Post on 06-Mar-2015
College of LawCollege of Law
San Beda College (San Beda College (MendiolaMendiola))
July 19, 2011July 19, 2011
� The process of identifying and retrieving
information necessary to support legal
decision-making…(It) includes each step of a
course of action that begins with the analysis course of action that begins with the analysis
of the facts of a problem and concludes with
the application and communication of the
results of the research.
I. Statutes or statutory law
- Constitution: fundamental law of the law
a. Legislature:
- The Congress, comprised of the Senate and - The Congress, comprised of the Senate and
the House of Representatives
- Acts (1900-1935, 4,275)
- Commonwealth Acts (1935-1945, 733)
- Republic Acts (1946-1972; 1987-2011, 10,153)
- Mga Batas Pambansa (1979-1985, 884)
b. Executive
- Office of the President and Administrative
Agencies
- Presidential Decrees (Marcos 1972-1985,
2,034), Executive Orders, Presidential 2,034), Executive Orders, Presidential
Proclamations
- Treaties and international agreements
- Administrative/Departmental Orders,
Rules, Rulings, Memorandum Orders and
Circulars
- Local government ordinances
c. Judiciary
- Rules of Court
- Civil Procedure
- Special Proceedings
- Criminal Procedure- Criminal Procedure
- Evidence
- Summary Procedure
II. Jurisprudence or case law
- Decided or written opinions by courts
- Decisions and resolutions of the Supreme
Court of the Philippines (1901 to the present:
over 70,000 cases)over 70,000 cases)
III. Muslim Law or Shari’a Law
- limited application
Classification of Law by Authority
Classification of Law by SourceClassification of Law by Source
� MANDATORY AUTHORITY
� Consists of the law itself, as expressed in the verbatim
texts of the statute or case law.
� Mandatory authorities must be followed and must be
cited first.cited first.
� PERSUASIVE AUTHORITY� Laws and decisions of other jurisdictions
� Opinions of government agencies (BIR, DOJ)
� Executive interpretation of legislative enactments is accorded weight by the judiciary
� Persuasive authorities may be followed.
�PRIMARY SOURCE� Official records of the statute or case law
as published by the issuing agenciesas published by the issuing agencies
�SECONDARY SOURCE� Published by unofficial sources
� PRIMARY SOURCE� Statutory law▪ Congressional records
▪ Official Gazette (O.G.)▪ Official Gazette (O.G.)
▪ Pursuant to E.O. No. 200 (1987): newspapers of general circulation
� Case law▪ Philippine Reports
▪ Official Gazette
▪ Advanced Sheets
� SECONDARY SOURCE
� Statutory law
▪ Vital Legal Documents
▪ Commentaries, textbooks▪ Commentaries, textbooks
� Case law
▪ Supreme Court Reports Annotated (SCRA)
▪ Supreme Court Decisions (SCAD)
Advantages of Using Electronic Media
Factors to Consider in Choosing an Factors to Consider in Choosing an
Electronic Legal Research Library
Current Electronic Legal Research
Resources
� The use of available technology (e.g.,computers, the internet, PDAs) and electronic media (e.g., optical discs, hard drives, e-books, flash drives) for legal drives, e-books, flash drives) for legal research
� This has become a popular methodology because the information is more updated and the use of search engines facilitate easier, faster, more accurate research.
� Can store large amounts of information
� Storage for hundreds of thousands of pages
� Portable
� Can be carried around easily� Can be carried around easily
� Takes up very little space
� An entire library can fit in a space as big as one
textbook
� Facilitates faster research
� Search engines and customized search
templates produce search results in seconds
� Information is flexible and more easily manipulated
� Can be copied to another electronic medium, printed,
edited more easily
� Information is easier to update and can be more currentInformation is easier to update and can be more current
� Files are easily processed and uploaded
� Durable
� Can last a lifetime with proper use
� Cost-effective
� Cheaper in the long run; contains considerably
larger volume of materials
� Currency� Is the database up-to-date? Is the information up-
to-date?
� Accuracy
� What are the sources of the information?
� Reliability
� Who published or operates the website?
� Usability
� Is the information inside the library arranged
properly? With a subject index?
� Does it have a search engine? What are the type � Does it have a search engine? What are the type
of searches that can be done?
� Can the information be cited as a mandatory or
persuasive authority?
� Is the library a primary or secondary source of
legal information?
