1.

Constitutional supremacy- the Constitution is the fundamental, paramount and supreme

law of the nation, it is deemed written in every statute and contract. If a law or contract
violates any norm of the Constitution, that law or contract, whether promulgated by the
legislative or by the executive branch or entered into by private persons for private
purposes, is null and void and without any force and effect (Manila Prince Hotel v. GSIS,
G.R. No. 122156, Feb. 3, 1997)
2. Judicial review- the power that is conferred on the judicial branch of the government in
Section 1, Article VIII of our present 1987 Constitution. It is vested in one Supreme
Court and in such lower courts as may be established by law. It also includes the duty of
the courts of justice to settle actual controversies involving rights which are legally
demandable and enforceable, and to determine whether or not there has been a grave
abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch
or instrumentality of the government (Ernesto B. Francisco v. The House of
Representatives et al., G.R. No. 160261, November 10, 2003)

3. Statute law vs. case law

The case law differs from statutory law because it is mainly based on precedent. Statutory
law is a more formal body of the legal system that consists of written legislation. This
legislation will mainly be based on rules and regulations either mandating or prohibiting
certain behaviors of the general public. Case law, on the other hand, will allow judges to
decide cases based on the rulings of prior cases with similar circumstances (Rubin, Paul
H. “Common Law and Statute Law.” The Journal of Legal Studies, vol. 11, no. 2, 1982,
pp. 205–223. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/724199

4. Decision

ruling by the Supreme Court on affirmative action; The official judgment of a court
finally resolving the dispute between the parties to the lawsuit.
judicial decisions create legal precedents that guide judges in deciding similar future cas
5. Fallo vs syllabus

the reason for a court's judgment (as opposed to the decision itself)

6. Attestation
-The  act of attending the  execution of a document and  bearing  witness  to  its  authentic
ity,  by  signing  one's name to it to affirmthat  it is genuine; Attestation of
document/certificate copies means that, on the photocopy of your document/certificate
there should be a sign of a class one gazette officer or a notary official with their clear
official designation seal & signature stating that the photocopies are verified & are true
copies of the original documents/certificates.

Certification
 7. Doctrine incorporation- Another is the application of the “doctrine of incorporation,”
which “mandates that the Philippines is bound by generally accepted principles of
international law which automatically form part of Philippine law by operation of the
Constitution.” (Justice Carpio, in his dissent in Bayan Muna, 2011; citing Agpalo,
International Law, 2006)

This is different from the “doctrine of transformation,” “which holds that the generally
accepted rules of international law are not per se binding upon the State but must first be
embodied in legislation enacted by the lawmaking body and so transformed will they
become binding upon the State as part of its municipal law.” (Isagani Cruz, International
Law, 2000)
Doctrine of transformation (Jemy Gatdula, 2019 Business World Article (Philippine
treaties and the doctrine of incorporation)

8. Stare decisis- the doctrine of adhering to previous precedent.The idea that today’s Court
should stand by yesterday’s decisions—is “a foundation stone of the rule of law.” Michigan
v. Bay Mills Indian Community, 572 U. S. ___, ___ (2014) (slip op., at 15). Application of
that doctrine, although “not an inexorable command,” is the “preferred course because it
promotes the evenhanded, predictable, and consistent development of legal principles, fosters
reliance on judicial decisions, and contributes to the actual and perceived integrity of the
judicial process.” Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U. S. 808, 827–828 (1991). It also reduces
incentives for challenging settled precedents, saving parties and courts the expense of endless
relitigation (KIMBLE ET AL. v. MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT, LLC)

9. res judicata- Res judicata refers to the rule that a final judgment or decree on the merits by
a court of competent jurisdiction is conclusive of the rights of the parties or their privies in all
later suits on all points and matters determined in the former suit (TAGANAS vs. Emuslan
G.R. No. September 2, 2003, 146980 The doctrine of res judicata, in fact is founded on the
public policy that it is the interest of the State that there should be an end to litigation and
that a party should not be vexed twice for the same cause (LINZAG vs. CA, Ibid)

10. Legal precedent- Precedent is the cornerstone of common law method. It is the
core mechanism by which the common law reaches just outcomes.
Through creation and application of precedent, common law seeks
to produce justice. The appellate courts' practice of issuing unpublished,
non-precedential opinions has generated considerable
discussion about the value of precedent, but that debate has centered
on pragmatic and formalistic values. This essay argues that
the practice of issuing non-precedential opinions does more than
offend constitutional dictates and present pragmatic problems to
the appellate system; abandoning precedent undermines justice
itself (William D. Bader & David R. Cleveland, Precedent and Justice, 49 Duq. L. Rev. 35
(2011).
11. double jeopardy- Section 21, Article III “No person shall be twice put in jeopardy of
punishment for the same offense. If an act is punished by a law and an ordinance, conviction or
acquittal under either shall constitute a bar to another prosecution for the same act”. No less than
our Constitution provides the rule against placing a person underdouble jeopardy.

