THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT

ARTICLE VIII – THE

JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Section 1
Judicial power will be vested in the Supreme Court
and all lower courts
• Supreme Court – is the highest court in the land.
The final arbiter of controversies and disputes
brought by the parties to the courts of law.
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JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
• Judicial Power – The power to apply the laws to
contests or disputes concerning legally recognized
rights and duties between the state and private
persons, or to individual litigants in cases properly
brought before judicial tribunals.
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JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Entails two activities:
1. Settling legal controversies
2. Determining whether there has been grave abuse
of discretion amounting to lack or excess of
jurisdiction by any branch of government
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JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Scope of Judicial Power
• Adjudicating Power – The power to settle legal disputes.
• Power of Judicial Review – Refers to the power of the
Supreme Court to interpret and make judgments with
respect to the law.
• Incidental powers – powers necessary for the discharge
of the Judicial function.
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JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
3 kinds of courts in the country:
1. Supreme Court – The highest court in the land
2. Regular Court – Appellate Court, Regional Trial
Court ets.
3. Quasi- Judicial Bodies – NLRC, SEC etc.

Note: Each court has its own jurisdiction

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JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Composition
• One chief Justice
• Fourteen Associate Justices
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JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Qualifications
A. Justices of the Supreme Court
• Must be a natural born citizen of the Philippines
• At least 40 yrs. Old
• 15 yrs. or more as a judge of a lower court or engaged
in the practice of law in the Philippines
• Must be a person of proven competence, integrity,
probity and independence.
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JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Qualifications
B. Judges of the Lower Courts
➢ A citizen of the Philippines
➢ A member of the Philippine Bar
➢ Must be a person of proven competence, integrity,
probity and independence.
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JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Tenure of Office
➢ Members of the Supreme Court (SC) and judges of the lower
courts shall enjoy their office during good behavior.
➢ Members of the SC shall enjoy the position until they are
removed in the long and complicated process of impeachment
➢ Hold office until they reached 70 years or become incapacitated
➢ Until dismissed by members of the SC for a probable cause