

� Use of Boolean method of searching – the use of � Use of Boolean method of searching – the use of

operators and special characters together with

the key words

▪ Example of special characters: *, ?

▪ Example of operators: and, or

� Phrase Searching

� Use quotation marks “ ” to capture two or more

words as an exact phrase

� Example : “qualified theft”, “consummated � Example : “qualified theft”, “consummated

felonies”, “national territory”, “breach of promise

to marry”, “114 SCRA 77”

� Proximity Searching

� An extended version of phrase searching; ability

to capture phrase with words in-between

� Sample proximity search for statutory citations

Ex.Look for all citations of Republic Act No. 8424

- Can be cited as follows:

Republic Act No. 8424

Republic Act 8424Republic Act 8424

Rep. Act No. 8424

Rep. Act 8424

RA No. 8424

RA 8424

Proximity Search

“Rep* 8424”/5 or “RA 8424”/5

� Sample unordered proximity search for keywords

Ex.Look for all instances of “tax exemption”

Can be written as –

tax exempt; exempted from tax; exemption from tax exempt; exempted from tax; exemption from

taxes; exempted from paying taxes

Unordered proximity search

“tax* exempt*”@10

� There are many resources available for legal

research.

� Exercise discernment in choosing the resources you will use.

� Use only resources that are reliable, accurate and current.

� For electronic legal research, look for features in the resources � For electronic legal research, look for features in the resources

that will help fine-tune your research (i.e., search engines,

search parameters, etc.)

� It is worthwhile to invest in legal research resources.

� Using these resources results in increased efficiency and

productivity.