LAW BOOKS OF SECONDARY AUTHORITY

Works which are not primary authority but which digest, discuss or analyze legal provisions, judicial
decisions or define and explain legal doctrines and terms are considered secondary materials.
These secondary sources can help analyze a problem and provide research references to both primary
sources and other secondary materials.
A. CASE DIGESTS are compilations of paragraphs containing concise summaries of points in cases,
grouped under appropriate headings, the chief of which are alphabetically arranged. Each paragraph
in case digests is complete in itself when it has concisely and accurately stated the point decided with
reference to precise facts.
1. Philippine Digest this publication of Lawyers Coop. was designed as a companion set to the
Philippine Reports. It has a general scheme of digesting cases and a system of numerous
references of such American counterparts as those of the Lawyer Reports Annotated, the
American Law Reports, and the United States Court Reports with modifications to suit Philippine
law.
2. Republic of the Philippines Digest this publication also by the Lawyers Coop., dubbed
Republic Digest for short, starts from where the Philippine Digest leaves off, cover all decisions
of the Supreme Court from July 4, 1946 through September 1958, published and unpublished.
The set comprises Volumes 1 to 7 of digest paragraphs, classified under pertinent topics, and
Volume 8 devoted to an alphabetically arranged table of cases. Vols. 9-17 cover decisions from
1958 to 1966.
3. Velayos Digest covers not only decisions of Supreme Court but also those of the Court of
Appeals. The main set of 25 vols. Covers the leading cases of the Supreme Court and the Court
of Appeals from 1942 to 1960
4. SCRA Quick-Index Digest this publication by Central Lawbook Supply, Inc. has three volumes.
The first two volumes condenses Volumes 1 to 36 of SCRA, while the third volume covers
Volumes 37 to 61 also of SCRA up to 1974. Every year thereafter, yearly digests have been
coming out
5. Compendium of Philippine Jurisprudence authored by Celso L. Magsino and published by
Rex Book Store, it has 12 volumes containing digests of decisions of the Supreme Court from
1945 to 1980
6. Other Digests the other digests are:
a. Armando C. Castillo, Digest of Supreme Court Decisions, 9 vols. (1951-1964)
b. Napoleon Garcia, Complete Monthly Digest of Supreme Court Decisions
c. Navarrete, Digest-Index (of Supreme Court Decisions), for 1957 and 1959
d. Jurado, Leading Cases in Civil Law (Supreme Court), for 1958-1960
e. Daniel T. Martinez, Summary of Supreme Court Rulings, starting from 1986 following the
topic classification in the bar examination
f. Jesus M. Elbinias, Philippine Judicial Weekly
g. Supreme Committee, Supreme Court Digest
B. TREATISES AND TEXTBOOKS expositions by legal writers on statutory law and case law
pertaining to a particular subject and published in book form.

. Administrative Law

. Agency

. Agrarian Reform

. Arbitration Law

. Banking

. Building Code

. Business Law

. Church Law

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. Citizenship
. Civil Law
. Civil Procedure (see Rules of Court)
. Civil Service Law
. Commercial Law
. Constitutional Law
. Construction Law
. Cooperative
. Corporation Law
. Credit Transactions
. Criminal Law (Penal Code)
. Education Act
. Election Law
. Evidence
. Firearm Law
. Insurance
. Intellectual Property
. International Law (Public and Private)
. Introduction Law
Agrarian Reform (With Taxation and

. Coops.)

. Investments Law
. Judges and Courts
. Labor and Social Legislation
. Land Titles and Deeds

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. Legal Ethics
. Legal Medicine
. Legal Research and Writing
. Muslim Law
. Natural Resources
. Negotiable Instruments Law
. Obligations and Contracts
. Parliamentary Law
. Partnership
. Persons and Family Relations
. Philosophy, Legal
. Political Law
. Property
. Rental Law
. Roman Law
. Rules of Court
. Sales
. Securities Act
. Statutory Construction
. Succession, Wills
. Tariff and Customs Code
. Taxation
. Torts and Damages
Transportation, Admiralty and Maritime

. Law

. Trial Practice

C. BAR REVIEWERS bar review materials are very helpful to fourth year law students and those
reviewing for the bar. They are also very important to legal researchers because they present a
concise presentation of the law, legal doctrines and leading Supreme Court decisions in capsulized
form. They are usually very current and include the latest SC decisions.