Internet (Online Resources)
Optical MediaOptical Media
� INTERNET: A massive network of computers
linked together and communicating with
each other through a series of protocols
� Carries the information sources and services that � Carries the information sources and services that
comprises the web
� WORLD WIDE WEB (www): The information
sharing model built on top of the Internet
� FREE ACCESS SITES� Non-commercial; access is free
� There are over 200,000 sites on the web with legal
informationinformation
� Examples of Foreign sites
▪ Cornell Legal Information Institute – www.law.cornell.edu
▪ Findlaw – www.findlaw.com
▪ World Legal Information Institute – www.worldlii.org
▪ Internet Legal Research Group - www.ilrg.com
▪ LexisOne – www.lexisone.com
� COMMERCIAL OR SUBSCRIPTION SITES
� Pay-for-use sites
� Password is required to access data
Foreign-run sites� Foreign-run sites
▪ Westlaw - published by Thompson Reuters
www.westlaw.com
� COMMERCIAL OR SUBSCRIPTION SITES
▪ Lexis-Nexis
▪ Has content from over 33,000 sources
Features the Shepard’s Citation Service, ▪ Features the Shepard’s Citation Service,
LexisNexis Case Summaries, Headnotes
▪ Includes coverage and analysis of laws of
more than 230 countries
▪ www.lexisnexis.com
� A storage medium or device in which information, including sounds and/or images, or software code, has been stored, either by mastering and/or replication, which may be accessed and read using a lens scanning accessed and read using a lens scanning mechanism employing a high intensity light source such as a laser or any such other means as may be developed in the future. (Sec. 3 (i), Republic Act No. 9239, The Optical Media Act of 2003)
� CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only-Memory)� Stores up to 650 megabytes of data
� Can store up to 300,000 text pages
� Stamped by a vendor; once stamped, it cannot be erased or filled with new dataerased or filled with new data
� Conforms to a standard size and format so it can be used in any CD-ROM player
� DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disc Read-Only-Memory)� Holds a minimum of 4.7 gigabytes of data,
enough for a full-length movie or app. 2 million text pages
� Free Access Sites▪ The Official Government Portal of Republic of the
Philippines – www.gov.ph
▪ Senate of the Philippines – ww.senate.gov.ph▪ Senate of the Philippines – ww.senate.gov.ph
▪ House of Representatives – www.congress.gov.ph
▪ Supreme Court website – sc.judiciary.gov.ph
▪ Chan Robles – www.chanrobles.com
▪ Lawphil – www.lawphil.net
� Commercial Sites
▪CD Asia Online – www.cdasiaonline.com
▪Contains Laws and Jurisprudence▪Contains Laws and Jurisprudence
� PRIMARY SOURCES
� Case Law – Supreme Court e-library
(distributed to courts)
� SECONDARY SOURCES� SECONDARY SOURCES
� Publications of private companies/entities
▪ Accesslaw, Inc. – Laws Annotated and
Comprehensive Access to the Tax System
▪ Agoo Institute – e-Library: A Century and 10
years of Supreme Court Decisions
▪ EMSAVIL Law Office – E-Juris
�CD Asia publications
▪The Philippine Law Library ▪ Includes the popular Lex Libris series
▪ Laws Philippine Edition, Taxation Philippine Edition, ▪ Laws Philippine Edition, Taxation Philippine Edition,
Jurisprudence, Department of Justice (Opinions of
the Secretary), Local Autonomy and Local
Government, Environment and Natural Resources,
Labor and Social Legislation, Philippine Elections,
Trade Commerce and Industry, Securities and
Exchange Commission, and Persons and
Family Relations
�CD Asia publications▪Other titles in the PLL – Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas, The Student Edition, The Bench
Companion, National Administrative Register, Companion, National Administrative Register,
Proceedings of the 1986 Constitutional
Commission, Impeachment Proceedings Against
Joseph E. Estrada, DAR Legal Information Archive,
Compendium of Philippine Customs Laws and
Regulations, and Government Procurement
Policy Board.
�CD Asia publications
▪ The Legal Knowledge Titles▪ Education Law and the Private Schools by Atty. Ulpiano
Sarmiento IIISarmiento III
▪ Philippine Judicial and Legal Forms by Atty. Theodore O.
Te
▪ Indigenous Peoples and the Law by Atty. Sedfrey M.
Candelaria, et al.
▪ Philippine Legal and Judicial Ethics (featuring the book
“The Good Lawyer” by Atty. Bobby A. Quitain)
▪ Lexicon of Philippine Legal Terms by the CD Asia
Editorial Board
�CD Asia publications▪ The Philippine Legal Encyclopedia Series▪ Philippine Law Encyclopedia
▪ Philippine Taxation Encyclopedia▪ Philippine Taxation Encyclopedia
�Subject Index� Catalogue of materials for the same
subject matter
� Search through the group possible through
tagging of basic data units
ex. Philippine Law Encyclopedia, The
Student Edition
� Hyperlinks� A word, phrase, or image that allows the
user to jump to a new document or
another section of a databaseanother section of a database
� Useful in looking for related or
connected information –
ex. Philippine Taxation Encyclopedia
�Search Engines� A tool that sifts through the pages of a
compilation, matching the search
parameters with available information.parameters with available information.
� General and site specific search engines
� Used together with search templates and
indexed or tagged information
ex. Supreme Court , CD Asia Online,
The Student Edition
� Search Parameters� Formulation of search query using key word/s or
phrases with connectors and special characters
� Use of Boolean method of searching – the use of � Use of Boolean method of searching – the use of
operators and special characters together with
the key words
▪ Example of special characters: *, ?
▪ Example of operators: and, or
� Phrase Searching
� Use quotation marks “ ” to capture two or more
words as an exact phrase
� Example : “qualified theft”, “consummated � Example : “qualified theft”, “consummated
felonies”, “national territory”, “breach of promise
to marry”, “114 SCRA 77”
� Proximity Searching
� An extended version of phrase searching; ability
to capture phrase with words in-between
� Sample proximity search for statutory citations
Ex.Look for all citations of Republic Act No. 8424
- Can be cited as follows:
Republic Act No. 8424
Republic Act 8424Republic Act 8424
Rep. Act No. 8424
Rep. Act 8424
RA No. 8424
RA 8424
Proximity Search
“Rep* 8424”/5 or “RA 8424”/5
� Sample unordered proximity search for keywords
Ex.Look for all instances of “tax exemption”
Can be written as –
tax exempt; exempted from tax; exemption from tax exempt; exempted from tax; exemption from
taxes; exempted from paying taxes
Unordered proximity search
“tax* exempt*”@10
� There are many resources available for legal
research.
� Exercise discernment in choosing the resources you will use.
� Use only resources that are reliable, accurate and current.
� For electronic legal research, look for features in the resources � For electronic legal research, look for features in the resources
that will help fine-tune your research (i.e., search engines,
search parameters, etc.)
� It is worthwhile to invest in legal research resources.
� Using these resources results in increased efficiency and
productivity.