A.

Sources of Law
a. As to Source Type:
i. Primary sources - Primary sources carry the sanction of the State. They
grant rights and impose duties and obligations. These primary sources
are the following1: Binding because it is legally imposed
I. Constitution
● The Philippine Constitution is the highest of all the laws.
No other laws may contradict it.
II. Statutes
● Laws enacted by the Philippine legislature through the
processes prescribed by the Philippine Constitution.
● These are either called Act, Commonwealth Act, Batas
Pambansa, Presidential Decree, or Republic Act
depending on the period of the time they were enacted.
III. Treaties or International Agreements
● An agreement between two or more nations or sovereigns,
entered into by agents appointed for the purpose and duly
sanctioned by the supreme powers of the respective
parties.
● Governed by international law.
IV. Presidential Issuances
● Administrative acts and commands of the President of the
Philippines touching on the organization or mode of
operation of the government, of the rearranging or
readjustment of the districts, divisions, part or parts of the
Philippines, and all acts and commands governing the
general performance of duties by public employees or
disposing of issues of general concern are made effective
by the issuance of Executive Orders.
V. Administrative Rules and Regulations
● Administrative rules and regulations must be issued by
authority of law and must not contravene the provisions of
the Constitution. The rule-making power of an
administrative agency may not be used to abridge the
authority given to it by Congress or by the Constitution. Nor
can it be used to enlarge the power of the administrative
agency beyond the scope intended. Constitutional and
statutory provisions control with respect to what rules and

1
Lerios, E. and Angelo, F. (2023) Legal Method & Techniques: Thinking Skills and Advocacy Techniques
for New Lawyers & Law Students. 2023rd edn. Rex Bookstore.
 regulations may be promulgated by administrative
agencies and the scope of their regulations.2.
VI. Local Ordinances
● Local ordinances are effective only within the territorial
jurisdiction of the LGU enacting them.
● The Local Government Code, a statute, grants the LGU
the power to make local ordinances.
VII. Decisions of the Supreme Court
● Judicial decisions applying or interpreting the laws or the
Constitution shall form part of the legal system of the
Philippines3.
● The Courts follow the Doctrine of Stare Decisis which
means that for the sake of certainty, a conclusion reached
in one case should be applied to those that follow if the
facts are substantially the same, even though the parties
are different.

ii. Secondary sources - Technically speaking, these are not laws at all.
These are commentaries and opinions of legal experts, authors of law
books, and legal scholars. These are useful as a guide in the
interpretation of difficult provisions of the law or in the reconciliation of
seemingly conflicting provisions of the law. Examples of these are:
● The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines: A Commentary by Fr.
Joaquin Bernas, S.J.
● Comments and Cases on Obligations and Contracts by Hector M.
De Leon

b. As to Character:
i. Statutory laws
Statutory laws are laws derived from the lawmaking agencies of the
government.4 A. Philippine Statutory Laws consist mainly of the following5:
1. The 1987 Constitution
2. Treaties and International Agreements
3. Statutes enacted by the Legislature
4. Administrative Rules and Regulations
5. Ordinances enacted by the Autonomous Regions
6. Ordinances enacted by Local Government Units

2
DAR v. Uy, G.R. No. 169277, February 9, 2007, Callejo, J
3
Art. 8, Civil Code of the Philippines
4
Rodriguez, R. F. (2002). Legal Research: Case Laws (2002nd ed.). Rex Book Store.
5
Rodriguez, R. F. (2002). Legal Research: Case Laws (2002nd ed.). Rex Book Store.
 ii. Case laws
Case laws are derived from the judicial authorities of the state6. Case
laws may be divided into:
I. Decisions Proper
A. Decisions of the Supreme Court
B. Decisions of the Court of Appeals
C. Decisions of the Sandiganbayan
D. Decisions of the Court of Tax Appeals
E. Decisions of the Regional Trial Courts
F. Decisions of the Metropolitan Trial Courts, the Municipal
Trial Courts, and the Municipal Circuit Trial Courts
II. Subordinate Decisions
A. Decisions of the Senate Electoral Tribunal and the House
of Representatives Electoral Tribunal and the House of
Representatives
B. Decisions of Administrative Agencies Exercising Quasi-
Judicial Powers, such as:
1. Commission on Elections
2. Civil Service Commission
3. Commission on Audit
4. National Labor Relations Commission
5. Insurance Commission
6. Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board
7. Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board

