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INTRODUCTION TO LAW
THE GENERAL NATURE OF LAW

THE MEANING OF LAW IN GENERAL

In its widest and most comprehensive sense, the term law means any rule of action or any system of uniformity.
Thus, law in general, determines not only the activities of men as a rational being but also the movements or motions of
all objects of creation, whether inanimate or animate.

GENERAL DIVISIONS OF LAW

Law as above defined, may be divided into 2 general groups:
1. Law is promulgated and enforced by state.
2. Law which is not promulgated and enforced by state.

The first refers to what is known as the state law, while the second includes divine law, natural law, moral law and physical
law.
The first four kinds of law are comprised in the definition of law as a rule of action. They apply to men as rational beings
only. On the other hand, physical law operates on all things, including men without regard to the latter’s use of their will
power and intelligence.

DIVINE LAW
Divine Law is the law of religion and faith which concerns itself with the concept of sin and salvation. It is formally
promulgated by God and revealed and divulged to mankind by means of direct revelation. Under the Old Testament, divine
law is embodied in the 10 Commandments. It is believed that these laws were formally given by God through Moses, the
great Hebrew prophet and leader.
Of course divine law differs according to what one believes to have been established and communicated to mankind by
revelation. Thus to the Mohammedans, divine law is embodied in the Muslim Koran.
The sanction of divine law lies in the assurance of certain rewards and punishments in the present life or in the life to
come.
Source: Fallorin, C.C. (2007). The Philippine Medical Technology Profession (4th ed.)

NATURAL LAW
Definition: a body of law or a specific principle held to be derived from nature and binding upon human society in the
absence of or in addition to positive law.
In jurisprudence and political philosophy, a system of right or justice common to all humankind and derived from nature
rather than from the rules of society, or positive law. The concept can be traced to Aristotle, who held that what was “just
by nature” was not always the same as what was “just by law.”
SOURCE: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/natural%20law

MORAL LAW
Definition: : a general rule of right living; especially : such a rule or group of rules conceived as universal and unchanging
and as having the sanction of God's will, of conscience, of man's moral nature, or of natural justice as revealed to human
reason <the basic protection of rights is the moral law based on man's dignity — Time>
SOURCE: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/natural%20law

Moral law is a system of guidelines for behaviour. These guidelines may or may not be part of a religion, codified in written
form, or legally enforceable. For some people moral law is synonymous with the commands of a divine being. For others,
moral law is a set of universal rules that should apply to everyone.
Source: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Moral+Law

PHYSICAL LAW
Definition: A physical law or scientific law is a scientific generalization based on empirical observations of physical
behaviour (i.e. the law of nature). Laws of nature are observable. Scientific laws are empirical, describing observable
patterns. Empirical laws are typically conclusions based on repeated scientific experiments and simple observations, over
many years, and which have become accepted universally within the scientific community.
Source: http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Physical_law.html

STATE LAW
Definition: the law that is promulgated and enforced by the state. This law is also called positive law, municipal law, civil
law or imperative law. 2
It is the law that we refer to when we speak of law in connection with obligations and contracts, marriage, the
administration of justice, the conduct of elections and the entire governmental process itself. As a rule of action, only the
state law is enforced by the state, with the aid of its physical force, if necessary.
Source: Fallorin, C.C. (2007). The Philippine Medical Technology Profession (4th ed.)

CHARACTERISTICS OF LAW
1. It is a rule of conduct – the law tells us what shall be done and what shall not be done. As a rule of human conduct, law
takes cognizance of external acts only.
2. It is obligatory – law is considered a positive command imposing a duty to obey and involving a sanction which forces
obedience.
3. It is promulgated by legitimate authority – in a democratic country like the Philippines, the legitimate or competent
authority is the legislature. Under the Constitution, laws are enacted by the Congress, the legislative branch of our
government, and
4. It is common observance and benefit -The law is intended by man to serve man to maintain harmony in society and to
make order and co – existence possible. The law must therefore be observed by all for the benefit of all.

NECESSITY AND FUNCTIONS OF LAW

What would life be in the absence of law? If we can answer this question, we can answer the more basic question of
whether the law is necessary. If life without law would be the same as it is right now, obviously law is not necessary.
Society comes into existence because its members could not live without it. The need for internal order is as constant as
the need for external defence. No society can be stable in which either of these requirements fails to be provided for.
What does law do? It has been said that law secures justice, resolves social conflicts, orders society, protects interests, and
controls social relations. Life without basic laws against theft, violence and destruction would be solitary, nasty brutish and
short. Life without other laws such as those regulating traffic, sanitation, employments, business, redress of harm or
broken agreements etc. – would be less orderly, less healthful, less wholesome, etc.
No society can last and continue without means of social control, without rules of social order binding on its members. The
sum of such rules existing in a given society, under whatever particular forms, is what in common speech we understand by
law. Since we find law necessary, every citizen should have some understanding of law.

