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Philosophy of law (University of Southern Mindanao)

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“Philosophy of Law”
- Also called “jurisprudence”
- branch of Philosophy that investigates the nature of law, especially in its relation to human values,
attitudes, practices, and political communities. Traditionally, philosophy of law proceeds by articulating
and defending propositions about law that are general and abstract. -- i.e. that are true not of a specific
legal system at a particular time, but of all legal system in the present or perhaps of all laws at all times.
Philosophy of law often aims to distinguish law from other systems of norms, such as morality or other
social conventions.

• Philosophy of law comes from the Greek word “philos” and “Sophia” which means the love
of wisdom.
• Philosophy of law is the love of the wisdom of the law.

➢ LEGAL PHILOSOPHY is a systematic study that seeks to understand the:

a. Nature and essence of law;
b. Its definition and elements;
c. The sources of its authority;
d. Its various applications & developments;
e. Its role in the society

➢ LAW is a rule of conduct, recognized by custom or formal enactment which a community

considers as binding upon its members.

➢ 5 SCHOOLS OF JURISPRUDENCE
1.) Naturalism – Law and morality are not separate, that an unjust law is not a true law and that law
must reflect the eternal verities of justice and fairness.
2.) Positivism – Believes that law and morality should be separate, and that law is valid if it is validly
posited by lawful government or authority. Law is something ‘posited’ or made in accordance to
socially accepted rules.
3.) Realism – Law is determined by “real world practice” and experience. Law is what lawmakers,
judges, lawyers, business people and society “do with it”
4.) Formalism – Law is a strict science governed by a formal axioms and principles which are used by
judges, using rules of logic, in deciding and determining the outcome of a case. The rules and
procedures used in deciding cases are not to be found externally but within the system of elaborated
rules themselves.
5.) Critical Legal Studies – Law is but an expression of the policy goals of whoever happens to be,
as that particular moment of history, the dominant social group. People consented to the interests of
the “dominant class” not because they were forced or ordered to do, but the dominant class had
organized a society using hegemony.

• WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PHILOSOPHER & A LAWYER?

- A philosopher is interested in abstract and ideal law, while a lawyer is interested in concrete and
existing law.

• WHY MUST A LAW STUDENT STUDY PHILOSOPHY?

1.) To be a better lawyer
2.) To be a better human being
3.) To define the nature of law to apply it in everyday life

• WHAT ARE THE 2 KINDS OF LAW?

1.) Descriptive Law – merely describes uniformities or regularities in the world or in nature; May
NOT be violated (i.e scientific laws)
2.) Prescriptive Law – prescribe a type of behavior which is supposed to be obeyed; may not be
violated.

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 2.1 Command – Rule of action imposed upon men by some authority who enforces
obedience to it.
2.2 Customary Law – Any rule of action which is observed by men and not imposed by
some men.
2.3 Moral law- Principle of right and wrong
2.4 Practical Law- Rules for attainment of some practical end (i.e how to drive a car)
2.5 International law – embodies prescriptive rule which govern sovereign states in their
relations and conduct with each other.
2.6 Rules of Etiquette – Custom which embody conventional rules of social behavior.
2.7 Positive law/ Municipal law- (1) Law of the state which is the product of the reason
and will of authorities and regulates the transactions and relations between men and their social life.;
(2) Law that defines their rights, duties, civil liabilities, criminal responsibility and prescribe the
remedies for complaining and setting up defenses.
2.7.1 Law in Particular (i.e rape) – NOT a concern of legal theory
2.7.2 Law as a system of Norms _(i.e criminal law, civil law) concern of legal theory

I. TRADITIONAL VERSION (THOMAS AQUINAS)

-The universe is governed by a single, self-consistent & overarching system of law, and the entire
system is under the direction and authority of supreme law giver and judge--GOD. According to him,
Human law occupies the lower system tier of the system.
• SYSTEM OF LAW, ACCORDING TO HIERARCHY:
I.1 Eternal Law – Principle of action and motion that God implanted in things in order to
enable them to perform their function.
I.2 Natural law – Principles of eternal law specific to human beings
I.3 Divine Law _ Law that exists over and above natural law that guides us to ultimate goal –
salvation
I.4 Human Law – Rules framed by the head of political community for the common goods of its
members.

