Notes

1. Effectivity of Laws. The publication and the 15-day period requirements are intended to
enable the people to become familiar with the statute.

2. Publication must be in full, or it is not publication at all since its purpose is to inform the
public of its contents ( Tanada v Tuvera, 146 SCRA 446). After the accomplishment of
this requirement, the people are deemed to have conclusively been notified of the law
even if the people or some of the same have not read them. (Presidential decrees,
executive orders, administrative rules and regulations published to enforce or implement
an existing law, charter of a city, circulars issued by the Monetary Board if they fill in
the details of the Central Bank Act )

3. Requisites of a newspaper of general circulation:

a. Published for the dissemination of local news and general information;

b. It has bona fide subscription list of paying customers;
c. It is published at regular intervals;
d. It must be available to the public in general and not just to select few chosen
by the publisher.
 The newspaper need not have the largest circulation so long as it is of general
circulation.

4. Internet Publication. Internet is not a medium for publishing laws, rules and regulations.
(Garcillano v House of Representatives, et al. GR 170338, December 23, 2008)
5. The clause “unless it is otherwise provided” solely refers to the 15-day period and not to
the requirement of publication.
6. Publication is an indispensable requirement- the absence of which will not render the law
effective.
7. In fact, a law without any bearing on the public would be invalid as an intrusion of privacy or as class
legislation or as an ultra vires act ( any acts that lie beyond the corporation to perform) of the
legislature. To be valid, the law must invariably affect the public interest even if it might be directly
applicable only to one individual, or some of the people only, and not to the public as a whole.
8. That every person knows the law is a conclusive presumption.
9. When a law is passed by the Congress, duly approved by the President of the Philippines,
properly published, and consequently becomes effective pursuant to its effectivity clause
or to some provision of a general law on the effectivity of statutes, the public is always
put on constructive notice of the law’s existence and effectivity.
10. Article 3 of the Civil Code is applicable to “all kinds of domestic laws, whether civil or
penal, and whether substantive or remedial for reasons of expediency, policy and
necessity. However, Art 3 applies only to mandatory and prohibitory laws.
11. Res ipsa loquitur is a rule of necessity and it applies where evidence is absent or not readily available,
provided the following requisites are present: (1) the accident was of a kind which does not ordinarily
occur unless someone is negligent; (2) the instrumentality or agency which caused the injury was
under the exclusive control of the person charged with negligence; and (3) the injury suffered must not
have been due to any voluntary action or contribution on the part of the person injured.
12. When a party having knowledge of the facts makes an election between inconsistent remedies, the
election is final and bars any action, suit, or proceeding inconsistent with the elected remedy, in the
absence of fraud by the other party. The first act of election acts as a bar. Equitable in nature, the
37
 doctrine of election of remedies is designed to mitigate possible unfairness to both parties. It rests on
the moral premise that it is fair to hold people responsible for their choices. The purpose of the
doctrine is not to prevent any recourse to any remedy, but to prevent a double redress for a single
wrong.
13. The choice of a party between inconsistent remedies results in a waiver by election. Hence, the rule
in Floresca that a claimant cannot simultaneously pursue recovery under the Labor Code and
prosecute an ordinary course of action under the Civil Code. The claimant, by his choice of one
remedy, is deemed to have waived the other.
14. A mandatory provision of law is when the omission of which renders the proceeding or
acts, to which it relates generally illegal or void.
15. Prohibitory laws are those which contain positive prohibitions and are couched in the
negative terms importing that the act required shall not be done otherwise than
designated.
16. What are the exceptions to the general rule regarding acts against mandatory and
prohibitory laws being void?
- When the law itself authorizes for its validity
- When the law makes the act valid but punishes the violator
- When the law merely makes the act voidable
- When the law declares such act void, but recognizes legal effects arising from it
17. Waiver is the intentional relinquishment of a known right. Waivers are not presumed but
must clearly and convincingly shown either by express stipulation or acts admitting no
other reasonable explanation.
18. Rights, protections, and advantages conferred by statutes may be generally waived.
Where, however, the object of a statute is to promote public interests, liberty, and morals,
it cannot be defeated by any private stipulation.
19. Repeal of the law is the legislative act of abrogating through a subsequent law the effects
of a previous statute or portions thereof.
20. An implied repeal takes place when a new law contains provisions contrary or
inconsistent with those of a former without expressly repealing them. An express repeal
either in specific terms or general terms that all laws or parts of laws inconsistent
therewith to be repealed.
21. Where a portion of a statute is rendered unconstitutional and the remainder valid, the
parts will be separated, and the constitutional portion upheld.
22. Construction is the art 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, where
that intention is rendered doubtful, among others by reason of the fact that the given case
is not explicitly provided for in the law.
23. Judicial decisions of the SC are authoritative and precedent-setting while those of the
inferior courts and the CA are merely persuasive.
24. Custom has been defined as a rule of conduct formed by repetition of acts, uniformly
observed (practiced) as a social rule, legally binding and obligatory.
25. Custom, even if proven, cannot prevail over a statutory rule or even a legal rule
enunciated by the SC.
26. Citizens and foreigners are subject to penal laws and all other laws designed to maintain
public security and safety. Exception: If a person is immune from suit based on principles
of international law and treaty stipulations.
27. Nationality rule. Regardless of where a citizen of the Philippines may be, he or she will
be governed by Philippine Laws with respect to his or her family rights and duties or to
his or her status, condition, and legal capacity.
28. Article 26 of the Family Code: the only absolute divorce which the Philippines may
recognize is a mixed marriage between a Filipino and a foreigner.
29. Doctrine of Processual Presumption – The foreign law, whenever applicable, should be
proved by the proponent thereof, otherwise, such law shall be presumed to be exactly the
same as the law of the forum.
30. The order of succession and the amount of successional rights, whether in intestate or
testamentary succession, they shall be regulated by the national law of the deceased
31. Art 16 (2) and Art 1039 of the CC render applicable the national law of the decedent, in
intestate or testamentary succession with regard to four items: a. order of succession; b.
the amount of successional rights; c. the intrinsic validity of the provisions of the will; d.
capacity to succeed.
32. A waiver, to be valid and effective, must in the first place be couched in clear and
unequivocal terms which leave no doubt as to the intention of a person to give up a right
or benefit which legally pertains to him.
33. A waiver may not casually be attributed to a person when the terms thereof do not explicitly
and clearly evidence an intent to abandon a right vested in such person.
34. Additionally, the intention to waive a right or advantage must be shown clearly and
convincingly, and when the only proof of intention rests in what a party does, his act
should be so manifestly consistent with, and indicative of, an intent to voluntarily
relinquish the particular right or advantage that no other reasonable explanation of his
conduct is possible.
35.