Legal Research

- Is the search for authority that can be applied to a given set of facts and issues.
- Is the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-
making.

Authorities:

Primary authority (mandatory)

- A source of law a court must rely on when reaching a decision, such as enacted law ( statute,
ordinance, and case laws) that governs the legal question being addressed, or an opinion of a
higher court in the jurisdiction that addressed the same or a similar legal question and facts.

Secondary Authority ( persuasive )

- Any authority a court is not bound to consider or follow but may consider or follow when
reaching a decision, such as an opinion of a court in another state on the same or a similar issue,
or a secondary authority source (encyclopedia article, legal dictionary definition, legal books)

Mandatory authority

- Binding, courts must follow.

Persuasive authority

- The court may optionally follow.

Mandatory case laws

- For a court decision to be mandatory authority thatbinds court to follow the rule or principle of
law established in the decision, two conditions must be met :
A. The court decisions must be on point
B. The court decision must be written by a higher court in that jurisdiction (suprme Court)

Sources of authorities:

Legislature

- The laws passed by the legislature are called the statutes.

Supreme court of the Philippines

- Court decisions form part of the law of the land ( Case law)
Administrative Bodies

- Enacted law, as used in the text, consists of constitutions, law passed by the legislative bodies
and regulations adopted by the administrative bodies to aid in the enforcement and application
of legislative mandates, usually in the form of Implementing Rules and Regulations.

Local Govt units

- Enacted ordinaces and law of local application by virtue of delegated authority coming from the
Phil congress.

President of the Republic

- There are instances where presidential decrees where considered laws. ( executive orders)

FORMS OF LEGAL INFORMATION:

*Primary and secondary sources.

- Similar to other scholarly areas legal materials can be divided ito those that contain original
decisions and actions and those that describe, explain or analyze them

Primary Sources

- Publications which contains the original decisions and actions of legislative, judicial and
administrative bodies

Secondary Sources

- Publications that describe explain or analyze the law. Typically prepared by scholars, lawyers,
and other commentators, and have no official legal authority

Primary authority Source

Constitutions Legislative
Statutes Legislature
Case laws/ jurisprudence Judiciary
Administrative regulations Executive
Executive order Executive
Treaties Executive
Presidential decrees Executive
Municipal laws or ordinances executive
 Secondary Authorities
Dictionaries
Annotations
Encyclopedia
Law review articles
Periodical publications
Treatises and text
Attorneys general opinions
Restatement
Foreign sources
Form books
Practice guides

Supreme court E-library

- It serves the entire judiciary.

- Launched on November 19, 2004