• DIFFERENTIATE “JUST” AND “UNJUST” LAW

- “Just laws” should be followed. It is legally valid. It is a real law that promotes common good and
have legal authority.
- “Unjust Laws” are without legal authority. It creates social disorder, it is legally invalid and obliged to
be followed in order to avoid disturbance. As an example, Orthodox view provides for the complete
nullity of unconstitutional law. When court declare a law to be inconsistent with Constitution, the
former shall be void and latter shall govern. (par. 2, Art. 7 of NCC) Likewise, unconstitutional act is not
a law; it confers no rights; it imposes no duties; it affords no protection; it creates no office, it is in
legal contemplation as inoperative as though it had never been passed. (Norton vs Shelby)

II. FIDELITY TO LAW/ INNER MORALITY OF THE LAW (ION FULLER)

- Moral lesson to obey the law always exists, and any system necessarily abides to certain moral
principles; legal laws must be applied prospectively; humans are agent capable of choice. If moral
principles are obeyed, there is no other choice but to obey the law.

• Exception when laws may be applied:

II.1 When the law expressly provides
II.2 When the law is curative or remedial

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 II.3 When the law is procedural (i.e. Rules of court)
II.4 When law is favorable to the accused.

III. INTERPRETATIVE THEORY/ IDEA OF FIT (RONALD DWORKIN)

- Law consist of explicitly adopted rules plus the best moral principle that can be understood to lie behind
those rules.

• What are the 2 aspects of it?

III.1 Legal Consistency – underlying principles that must be logically consistent with the
rules.
III.2 Power to help provide a rationale.

• NATURE OF LAW
Law as Rules and Process

• As Rules
- A common misconception of law, looking at it as a set of rules and that when a dispute arises, all a
judge does is find the right rule and apply it mechanically, even ruthlessly.

- It merely caters to efficiency and is dismissive of the other aspects of human experience, and does not
factor in the relationship of the litigants.

• As a process
- Law may be regarded as a process, the rules being merely an aspect of the process. Laws are not just
statutes per se but the whole gamut of the life experiences of lawmakers, law enforcers, law breakers,
or followers such as lawyers, judges, and legal theorists.

• COMMON CHARACTERISTIC OF LAW

1. Obedience

- A common characteristics of law

- Laws of man involve human conduct which may or may not be obeyed. They are potentially
violable and their obedience is anchored on man’s freedom and will. Kant calls this law in the
sphere of freedom.
- Other laws are inviolable: law of gravity

2. Generality

- Laws are ‘generally’ rather than ‘particularly’ framed. Decisions on a legal question are made
in advance of the circumstances of the application.
3. Promulgation

- From Aquina’s Treatise on Law, is essential to law considering that:

a.) Natural law is promulgated, can be gleaned from the fact that God instilled
natural law into the man’s mind
b.) Those who are not present during the promulgation are bound to observe the law in
that they can be notified by others of the law after it was promulgated; and
c.) Durability of written characters ensures that laws may be continually
promulgated even to future.
4. Rule of Law

- Established legal principle which posits that whenever a legal issue presents itself, it must be
decided by applying the accepted principles of law, setting aside the personal discretion and will
of a judge and apply the law through the will of the legislator.

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 • LAW WITHIN RELIGIOUS DOGMA AND TRADITION
1. Code of Hammurabi
Made by Hammurabi, King of Babylon. United his country and claimed to have received the Code of laws
directly from Shamas, the chief of gods. The Code was based on the principle that justice dispensed with by
judges and rulers should not be whimsical, arbitrary, or personal, but rather justice should abide within defined
and well-formulated rules following to the adherence of truth, equitable principles and retribution.
2. John Calvin
His rigorous theocracy is a more contemporary example of complete subordination of man and his laws to what
is perceived by the group as will of God. Man is under the sovereignty of God, and citizens made to swear a
confession of faith. Law was understood as ‘divine will’ as understood by Calvin, or by the legislator.
3. Inquisition
Example of subordination of state law under religious dogma. The Inquisition tribunal was established by the
Church in 1233 to suppress heresy or dissenting views. Excommunication was used at first, but fines,
flogging, imprisonment, and death followed. Trials were done in secret.
• LAW AND RELIGION
- There is no system of recorded law which from its inception is separate from religion. — Sir Henry
Maine, Ancient Law
I. JEWISH LAW
a. Torah
• Much of Jewish law is an offshoot of the Ten Commandments, and later incorporated the ‘Book’ or
Torah.
• Called Pentateuch by the Christians, it is the first 5 books of the Old Testament, ascribed to
Moses. The Torah begins with the creation of the Universe up to the death of Moses. Includes the
Jewish people’s covenant with one God and religious and social conduct.
• Commentaries in the Torah are written by the Soferim, interpreters that helped keep the Jewish
law, and to the new conditions of life. They made the Jewish law applicable to changing conditions that
helped defend the Hebrew culture from being absorbed and obliterated into other cultures.
b. Mishnah
• A collection of commentaries on written Jewish law consisting of discussions among the Rabbis,
handed down orally from 70 AD to 200 AD. The Mishnah comments on the Torah, while the Gemara
comments on the Mishnah. Both form the Talmud, divided into the halakha (legal and ritual matters)
and the haggadah (ethical, theological and folklorist matters).
c. Responsa
• New genre of Jewish juristic writing after the Talmud. These are juridical guidance and opinions given
by the rabbis on day-to-day details of Jewish life.
* Human Rights in Jewish Law
- Genesis story affirms both the sovereignty of God and the sacredness of individual. Killing a person is
tantamount to diminishing the reality of God’s own self, as people are created in His image.
- The three major festivals Pesach, Succoth and Shavuot commemorate the Exodus, basis of Jewish affirmation
to the human right to political liberty. Purim commemorates the events in the Book of Ester, affirms the rights
of the minority.

