CHAPTER I- Introduction to Legal Research materials; materials which are not primary authorities
but annontate, discuss or analyze legal doctrines and
Legal research – the process of finding the laws, rules, and
regulations that govern activities in human society.
- the investigation for information necessary to support
legal decision making.
*purpose: to ascertain legal consequences of a specific set
of actual or potential facts. Key: organization
Sources of legal research
 printed: Constitution, statutes, court decisions,
administrative rules, scholarly commentaries
 electronic: computerized, computer databases
Characteristics of legal materials
*legal authority –any published source of law setting forth
legal rules, legal doctrine, or legal reasoning that can be
used as bases for legal decisions.
**authority – types of legal information and the degree of
persuasiveness of legal information
Sources of Law (3 Broad Categories of Legal Literature)
1. Primary Sources –recorded laws and rules enforced by
the State; recorded authoritative statements of legal
rules by governmental institutions to be enforce by
the State
1. First primary sources: product of legislative
actions, codes, statutes
2. Second primary sources: judicial decisions
*judicial system – a hierarchy of courts: trial
courts (RTC, MTC, MCTC), intermediate appellate
court (CA), court of last resort (Supreme Court)
3. Third primary sources: administrative law
(regulations and decisions of government agencies)
*Mandatory authority – authority that a given court
is bound to follow: constitutional provisions,
statutes, international conventions and treaties,
judicial decisions, administrative rules and
regulations, ordinance and court rules.
*Persuasive authority –law or reasoning which a
given court may, but is not bound to follow:
opinions of the secretary of justice and
administrative agencies, foreign judicial opinions
which have a significant effect upon Phil.
jurisprudence.
3. Finding Tools –search materials that locate legal/
2. Secondary Materials –publications which are not
primary in authority but which discuss or analyze legal
doctrines/ problems and provide research references
to both primary sources and other secondary
1 Notes: Legal Research and Thesis Writing| by Maria Carmela Rojo Caupayan
are considered secondary authorities: treatises,
commentaries, legal encyclopedias, law reviews of law
schools, looseleaf services, hornbooks, casebooks, etc.
*Restatements of the Law –series of important
commentaries on American Law which attempt to
organize and articulate the rules of American
common law
*Looseleaf Services –frequently supplemented
research tools which focus on specific subject areas
and contain primary legal sources, finding aids and
secondary materials
*Legal Encyclopedias – mutli-volume sets describing
systematically the entire body of law wherein
expository statements on principles of law are
alphabetically and topically arranged.
*Hornbooks –popular reference to a series of
treatises, each of which reviews a certain field of la
in summary textual form as opposed to a casebook
which is a teaching tool and includes many reprints
of court opinions
*Practice Manuals – provide good understanding of
the procedural and substantive law as well as
“hands on” instruction necessary to file and
prosecute case
*Form-Books – aids in drafting legal documents and
include sample instruments which are standard
guides for an atty
*Annotations – explanations or commentaries or
extensive notes based on the issues within an
opinion of a court usually appended after a
reprinted case in a compilation.
 statutory –brief history of the law and facts of
cases interpreting statutes passed by the
legislature which are usually found in codes and
compilations and cites research references to
secondary materials
 textual –expository essays of varying lengths on
significant legal cases with the essays
primary sources: SCRA Quick Index-Digest, PHILJURIS,
LEX LIBRIS, search books, indexes, digests, law
dictionaries, tables, citators etc.
 *Digests –reprint headnotes summarizing points of
law from court decisions in a subject classification;
indexes to reported cases providing brief,
unconnected statements of court holdings on point
of law which are arranged by subject.
*Law dictionaries –collect definitions of legal terms in
alphabetical order with citations to sources either
from a statute, decision or text
*Citators – research aids which provide notational
information on the statues of a particular case law or
the current status of a statute.
**Shepardize –process of checking the status of
cases or statutes in the Shepard’s citations.
*Indexes –alphabetical lists of important words and
concepts covered in a book, a set of books or