Florenz Regalados Remedial Law compendium

Albano Civil Law reviewer
Bernas The 1987 Philippine constitution reviewer primer
Francisco Pre-week Memory Aidfd in all Bar subjects 1997 edition

D. LEGAL PERIODICALS the most serious and highly reputed legal periodical are the academic law
reviews are published by virtually all accredited law schools as training grounds for student editors.
They contain both articles by established scholars and student-written comments and case notes.
Both lead articles and comments are marked by extensive footnotes, making them useful research
tools.
In addition to general law reviews, there is an ever growing number of specialized academic journals,
focusing on topics from ecology to industrial relations. Most of these are student-edited, but a few
specialized scholarly journals, such as the American Journal of Legal History and the Journal of Legal
History and the Journal of Legal Studies, are edited by faculty.
Legal Periodicals - Ateneo Law Journal
Court of Agrarian Relations Journal
Far Eastern Law Review
Francisco College of Law Journal
Integrated Bar of the Philippines Journal
Lawyers Journal
The Lawyers Review
Lyceum Law Review
MLQ Law Quarterly
Philippine International Law Journal
Philippine Labor Law Journal
Philippine Law Journal (of UP)
Philippine Lawyers Association Journal
Philippine Tax Journal
San Beda Law Journal
Tax Quarterly of the Philippines
The Law Review (UST)
University of the East Law Journal
University of Manila Law Gazette Journal
University of San Carlos Law Review
Leading Law Journal in the Philippines Philippine Law Journal of the UP College of Law which
has been in existence since 1910. It is distinguished by its scholarly articles, reviews and
commentaries. It is exchanged with leading universities in the United States and Europe and its
articles by leading Filipino academicians and students of the College of Law are recorded in
bibliographic listings around the world.
Newspapers daily case digests started by Justice Federico B. Moreno

Manila Times
Daily Mirror

Bulletin Today
Times Journal
Daily Express
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Philippine Star
Business Day

E. LEGAL ENCYCLOPEDIA while a textbook deals with one subject or phrase of a subject of the law,
encyclopedia treats of all subjects. It is a comprehensive treatise of the entire field of the law. This
whole field of the law is divided into topics arranged in alphabetical order. It presents in concise form,
brief but comprehensive statements of the current law upon said topics.
A legal encyclopedia as distinguished from law dictionaries is a subject-book which presents to the
user the means of making his own definitions. It deals with a whole field of law as distinguished from
treatise which treats of a portion of the subject. It gives a literary statement of the law as distinguished
from digests which presents isolated summaries of points of law.
Cyclopedia of Philippine Law first attempt to publish a legal encyclopedia in the Philippines,
to be authored by Alvir & Associates. However, only the first volume containing a textual
treatment of the law from A to C was publish.
Encyclopedia of Philippine Law and Jurisprudence (Pedro Venida) only its first volume had
been published
Philippine Tax Reporters specialized encyclopedia on taxation; advertised as a 25-volume
cyclopedia, with annual supplements; deals extensively with the National Internal Revenue Code,
special tax laws, tax rulings, circulars, decisions and treatises. After three volumes, it stopped.
The Philippine Legal Encyclopedia Jose Agaton R. Sibal; published by Central Law Book
Publishing Co.
F. LAW DICTIONARIES are useful for identifying the definitions of words in their legal sense or use.
For each word or phrase, a short definition is given. Some also provide a citation to a court case or
other reference having the source of the word or phrase.
Diccionario de Administracion de las Islas Filipinas published in 1887
Diccionario Juridico Recopilador Martinez de San Agustin, 1922; a study which included
chronological and alphabetical indexes of Philippine legislation and jurisprudence.
Philippine Law Dictionary Federico B. Moreno, 1972; it defined legal terms and phrases that,
as part of our law and jurisprudence, was necessary to a law practitioner. Those definitions are
related to Philippine codes or statues and/or the authoritative court decisions where they may be
found by citation to specific provisions of law or to reported cases.
Dictionary of International Law and Diplomacy Gamboa
Philippine Labor Dictionary Isidro (1966)
Dictionary of Insurance Terms and Phrases Tiopanco (1976)