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CODE (BAR)
- In the case of Lara v Del Rosario, the Supreme
Court in an Obiter Dictum held that the Civil Code of
the Philippines took effect on Aug. 30, 1950. This
date is exactly one year after the Official Gazette
publishing the Code was released for circulation,
the said release having been made on Aug. 30, 1949.
Article 3. Ignorance of the law excuses no one from
compliance therewith.
(1) LATIN MAXIM ON IGNORANC OF THE LAW
-Ignorantia legis non excusat meaning ignorance of
the law excuses no one.
(2) APPLICABILITY OF THE MAXIM
-Article 3 applies to all kinds of domestic laws,
whether civil or penal (Luna v Linato; Delgado v
Alonzo), and whether substantive or remedial
(Zulueta v Zulueta) on ground of expediency, policy,
and necessity, i.e., to prevent evasion of the law.
However, the maxim refers on to mandatory or
prohibitive laws, not to permissive or suppletory
laws.
-Ignorance of foreign law is not ignorance of the law,
but ignorance of the fact because foreign laws must
be alleged and proved as matters of fact, there being
no judicial notice of said foreign laws. (Adong v
Cheong Seng Gee; Sy Joc Lieng v Syquia).
If the foreign law is not properly alleged and
proved, the presumption is that it is the same as our
law.(PROCESSUAL PRESUMPTION)
A written foreign law can be proved in our courts
by an official publication thereof or by a copy
attested by the officer having the legal custody of the
record, or by his deputy, and accompanied, if the
record is not kept in the Philippines, with a certificate
that such officer has the custody. When however said
foreign law has been presented properly in evidence
during,say, the probate of a will, the court can take
judicial notice of said foreign law in a subsequent
hearing if the project partition, WITHOUT proof any
more of such law. (Testate Estate of Bohanan).
However, in other cases subsequently brought, the
Supreme Court ruled that it is essential to prove all
over again the existence of the foreign law already
proved in a prior case. Reason: The foreign law may
have undergone changes or amendments since the
hearing of the original case.
(3) SCOPE OF IGNORANCE OF THE LAW
- Refers not only to the literal words of the law itself,
Answer: It depends.
a) If there has been a complete repeal, he should not
be punished anymore.
b) It is otherwise if the law merely lapsed. Here, the
penalty can still be imposed.
(5) EFFECT IF THE REPEALING LAW IS ITSELF
REPEALED
a) When a law which expressly repeals a prior law is
itself repealed, the law first repealed shall not be
thereby revived, unless expressly so provided.
b) When a law which repeals a prior law, not
expressly but by implication, is itself repealed, the
repeal of the repealing law revives the prior law,
unless the language of the repealing statute provides
otherwise.
(6) NON-OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW
-Disuse, custom, or practice to the contrary does not
repeal a law.
(7) EXECUTIVE FIAT CANNOT CORRECT A
MISTAKE IN THE LAW
interpretation.
-Be it noted that only the decisions of the Supreme
Court, and unreversed decisions of the Court of
Appeals on cases of first impression, establish
jurisprudence or doctrines in the Philippines. The
Supreme Court, by tradition and in our system of
judicial administration, has the last word on what the
law is; it is the final arbiter of any justiciable
controversy. There is only one Supreme Court from
whose decisions all other courts should take their
bearings.
FLORESCA v PHILEX MINING CORP
GR 30642 (1985)
Judicial decisions of the Supreme Court assume
the same authority as the statute itself. Art. 8 of the
Civil Code, tells us that judicial decisions that apply
and interpret laws of the Constitution form part of our
legal system. These decisions, although in themselves
not laws, are evidence of what the laws mean. The
application or interpretation placed by the Court upon
a law is part of the law as of the date of its enactment
since the Courts application or interpretation merely
establishes the contemporaneous legislative intent
that the construed law purports to carry into effect.
(2) DECISIONS REFERRED TO IN ART. 8
-The decisions referred to are those enunciated by the
Supreme Court, which is the court of last resort.
-Decision of subordinate courts are only persuasive in
nature, and can have no mandatory effect. However,
this rule does not militate against the fact that a
conclusion or pronouncement of the Court of Appeals
which covers a point of law still undecided in the
Philippines may still serve as a judicial guide to the
inferior courts. It is even possible that a conclusion or
pronouncement can be raised to the status of a
doctrine, if after it has been subjected to test in the
crucible of analysis and revision, the Supreme Court
should find that it has merits and qualities sufficient
for its consecration as a rule of jurisprudence.
-A final judgment ratio decidendi should, however,
be distinguished from the opinion which states the
reasons for such judgment
QUE v PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES
GR 75217-18
(1987)
No provision of the Constitution is violated when
the Supreme Court denies a petition for review by the
issuance of a mere minute resolution.
The resolutions are not decisions within the
(3) SOME
RULES
OF
STATUTORY
CONSTRUCTION
(a) When a law has been clearly worded, there is no
room for interpretation. Immediately, application of
the law must be made unless consequences or
oppression would rise.
(b) If there are two possible interpretations or
construction of a law, that which will achieve the
ends desired by Congress should be adopted.