research sources that assists the researcher in
locating the primary or secondary sources.
*Directories –lead to information about lawyers, law
firms, law schools, law libraries, courts or
administrative agencies.
*Tables –alphabetical listings of case names or
statutes with references to the law reports or
publications where the cases or laws can be located;
gives the comparative/ parallel citations to official
and unofficial case reports or compilation by statutes
*Annotations –summarize cases on particular topics
*Other sources: opinions of legal experts, other state
and foreign sources
CHAPTER II – Legal Research Process
Four Basic Steps (Systematic Approach)
1. Identify and analyze the significant facts
*Factual analysis (TARP Rule) – first step in
formulating the legal issues to be researched.
-Thing or subject matter
-Cause of action or ground of defense
-Relief or object sought
-Persons or parties involved, places
*Sources of information
- People
- Tangible evidence
- Books, periodicals and reports
- Expert witnesses
2 Notes: Legal Research and Thesis Writing| by Maria Carmela Rojo Caupayan
2. Formulate the legal issues to be researched
3. Research the issues presented
a) Organize and plan
b) Identify, read, and update all relevant constitutional
provisions, statutes, and administrative regulations
*statutory compilations, computer-assisted legal
research.
c) Identify, read, and update all relevant case law
d) Refine the search
4. Update
Approaches in Searching for Authority
1. Law finding techniques
*Descriptive word/ Index or fact method
*Table of contents, Topic or analytic method
*Known authority, Statute or case method
*Definition method
2. Sources to obtain background information:
code commentaries, treatises, legal periodical articles
wherein one can elicit background information on a
specific statute
CHAPTER III- Fundamental Research Skill: Case Briefing
and Synthesis of Cases
Case Briefing
Case Brief –a student’s digest or condensation of a
reported case. Components:
*Facts – relevant, describe the events between the
parties leading to the litigation and tell how the case
came before the court that is now deciding it.
*Issue(s) – the question that the court must decide
to resolve the dispute between the parties in the case
before it; a question that combines the rule of the law
with the material facts of the case (facts that raise the
dispute)
*Ruling – court’s decision on the issue.
*** *** ***
Treaties – pacts between two or more sovereign nations
a) bilateral agreement, b) multilateral agreement
Statutes proper –term to designate legislation enacted by
national legislatures in the ordinary course of law-making
Administrative regulation –a subsidiary law designed to
explain or carry out the details of statutes that govern an
administrative agency.
rule – any agency statement of general applicability that Sources:
implements or interprets a law, fixes and describes the 1. Legal Research by Rufus B. Rodriguez
procedures in, or practice requirements of, an agency, 2. The Law Library: Revisiting Traditional Legal Research
including its regulations; including memoranda or Methods by Myrna S. Feliciano
statements concerning the internal administration or
management of an agency not affecting the rights of, or
procedure available to the public.

agency –any department, bureau, office, commission,

authority, or officer of the National Government
authorized by law or executive order to make rules, issue
licenses, grant rights or privileges, occupation or
business, and officials in the exercise of disciplinary
power as provided by law

Court rules –govern the pleading, practice and procedure

before all courts in the Philippines. 5 Major Parts dealing
with civil actions: special proceedings, criminal
procedure, evidence, and legal ethics

Case law –court opinions. 2 categories:

(a) conventional decisions –enforce all rulings rendered
by regularly or specially constituted courts of justice
(b) subordinate decisions –include all rulings made by
administrative and legislative tribunals

case reports –chronological compilations of court decisions

(in volume)

court decisions:
*Supreme Court Decisions
*Court of Appeals Decisions
*Sandiganbayan Decisions

2 forms of state court decisions:

*official reports – issued under the auspices of the courts
themselves as authoritative text of their decisions
*unofficial reports – issued by commercial publishers

Digests:
*General digests – contain the most recent summaries
every month
*Decennial digests – contain summaries covering 10-year
periods
*Century digests –contain summaries for cases written
from 1658 – 1896

3 Notes: Legal Research and Thesis Writing| by Maria Carmela Rojo Caupayan