c. As to Type of Authority:
- Has the force of law7; focused on the content
- From the legislative branch if it is statutory law
- From the judicial branch if it is a case law
i. Mandatory (binding)
- Mandatory laws are Statutes and Case law
- Case laws are opinions of the Supreme Court are binding by Art 8
of the new civil code
- As to the effect, it is binding upon courts
- Law created by the jurisdiction in which the law operates
- Ex. If the source of law is a Philippine law, then it will apply
within the jurisdiction of the Philippines. This operates as a
mandatory primary authority.
ii. Persuasive authority; non-authority

6
Rodriguez, R. F. (2002). Legal Research: Case Laws (2002nd ed.). Rex Book Store.
7
Lerios, E. and Angelo, F. (2023) Legal Method & Techniques: Thinking Skills and Advocacy Techniques
for New Lawyers & Law Students. 2023rd edn. Rex Bookstore.
 - Law created by other jurisdictions but have persuasive value to
Philippine courts.
- A holding from a court of another jurisdiction or a lower court in the
same jurisdiction.
- It is not binding within Philippine jurisdiction.
- Refers to cases, statutes, regulations, or secondary sources that
the court may follow but does not have to follow.

d. Effective Use of Sources of Law

A source of law argument justifies an action by showing that it has as its

legal basis the best interpretation of a rule, principle or value identified in a
material source of law. Such an argument is authority-based in that it appeals for
its correctness to a collective decision to adopt a particular rule.8

9
A researcher needs search materials or finding tools in order to locate legal
sources. Without this, a researcher will not find existing statutes or decisions on
point. Electronic or digitized sources have become increasingly popular since the
advent of new information technology. Among the reasons that legal information
is readily available are:

a) the information is up-to-date

b) the search engines used facilitate research, and
c) no complete and update manually published search tools for statute and case law.

There are varied finding tools that provide access to the sources of law that a
researcher aims to find. These electronic sources are in the forms of:

1. Digests
2. Annotations
They help in summarizing points of law from court decisions and summarize
cases on particular topics.

3. SCRA Quick Index- Digest

4. PHILJURIS
5. LEX LIBRIS
6. CDASIA
7. ChanRobles Law Firm Library
8. Supreme Court E Library

8
Bell, J. (2018). Sources of Law. The Cambridge Law Journal, 77(1), 40–71.
doi:10.1017/S0008197318000053
9
Rodriguez, R. F. (2002). Legal Research: Case Laws (2002nd ed.). Rex Book Store.
 Are few of the known computer-based legal research systems which provides for
cases and other documents relating to laws, jurisprudence, decisions, etc.

It is to be reminded that the said tools are not the primary sources or the persuasive authority.
They are merely means to locate primary sources. A researcher needs to take it upon themself
to read those primary sources and decipher its applicability and relevance to a particular
situation.10

Note however, these effective tools are only additional aids in helping a researcher effectively
and legally use sources of law. In legal research, a researcher must employ a highly developed
sense of relevance – a keen appreciation of what sources are legally and factually relevant to
the specific case, topic, or inquiry a researcher is looking for.

11
In finding the law, our ultimate goal is to locate mandatory primary authorities
which have bearing on the legal problem at hand. If these authorities are scarce or
nonexistent, our next alternative is to find any relevant persuasive mandatory
authority. If our search is still negative, the next alternative might be secondary
authorities. There are however instances where the secondary authorities, more
particularly the commentaries made by experts of the field, take precedence over the
persuasive mandatory authorities. With the availability of both, using both sources is
highly recommended.

In case of conflict between the printed and electronic sources, the printed version coming from the
issuing government agency prevails. This policy prevails even for the Supreme Court E-Library, where
it is explicitly provided in its website.

10
Lerios, E. and Angelo, F. (2023) Legal Method & Techniques: Thinking Skills and Advocacy Techniques
for New Lawyers & Law Students. 2023rd edn. Rex Bookstore.
11
Inopia, J. (2013). Sources of Legal Research. Scribd.com. p.1-2. Retrieved January 16,2023. from
https://www.scribd.com/doc/149451326/Sources-of-Legal-Research