SOURCES OF LAW
The principal sources of law in the Philippines are the Constitution, legislation, administrative rules and regulations judicial
decisions and customs.
1. Constitution – with articular reference to the Constitution of the Philippines, it may be defined as the “written
instrument by which the fundamental powers of the government are established, limited, and defined, and by which these
powers are distributed among the several departments for their safe and useful exercise for the benefit of the people.

It is often referred to as the fundamental laws or supreme law or the highest law of the land because it is promulgated by
the people themselves. It is binding on all individual citizens and all agencies of the government. It is the law to which all
other laws enacted by the legislature must conform. This mean that laws which are declared by the courts to be
inconsistent with the Constitution shall be avoided and the latter shall govern.
2. Legislation – it consists in the declaration of legal rules by a competent authority. It is the preponderant of law in the
Philippines. Acts passed by the legislature are so called enacted law or statute law. Legislation includes ordinances enacted
by local governments.
3. Administrative or executive orders, regulations and rulings – they are those issued by administrative officials under
legislative authority. Administrative acts are valid only when they are not contrary to the laws and Constitution.

4. Judicial decisions or jurisprudence – The decisions of the courts, particularly the Supreme Court applying or interpreting
the laws or Constitution form part of the legal system of the Philippines. The decisions of a superior court on a point of law
are binding on all subordinated courts. This is called Doctrine of precedence or stare decisis. The Supreme Courts,
however, may reverse or modify any of its previous rulings. Until then, the decision of the Supreme Court applying or
interpreting the laws or the constitutions are “laws” by their own right because they declare what the laws say or mean.
Unlike ruling of the lower courts, which binds the parties to the specific cases alone, its judgments are applied to all.
5. Custom – it consists of those habits and practices which through long and uninterrupted usage have become
acknowledged and approved by society as binding rules of conduct. “It has the force of law when recognized and enforced
by the state”. For instance, in a contract for services rendered, where no definite compensation is stipulated, the
compensation to be paid may be ascertained from customs and usages of the place. 3
A custom must be proved as a fact according to the rules of evidence. It may be applied by the courts in the absence of law
or statute exactly applicable to the point in controversy. But customs which are contrary to law, public order or public
policy are not countenanced.
6. Other sources – To the above may be added principles of justice and equity, decisions of foreign tribunals, opinions of
textwriters, and religion. They are however only supplementary, that is they are resorted to by the courts in the absence of
all the other sources. They are, however, not binding on the courts.
Our civil law mandated that “no judge or court shall decline to render judgment by reason of the silence, obscurity or
insufficiency of the laws”. In case of doubt in the interpretation of laws, it is presumed that “the lawmaking body intended
right and justice to prevail”.
In our country, courts are not only courts by law but also of justice. Faced with a choice between a decision that will serve
justice and another that will deny it because of a too strict interpretation of the law, courts must resolve in favor of the
former, for the ultimate end of the law is justice.

Classifications of Law
The methods for classifying law are many. For our purposes, it would be best to consider the main classification of law, first
as to its purpose, and second, as to its nature.
1. As to its purpose:
a. Substantive law or that portion of the body of law creating and defining rights and duties which may be either public or
private in character. An example of substantive private law is the law on obligations and contracts; and
b. Adjective law or that portion of the body of law describing the manner or procedure by which rights “may be enforced
or their violations redressed. Sometimes this is called remedial law or procedural law. The provision of law which says that
actions for the recovery of the real property shall be filed with the Regional Trial court of the region where the property or
any part thereof lies, is an example of private adjective law.

2. As to its subject matter:

1. Public Law or the body of legal rules which regulates the rights and duties arising from the relationship of the state of
the people.

An example of public law is criminal law, the law which defines crimes and provides for their punishment. In legal theory,
when a person commits a crime, he violates not only the right of the individual victim but primarily that of the state
because the crime disturbs the peace and order of the state.
Also included are: International Law or law which governs the relations among nations or states; constitutional law or
which governs the relation between the state and its citizens; it establishes the fundamental powers of the government;
that which governs the methods by which the functions of the administrative authorities are to be performed; and criminal
procedure or that of private law which governs the methods of trial and punishment in criminal cases; and
2. Private Law or the body of the rules which regulates the relations of individuals with one another for purely private
ends. The law on obligations and contracts comes under this heading because it deals with the rights and obligations of the
contracting practices only. The state, however, is also involved in private law; it enforces private law but simply as an
arbiter and no as a party.