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 II. ISLAMIC LAW
• Shari’a is believed by Muslims to be of divine origin and is one of the world’s great legal systems.
Much is derived from the Koran, supplying the basic tenets but not the details. The interpreters of the
Koran built a comprehensive and detailed juristic system.
• Hadith, collection of the teachings of Muhammad (SAW) and the stories of his life is regarded
as guide to living second only to the Koran.

• Human Rights in Islamic Law

• In Islamic law, human rights are seen as rights which all human beings ought to have. These rights are
deeply rooted in our humanness that their denial or violation is tantamount to a negation or degradation
of that which makes us human,

• Farewell sermon of the Prophet Muhammad (excerpt) encapsulates the elimination of

barrier and class:
• All of you come from Adam, and Adam is of dust. Indeed, the Arab is not superior to the non-
Arab, and the non-Arab is not superior to the Arab. Nor is the fair skinned superior to the dark skinned
not the dark skinned is superior to the fair skinned: superiority comes from piety and the noblest among
you is the most pious.

III. CANON LAW

- Body of laws enacted by ecclesiastical authority from the administration of the Roman Catholic Church.
Canon law is under the Corpus Juris Canonici, until the promulgation of the Codex Juris Canonici. A
new canon law was promulgated by Pope John Paul Il reducing the offenses carrying automatic
excommunication, extending the ground of annulment, removing the ban on marriage with non-
Catholics, and banning the trade union and political activity by the priests.
- Canon law contributed important concepts in secular law which are still used today.

• Human Rights in Canon Law

- Human dignity is deeply rooted in Canon law tradition. One emphasis is the distrust of individualism
and the emphasis on the community.
- The encyclical Rerum Novarum affirmed ‘man precedes the state’, that human dignity is standard of the
law. In Pacem in Terris, protection of human rights is a basis of world peace.

• KINDS OF LAW
I. Natural Law - Natural laws are priori (pre-existing) principles and rights coming from God, reason, or
both,
Il. Positive law - Positive laws are posited, i.e., promulgated at a particular time hence a posteriori
(existing after), although the principles invoked may be a priori.

• SOCIOLOGY OF LAW
A. Functions of Law
- Law may serve as a tool for social control, dispute resolution, and social change.
1. Social Control
• Done through threat or fear of punishment and seldom based on reward.
Disobedience can have severe repercussion; thus, one is motivated to obey for fear of the repercussions.
2. Dispute Resolution
• Law traditionally resolves the more serious disputes of society. Less serious conflicts are settled through
negotiation, fistfight or avoidance. As conflict become more formalized, rules and laws step in.

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 3. Social Change
• Laws outlawing slavery, racial/religious bias and prostitution had far-reaching effects in the society.
Local ordinances prohibiting smoking in public vehicles and building had reduced incidence of second-
hand smoking.
*sociology of law refers to the sociological study of law and law-related phenomena, whereby law is
typically conceived as the whole of legal norms in society as well as the practices and institutions that are
associated with those norms. Dating back to the classic works by Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, the
sociology of law has partly also evolved in conjunction with intellectual efforts within legal scholarship,
where a specialty of sociological jurisprudence developed.

• THEORIES WHY LAW CAME INTO BEING

I. Consensus Theory
Posits that there is an agreement among members of the society in transforming their norms and values into
laws, giving the former more strength and general enforcement. Laws are institutionalized versions of pre-
existing customary norms.
Il. Conflict Theory
Emphasizes interests (over norms and values) and how these interests interact to form conflicts which are but
normal facts of societal life. Coercion rather than consensus causes social order. Law serves the powerful over
the weak, and law is used by state to promote and protect itself.