(c) In interpreting a law, the following can be
considered: the preamble of the statute; the foreign
laws from which the law was derived; the history of
(1) PRESUMPTION
OF
ACTING
IN
ACCORDANCE WITH CUSTOM
-There is a presumption that a person acts according
to the custom of the place.
(2) WHEN A CUSTOM IS PRESUMED NONEXISTENT
-A custom is presumed not to exist when those who
should know, do not know of its existence.
(3) KINDS OF CUSTOMS
(a) A general custom is that of a country; a custom
of the place is one where an act transpires.
[NOTE: A general custom if in conflict with the local
custom yields to the latter.]
(b) A custom may be propter legem(in accordance
with law) or contra legem(against the law). It is
unnecessary to apply the first, because it merely
repeats the law; it is wrong to apply the second.
Customs extra legem are those which may constitute
sources of supplementary la, in default of specific
legislation on the matter.
Article 13. When the laws speak of years, months,
days or nights, it shall be understood that years are
three hundred sixty-five days each; months, of thirty
days; days, of twenty four hours; and nights from
sunset to sunrise.
If months are designated by their name, they
shall be computed by the number of days which they
respectively have.
In computing a period, the first day shall be
excluded and the last day included.
(1) MEANING OF DAY APPLIED TO THE
FILING OF PLEADINGS
If the last day for submitting a pleading is today, and
at 11:40 p.m.(after office hours) today it is filed, the
SC has held that it is properly file on time because a
day consists of 24 hours. This presupposes that the
pleading was duly received by person authorized to
do so.
*A petition is considered filed from the time of
mailing. This is because the practice in our courts is
to consider the mail as an agent of the government, so
that the date of mailing has always been considered
as the date of the filing of any petition, motion or
paper.
While there is a presumption that a letter duly
directed and mailed was received in the regular
course of mail, still there are two facts that must first
be proved before the presumption can be availed of:
(a) the letter must have been properly addressed
with postage prepaid; and
(b) The letter must have been mailed
(2) COMPUTATION OF PERIODS
-In computing a period, the first day shall be
excluded, and the last day included
(3) RULE IF THE LAST DAY IS A SUNDAY OR A
LEGAL HOLIDAY
(a) In an ordinary contract, the general rule is that an
act is due even if the last day be a Sunday or a legal
holiday.
(b) When the time refers to a period prescribed or
allowed by the Rules of Court, by an order of the
court, or by any other applicable statute, if the last
day is a Sunday or a legal holiday, it is understood
that the last day should really be the next day,
provided said day is neither a Sunday nor a legal
holiday.
Article 14. Penal laws and those of public security
and safety shall be obligatory upon all who live or
sojourn in the Philippine territory, subject to the
principles of public international law and to treaty
stipulations.
(1) EXCEPTIONS:
(a) The principles of Public International Law
-Immunities granted to diplomatic officials and
visiting heads of states, provided that the latter do not
travel incognito. If they travel incognito but with the
knowledge of our government officials, heads of
states are entitled to immunity. If the incognito travel
is without the knowledge ore permission of our
country, diplomatic immunity cannot be insisted
upon, and the heads of states traveling may be
arrested. However, once they reveal their
identity,immunity is given. Generally, should a
friendly foreign army be given permission to march
thru our country or be stationed here, said army is
usually exempt from civil and criminal responsibility.
(b) The presence of treaty stipulations
Article 15. Laws relating to family rights and duties
or to the status, condition and legal capacity of
persons are binding upon citizens of the Philippines,
even though living abroad.
(1) STATUS DEFINED
situated.
However, intestate and testamentary successions,
both with respect to the order of succession and to the
amount of successional rights and to the intrinsic
validity of testamentary provisions, shall be regulated
by the national law of the person whose succession is
under consideration, whatever may be the nature of
the property and regardless of the country wherein
said property may be found.
(1) APPLICATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF LEX
REI SITAE
-Shares of stock of a foreigner, even if personal
property, can be taxed in the Philippines so long as
the property is located in this country.
(2) EXCEPTION TO THE LEX SITUS RULE
-One important exception to the lex situs rule occurs
in the case of successional rights. Thus, the following
matters are governed, not by the lex situs, but by the
national law of the deceased:
(a) Order of succession.
(b) Amount of successional rights
(c) Intrinsic validity of the provisions of a will
(d) Capacity to succeed
(3) THE RENVOI PROBLEM
-Renvoi literally means a referring back; the problem
arises when there is doubt as to whether a reference
in our law to a foreign law -(a) is a reference to the INTERNAL law of the said
foreign country; or
(b) Is a reference to the WHOLE of the foreign law,
including its conflicts rules.
Artcile 17. The forms and solemnities of contacts,
wills, and other public instruments shall be governed
by the laws of the country in which they are
executed.
When the acts referred to are executed before the
diplomatic or consular officials of the Republic of the
Philippines in a foreign country, the solemnities
established by the Philippine laws shall be observed
in their execution.
Prohibitive laws concerning persons, their acts or
property, and those which have for their object public
order, public policy and good customs shall not be
rendered effective by laws or judgments promulgated,
or by determinations or conventions agreed upon in a
foreign country.
(1) DOCTRINE OF LEX LOCI CELEBRATIONIS