Any rule of action or any system of

uniformity
Determines not only the activities of men as
rational beings but also movements or motions
of all objects of creations, whether animate or
inanimate.
Law which is promulgated and enforced by the
state (strict legal sense)
-- the state law

Law which is not promulgated and enforced by
the state (non-legal sense)
-- divine law, natural law, moral law, physical
law

The law of religion and faith which concerns
itself with the concept of sin ( as contrasted
with crime) and salvation.
Formally promulgated by God and revealed or
divulged to mankind by means of direct
revelation
Sanction of divine law the assurance of
certain rewards and punishment in the present
life or in the life to come
Divine inspiration in man of the sense of
justice, fairness and righteousness, not by
divine revelation or formal promulgation, but
the internal dictate of reason alone.
Impressed in man as the core of his higher self
at the very moment of being or, even before
that.
The totality of the norms of good and right
conduct growing out of the collective sense of
right and wrong of every community
No definite legal sanction for violation; public
displeasure, contempt or indignation; public
approval, pleasure or joy
Not absolute
Found in the operation or course of nature; the
uniformities of actions and orders of sequence
which are the physical phenomena that we
sense and feel
E.g. Law of gravitation and chemical
combination
Promulgated and enforced by the state
Positive law, municipal law, civil law or
imperative law
General or abstract sense

Specific or material sense
The mass of obligatory rules established for the
purpose of governing the relations of persons
in society
law of the land, rule of law and not of
men, equality before the law, enforcement
of the law
A rule of conduct, just and obligatory,
promulgated by legitimate authority, and of
common observance and benefit (Sanchez
Roman)
E.g. Law on obligations and contracts
1. A rule of conduct
-- what shall be done and what shall not be
done

2. Obligatory
-- a positive command imposing a duty to obey
and involving a sanction which forces
obedience


3. Promulgated by legitimate authority
-- the legislative branch of Government

4. Of common observance and benefit
-- regulates the relation of men to maintain
harmony in society and to make order and
coexistence possible

Constitution
Legislation
Administrative or executive orders, regulations
and rulings
Judicial decisions or jurisprudence
Custom
The written instrument by which the
fundamental powers of the government are
established, limited and defined, and by which
these powers are distributed among the several
departments for their safe and useful exercise
for the benefit of the people (Malcolm &
Laurel)
The fundamental law or supreme law or
highest law

The declaration of legal rules by a competent
authority
Enacted law or statute law
Includes ordinances enacted by local
governments
Issued by administrative officials under
legislative authority
Intended to clarify or explain the law and carry
into effect its general provisions
The decisions of the courts, particularly the
Supreme Court, applying or interpreting the
laws or the Constitution form part of the legal
system of the Philippines (Art 8, New Civil
Code)

Doctrine of Precedence or Stare Decisis
Has the force and effect of law
let it stand, et non quieta movere
Once a case has been decided one way, then
another case, involving exactly the same point
at issue, should be decided in the same manner
An opinion uttered by the way, not upon the
point of question pending
Opinions not necessary to the determination of
a case
Consists of habits and practices which through
long and uninterrupted usage have become
acknowledged and approved by society as
binding rules of conduct
Has the force of law when recognized and
enforced by the state
Must be proved as a fact according to the rules
of evidence
May be applied in the absence of law
applicable to the point in controversy
Principles of justice and equity
Decisions of foreign tribunals
Opinions of textwriters
Religion
No judge or court shall decline to render
judgment by reason of the silence, obscurity or
insufficiency of the laws (Art 9, NCC)
In our country, courts are not only courts of
law but also of justice. Faced with a choice
between a decision that will serve justice and
another that will deny it because of a too strict
interpretation of the law, courts must resolve in
favor of the former, for the ultimate end of the
law is justice (Pangan vs Court of Appeals, 166
SCRA 375)
The judicial power or the power to decided
actual cases and controversies involving the
interpretation and application of laws, is
vested in one Supreme Court and in such
lower courts as may be established by laws
(Art VIII, 1987 Constitution)
Supreme Court
Court of Appeals
Regional Trial Court
Metropolitan Trial Courts
Municipal Trial Courts in Cities
Municipal Circuit Trial Courts
Sandiganbayan
Court of Tax Appeals
National Labor Relations Commissions, SEC,
LTFRB, Insurance Commission
Constitutional Commissions ( COA, Civil
Service, COMELEC)
As to Purpose
1. Substantive Law
2. Adjective Law
As to its subject matter
1. Public Law
2. Private Law
That portion of the body of law creating and
defining rights and duties which may be either
public or private in character (e.g. substantive
private law law on obligations and contract)
That portion of the body of law prescribing the
manner or procedure by which rights may be
enforced or their violations redressed.
Remedial law or procedural law
The body of legal rules which regulates the
rights and duties arising from the relationship
of the state to the people.
E.g. Criminal law defines crimes and
provides for their punishment
International law
Constitutional law
Administrative law
Criminal Procedure
The body of rules which regulates the relations
of individuals with one another for purely
private ends
E.g. Obligations and contracts
Civil law, commercial or mercantile law and
civil procedure
In case of doubt in the interpretation or
application of laws, it is presumed that the
lawmaking body intended right and justice to
prevail (Art. 10, NCC)

1. When the law and its meaning is clear and
unmistakable, there is no need to interpret it
further (VERBA LEGIS)

2. Legislative intent must be ascertained from
the statute as a whole
(OPTIMA STATULI INTERPRETATIX IPSUM
STATUTUM)
Courts have the duty to reconcile or
harmonize the different provisions of the
statute including the conflicting provisions
thereof

AS A RULE, THE STATUTE OF LATER DATE
PREVAILS
GENERALIA SPECIALIBUS NON
DEROGANT
SPECIAL PROVISIONS PREVAIL OVER THE
GENERAL PROVISIONS
SPECIAL LAW PREVAILS OVER THE GENERAL
LAW
Exceptions:
The general law prevails over special law hen it
treats the subject in particular and the special law
refers to it in general. ( Bagatsing vs Ramirez, GR
No. 41636, Dec. 17, 1976)
General law prevails over special law when the
legislature intended the general enactment to cover
the whole subject and to repeal all prior laws
inconsistent therewith. (Lichanco vs Civil
Aeronautics Board, 43 SCRA 670)
Ignorance of the law excuses no one from
compliance therewith (Art. 3, NCC)
IGNORANTIA LEGIS NON EXCUSAT
The act or process of discovering and
expounding the meaning and intention of the
authors of the law with respect to its
application to a given case, where that
intention is rendered doubtful, among others,
by reason of the fact that the given case is not
explicitly provided for in the law.
Same purpose to ascertain and give effect to the
legislative intent
Makes use of intrinsic aids or those found in
the statute itself
E.g. title ;preamble; words, phrases and
sentences context; punctuation; headings and
marginal notes; and legislative definitions and
interpretation clauses
Makes use of extrinsic aids or those found
outside of the written language of the law
Extrinsic Aids : contemporaneous
circumstances, policy, legislative history of the
statute, contemporaneous or practical
construction, executive construction, legislative
construction, judicial construction, construction
by the bar and legal commentators.
1. when the language of the statute is
ambiguous, doubtful or obscure when taken in
relation to a set of facts;

2. when reasonable minds disagree as to
meaning of the language used in the statute
When the law speaks in clear and categorical
language. The duty of the court, in such a case,
is to APPLY THE LAW, NOT TO INTERPRET
IT (Go Ka Toc & Sons vs Rice & Corn Board, L-
23607, May 23, 1967)