Included in private law are civil law, commercial or mercantile law and civil procedure. Civil is that branch of private law
which provides for the means by which private rights may be enforced.
Conclusive Presumption of the Knowledge of Law
Ignorance of law excuses no one from compliance therewith.
“Everyone, therefore, is conclusively presumed to know the law”. This presumption is far from reality but it has been
established because of the obligatory force of law.
The following reasons have been advances for this presumption:
1. If laws will not be binding until they are actually known, their social life will be impossible because most lawyers cannot
enforce due to their being unknown to many;
2. It is almost impossible to prove the contrary when a person claims ignorance of the law;
3. It is absurd to absolve those who do not know the law and increase the obligations of those who know it; and
4. In our conscience, we carry norms of right and wrong, and a sense of duty, so that our reason indicates many times what
we have to do and in more complicated judicial relations, there are lawyers who should be consulted”.
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“Evasion of the law would be facilitated and the administration of justice would be defeated, if persons could successfully
plead ignorance of the law to escape the legal consequences of their acts, or to excuse non-performance of their legal
duties. The rule, therefore, is indicated not only by expediency but also by necessity.” Thus, ignorance of the provisions of
firearms, or punishing the possession of prohibited drugs does not constitute a valid excuse for their violation.

HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW?

Legislative power is the power of lawmaking, the framing and enactment of laws. This is effected through the adoption of a
bill, or a proposed or projected law, which once approved becomes a statute. A statute is “the written will of the
legislature, solemnly expressed according to the forms necessary to constitute a law of the state”.
The procedure in the approval of bills is briefly as follows:
A bill is introduced by any member of the House of Representatives or the Senate except for some measures that must
originate only in the former chamber.
The first reading involves only the reading of the number and the title of the measure and its referral by the Senate
President or the Speaker to the proper committee for study and research.
The bill may be “killed” in the committee or it may be recommended for the approval, with or without amendments.
Sometimes public hearings are first held thereon. If there are other bills of the same nature or purpose, they may all be
consolidated into one bill under a common authorship or as a committee bill.
Once repotted out, the bill shall be calendared for second reading. It is at this stage that the bill is scrutinized, debated
upon and amended when desired. The second reading is the most important stage in the passage of the bill.
The bill as approved on the second reading is printed in its form and copies thereof are distributed at least three days
before the third reading. On the third reading, the members merely register their votes, and explain them if they are
allowed by the rules. No further debate is allowed.
Once the bill passes third reading, it is sent to the other chamber where it will also undergo the three readings. If also
approved by the second House, it will then be submitted to the President for this consideration.
The bill is enrolled when printed as finally approved by the Congress, thereafter authenticated with the signatures of the
Senate President or the Speaker and the Secretary, and approved by the President.

APPROVAL OF BILLS
The rules on the approval of bills are found in Art. VI, Sec. 27 of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. This section
provides for three methods by which a bill becomes a law to wit:
1. When the President signs it;
2. When the President votes it but the veto is overridden by the two thirds vote of all the members of each House; and
3. When the President does not act upon the measure within thirty days after it shall have been presented to him.

By actually signing a bill presented to him, the President identifies himself with it and indicates his approval of its purposes
and provisions.
The President may disapprove or veto a measure upon any ground sufficient for him, as where he considers it
unconstitutional or merely inefficacious or unwise. In every case, he should return the measures to the house of origin,
indicated his objections thereto in what is commonly known as “Veto Message” so that the same can be studied nu the
members for possible overriding of his veto. Two-thirds of each house will be sufficient to invalidate the veto and convert
the bill into law over the President’s objections.
The 30 day period during which the bill is supposed to be considered by the President is counted from the date of its
receipt by him.
Effectivity of Laws
Laws shall take effect following the completion of their publication in the official Gazette or in a newspaper of general
publication, unless the law otherwise provides. Publication is indispensable, the commission would offend due process in
so far as it denies the public knowledge of the laws that are supposed to govern it. The clear object of the publication is to
give the general public adequate notice of the various laws which are to regulate their conduct and the actions of the
citizens. Without such notice and publication, there would be no case for the application of the maximum “ignorantia legis
non excusat”. It would be height of injustice to punish or otherwise burden a citizen for the transgression of the law he had
no notice of. The legislative may, in its discretion, provide the usual 15 day period be shortened or extended. 5
CONCEPTS OF STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION
Statutory Construction, Defined – Statutory Construction is the act or process of discovering and expounding the meaning
and intention of the authors of the law with respect to its application to a given case, by reason on the fact that the given
case is not explicitly provided in the law.