12. Mandatory authority

The decisions of a state supreme court on

that state’s laws are mandatory authority for all
lower courts in that state

Whether a decision of a particular court is

mandatory, whether it must be followed by
another court, depends on the source of the
decision. As a general rule, the decisions of a court
will be mandatory authority for any court lower in
the hierarchy.

Persuasive authority- Just because an authority is primary, however,

does not automatically make its application in a
given situation mandatory. Some primary authority
is only persuasive. Persuasive precedent may come from a number of sources such as lower
courts, horizontal courts, foreign courts, statements made in dicta, treatises or law reviews
(BARBARA BINTLIFF Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing, volume 9, 2001)

13. Primary authority is that coming directly from

a governmental entity in the discharge of its
official duties. Primary authority includes
documents like case decisions, statutes,
regulations, administrative agency decisions,
executive orders, and treaties.

Secondary authority,
basically, is everything else: articles, Restatements,
treatises, commentary, etc.
) (BARBARA BINTLIFF Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing, volume 9, 2001)

14. case brief-  case brief can be described as a succinct summary of a case which specifies the
facts, procedural history, legal issue(s), court decision and legal reasoning supporting the
judgment, even though exact formats may vary. Case briefing is a demanding activity which is
required from students during their law studies (Bilova, Stepanka. (2016). Case Briefs in Legal
English Classes. Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric. 45. 10.1515/slgr-2016-0012.

Case synthesis- analytical skill of case synthesis as presented in this Article—synthesizing cases
to determine the particular
law of a particular jurisdiction at a specific point in time

15. plurality opinion- Plurality decisions occur when a majority of

Justices agree upon the result or judgment in a case but fail to agree upon a
single rationale in support of the judgment (Explaining Plurality Decisions
JAMES F. SPRIGGS II* & DAVID R. STRAS** 2011)
Majority opinion-  majority opinion is a judicial opinion agreed to by more than half of the
members of a court. 

16. In Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) v.

COMELEC ([ G.R. NO. 164702, March 15, 2006 ) pro hac vice is defined as a Latin term
meaning ''for this one
particular occasion." 17 Similarly, in Tadeja, et al. v. People (G.R. No. 145336 : February 20,
2013) the Court
held that a pro hac vice ruling is a "ruling expressly qualified as such
cannot be relied upon as a precedent to govern other cases." 19

17. ratio decidendi vs obiter dictum- The phrase ratio decidendi may be translated as the reason
for the decision while obiter dictum ‘that which is said in passing’. Although the doctrine of
binding precedent states that all courts bind all lower courts and some courts also bind
themselves, it would be wrong to conclude that everything contained in a decision is of equal
weight. The traditional view is that we have to differentiate between the ratio decidendi of a
judgement, which will be the binding part, and the obiter dicta, which will be the non-binding
part (McLeod I. (1993) Ratio Decidendi and Obiter Dictum. In: Legal Method. Macmillan
Professional Masters. Palgrave, London)

18. per curiam opinion- Latin for "by the court."  An opinion from an appellate court that does
not identify any specific judge who may have written the opinion. A per curiam decision is
a court opinion issued in the name of the Court rather than specific judges (Cornell Law School
Legal Information Institute, n.d.)

19. Minute resolution- "Minute resolutions need not be signed by the members of the Court who
took part in the deliberations of a case nor do they require the certification of the Chief Justice
(G.R. No. 159286. April 5, 2005]

TACARDON vs. ANG).  Section 6 Rule 1 Motions for reconsideration or clarification of an

unsigned resolution or a minute resolution shall be acted upon by the regular Division to which
the ponente belongs at the time of the filling of the motion

Memorandum decision- A single, very brief paragraph setting out a court's decision in a case. A
memorandum decision does not usually include the court's reasons for reaching its result; those
details may appear later in a comprehensive written opinion ((Cornell Law School Legal
Information Institute, n.d.))
20. The main difference between the two systems is that in common law countries, case law —
in the form of published judicial opinions — is of primary importance, whereas in civil law
systems, codified statutes predominate (Syam, 2014, Washington University in St. Louis) These
two main types of legal system in the world explain some countries will apply greater weight to
certain sources of law than others, and that some will put more emphasis on judicial decisions
than others (World Bank, 2016)