Professional Documents
Culture Documents
GRP 1
GRP 1
PHILIPPINE LAW
Summary
Report L12
Group 1
Prepared By:
Arimas, Noemi B.
Barredo, Quennie G.
Berja, Hennie MarieT.
Submitted to:
Atty. John Noah Red
Professor
A. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE AS A STARTING POINT
Reasons Why to Start the Study of the Nature of the Law with the Historical Approach:
2. The renaissance of the natural law theory – cornerstone of the house of teleological
jurisprudence.
The concept of Folksoul – the ideas of “soul” and “spirit” are now rarely used in the works of
modern philosophers. It used to mean a high degree of intelligence or “minded action”.
3. It is useful in the evaluation of the legal development of a nation, especially its legal history.
“The law is the product of the huge mass of opinions, beliefs, superstitions, and
prejudices of a people produced by institutions of human nature reacting upon one
another.”
However, it was considered as not quite adequate to explain the different treasuries of
the folksoul and, hence, incomplete to contain the jural and nonjural materials of a group of
people. It fails to take into account the other vital aspects of the national character and genius
of people.
D.1) THE OBLUTIACS OF A PEOPLE
Opinions, Beliefs, Longings, Usages, Traditions, Idiosyncracies, Arts, Customs and Superstitions.
Human beings are well equipped with language as a means of communicating their
perceptions to others and that they articulate themselves by means of their OBLUTIACS. It reveals
the national identity, character, and genius of the people. Together they form the common
consciousness and intelligence of the people. This hypothesis tried to explain about the emergence of
the volksgeist or diwayan.
KINDS OF FOLKSOUL
(1) Folklore
In this treasury are deposited the beliefs and traditions of a group of people. It
constitutes the folk learning or folk wisdom (paniniwala) handed down from generation to
generation. The folklore may survive in the form of epic tales regarding the bravery and
sacrifices of the people and their heroes.
But a great deal of people’s beliefs and traditions appear in the form of telling
parables (talinghaga) and riddles (bugtong) which were based from the experiences and
experiments of the people. The beliefs and traditions have been called lore – the learning of
the people.
(2) Folksaying
They appear in the form of proverbial maxims (salawikain) and sentiments (sabi)
containing the social feelings of the people. It is either social or jural in nature.
(3) Folkways
Composed of customs and usages of the people which make them reliable expression
of the folksoul. Customs and usages are widespread ways and practices evolving from the
reactions of the people to the same demands, challenges, and situations.
Use to aid the life of the people in the environment; It provided the first sources of
law. It resolved the peace and order issues; It passed the tests of time and crisis and became
the definitive norms of activity and conduct. There are many jural folkways that have been
incorporated in the positive law of the Philippines.
(4) Folksong
(5) Folkdance
It included the dances indigenous or unique to the people and are performed to folk music
either singly or group.
It is a rhythmic and patterned succession of bodily movements with their own distinctive
meaning and significance.
It depicts the diverse influences on and adaptations to the life of a people, such as, their
idiosyncracies and superstitions.
It is full of vital folk quality and connected with rituals, festivals, ceremonies, or simple
frolics.
The organic connection of the law with the life and spirit of the people emphasizes
the phenomenon that for law there is no moment of absolute cessation; The law is subject to
the same changes that happen to the other aspects of the life of the people.
While the law grows with the development of the people, the law can die too
with the demise of the nation through the loss of the nation’s individuality.
First relationship among people was a vertical or personal one and it existed in the family
and clan.
Broadened into a horizontal or communal type of relationship wherein several groups formed
alliances for certain purpose.
Then it combined and merged into a large-scale territorial relationship wherein people
reached their ultimate national development attaining a more complete structure for the
satisfaction of the common life, otherwise, known as the State.
The State is considered as the highest expression of the folksoul. Indeed, it is the
highest national structure erected by the socio-political development of the people. Putting the
point in another way, the body politic is considered by historical jurisprudence as the final
juristic personification of people.
Historical jurisprudence is confronted with the task of reconciling its concept of the
nature of law with the phenomenon that in some groups of people there is a similarity in their
legal orders. The reasons as follows:
Example:
When the Civil Code of the Philippines was instituted in 1949, certain
provisions of the Civil Code of Spain touching on dote, censos, usos, and habitacion,
which were inconsistent with the oblutiacs of the Filipinos, were abolished.
The precepts of justice and fairness, which is permanent and present in all men
everywhere since they are impressed in the human heart and mind and considered to
be basic or identical for all peoples, explains the resemblance or similarity in some
aspects of the legal orders of different peoples. The concept of a regular and
progressive development of the law should also explain the similarity or uniformity
of different legal systems.
Different peoples may have particular legal rules, more or less similar, for the
resolution of the unjust and unequal situation referred to.
Example:
The Philippine legal order provides, as a general rule that actions prescribe by
the mere lapse of time fixed by law. Thus, in the secondary application of first
principles the similarity in, or uniformity of, some aspects of the legal orders of
different peoples is still explainable.
o Article 10 of the Civil Code of the Philippines provides for the presumption that the
lawmaking body intended right and justice to prevail whenever it enacts a statute. This is
a jural expression of the profound sense of, and love for, righteousness and justice of the
people.
Ilubog at dagnan man ang katwiran/ Ay pilit itong lulutang. (Right though sunk and
weighted/ will nevertheless rise to the surface.)
o Articles 19 through 36 of the Civil Code express the Filipino folkway concerning human
relations. They are basic principles that are to be observed for the rightful relationship
between human beings and for the stability of the social order.
o
Mahalaga ang puring patay/Sa masamang puring buhay. (It is better to be dead with
honor/ than to be alive in dishonor)
Masira man sa pamimilak/Huwag lamang sa pangungusap. (It is better that riches are
lost/ than to break one’s word)
o Articles 198 through 211 of the Civil Code of the Philippines: It is nearer to the ideal of
family unity and is more in harmony with the traditional oneness of the Filipino family.