BASIC RULES TO REMEMBER

1. Apply the Law – when the law speaks in clear and categorical language.
2. Interpret the Law – when there is ambiguity in the language of the law, ascertain legislative intent by making use of
intrinsic aids, or those found in the law itself.
3. Construe the Law – when the intent of the legislature cannot be ascertained by merely making use of intrinsic aids, the
court should resort to extrinsic aids, or those found outside the language of the law:

Who Interprets the Law? Anyone can interpret the law. Lawyers, arbiters, administrative boards and agencies, government
and private executives are involved from time to time in the interpretation of laws. However, the interpretation of anybody
is not necessarily conclusive nor can bind the courts. Hence, in many occasions, the decisions of regulatory boards and
administrative agencies have been elevated and appealed to the Supreme Court when there is abuse of discretion and
authority or when there is a violation of due process or denial of substantial justice or erroneous interpretation of the law.
Intrinsic-or Extrinsic Aids, Distinguished. Intrinsic aids are any of the following: title, preamble, words, phrases and
sentences, context, punctuation, headings and marginal notes, legislative definitions and interpretation clauses. All of
these are found in the law itself.
Extrinsic aid may consist of the following: contemporaneous circumstances, policy, legislative history of the statute,
contemporaneous or practical construction and the construction, executive construction, legislative construction and the
construction of the bar and legal commentators.
When is it Necessary and Not Necessary to Interpret and Construe? It is necessary to interpret or construe when any of
the following reasons exists:
1. When the language of the statute is ambiguous, doubtful or obscure when taken in relation to a set of facts.
2. When reasonable minds disagree as to the meaning of the language used in the statute.

It is not necessary to interpret or construe when the law speaks in clear and categorical language. The duty of the court is
to apply the law and not to interpret it.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STATUTES

Statutes must be read and construed as a whole. It is basic that the statute must be read and construed in its entirety.
Hence, any provision of the statute should be construed in relation to the other provisions of the law.
Parts of the law are not to be viewed in isolation because a statute is passed and approved as a whole. There is a precise
purpose why it was enacted. It is the purpose of the statute as a whole that is subject of ascertainment.
Legislative intent must be ascertained from the statute as a whole. The best interpreter of the statute is the law itself. In
construction, what is of importance is to discover the legislative intent. The intent is primarily determined from the
language of the law.
Courts have the duty to reconcile or harmonize the different provisions of the statute, including the conflicting
provisions thereof. Each provision of the law is inserted for a definite reason. The one who drafted the law may have good
reason for inserting provisions which the reader may not see or appreciate. The courts therefore have the duty to reconcile
or harmonize so far as practicable the various parts and provisions of the statute, including the conflicting provision
thereof, so as to make them consistent, harmonious and sensible. It is only through this that the statute will be given effect
as a whole.
As a rule, a statute of later date prevails. Where two statutes of different dates and of contrary tenor are equal theoretical
application to a particular case, the law of later date prevails. The statue of later date is presumed to be the latest
expression of legislative will on the subject.
Generalia specialibus non derogant. Special provision prevails over the general provision, regardless of the position it
occupies in the statue, and whether it comes earlier or later than the general one.
A special law prevails over a general law. As between a special law and a general law, the former must prevail since it
evidences the legislative intent more clearly more than a general statute does.
In Pari Materia Rule. Under this rule, all laws relating to the same subject or having the same general purpose, should be
read and construed together as they, constituted one law. This rule is founded on the assumption that in enacting a law,
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legislature has in mind the previous 4 laws relating to the same subject matter, and in the absence of any express repeal or
amendment, the law is deemed enacted in accordance with the legislative policy embodied in the previous laws that it
enacted.
In case of conflict between a common law principles and statutory provision, the latter prevails. The Supreme Court
opines that “Equity is justice outside legality. It applies only in the absence of and never against statutory law. Equity
follows the law, but where the law gives a particular remedy is bounded and circumscribed by particular rules, it would be
improper for the court to take up where the law leaves it and extend if further than the law allows. Courts exercising equity
jurisdiction are bound by rule of law and have no arbitrary discretion to disregard them. Equitable reasons will not control
against any well-settled rule of law or publicly policy.”
Source: Fallorin, C.C. (2007). The Philippine Medical Technology Profession (4th ed.)