• ENDS AND EFFECTS OF LAW: FULL DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN PERSONALITY

I. Aristotle’s view
• His solution was to strengthen the law and make it the regulator of human conduct. He proposes the
adoption of a state constitution from where all other laws of the land will be measured, and citizens will be
forewarned of the legitimate and illegitimate courses of action. This is to safeguard the society from
accidental factors in governance such as human whims, caprices, and differences in personality of leaders.
• Laws should aim to produce and preserve happiness for the political society. A rightly framed law
bids man to a life of complete virtue — good to oneself and neighbors, Obedience to a good law is an
exercise of complete virtue — called justice.
• Man is social animal by nature and actualize potential only within the matrix of society. The goal
of the state is to produce people who are good, as persons and citizens.
• Man is a political animal; hence it is his nature to congregate in a groups and act as groups. The goal of the
collective (aided by politics) is the same with the goal of the individual (aided by ethics): achieve vitality,
well-being, and happiness.
2. Aquinas
• He countered the objections that said that laws as such do not necessarily make good men.
* Arguments holding that laws do not make a man good include that:
a) virtue and not law which makes man good.
b) goodness precedes law (good men follow the law because they are good, and bad men violate
the law by their being bad);
c) there are people who are good to the community but bad on those referring to themselves; and
d) since some laws are tyrannical and abusive, their effects would be necessary harmful.
Aquinas’ reply:

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* Aquinas counters that:
a) every law's aim is to be obeyed, by those to whom the law is addressed, and that the proper effect of
the law is to lead its subjects to their proper virtue. Since virtue make men good, it follows that the
proper effect of law is to make men good.
b) That goodness as such is not the only reason why people obey the law. Some obey for the fear of
consequences such as punishment.
c) since the individual is part of the whole, the goodness of the individual will be felt proportionate to
the common good; and
d) a tyrannical law is not true law; it is a perversion of law and one that is not accord with
reason.

➢ ENDS AND EFFECTS OF LAW: JUSTICE

A. SIGNIFICANCE OF JUSTICE
- Primary significance is its tendency to counteract the crude egoism of the individual

B. DEFINITIONS OF JUSTICE
• Aristotle: giving everyone it’s due. A rule of justice is natural that has the same validity
everywhere, it is conventional that in the first instance it may be settled in one way or the other.
• Encyclopedia Britannica: In philosophy, justice is the concept of a proper proportion between
a person’s deserts and the good and the bad things that befall or are allotted to him or her.

C. JUSTICE OF OBEDIENCE TO HIGHER LAW

• For Cicero, the obedience t the supreme or higher moral law, even if the process violates human
law, is to pay homage to true justice.
• This is found in Antigone by Sophocles, when she chose to violate the lower law in not
allowing his brothers to be buried by being rebels, gave her brother a proper burial in
obedience to ‘higher law’ than the ‘lower law of the land’.

D. SOCIAL JUSTICE
• The Supreme Court defined, that social justice is neither communism nor despotism, nor atomism,
nor anarchy but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the
State so that justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be proximated.
• Social justice means the promotion of the welfare of the people, the adoption of the
Government of measures calculated to ensure economic stability of all the components of society...

E. TYPES OF JUSTICE
1. Utilitarian Justice
• It looks at law or an act’s ability to maximize benefit for society. Imposition of punishment is
justified in its ability to bring in social benefits.
2. Retributive Justice
• Aim is to avenge the wrongs done by society. Seeks to enact rules which avenge crimes
proportional to their gravity.
3. Restorative Justice

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 • It is not as concerned with punishment or retribution but rather in making the victim whole and
reintegrating the offender back to society.
4. Distributive Justice
• It concerns itself with questions of the distribution or allocation of societal goods such as liberties,
wealth and income. Concern is in the fairness, proportionality in the distribution of money, property,
privileges and opportunities, education, or rights.

a. Strict Egalitarianism
Radical equality — every person should have the same level of goods and services, to be t
reated non- discriminately. Proves problematic since not all people have the same needs.

b. Difference Principle
Allows inequality in the distribution of goods only if the inequality will benefit the worst- off
members of society.

c. Desert-based Principle
One that focuses on merit or effort or some other quality. Work harder, greater share of the
wealth

d. Libertarianism
Equal liberty principle: each individual should have an equal right to basic liberties.

➢ NATURE OF PHILOSOPHY
• Its very nature is Inquisitive.
• Constantly seeks answers to questions yet, more often than not, the question is more important than
the answer.

➢ INQUIRY is the fuel that powers philosophy.

➢ REASON AND SPIRIT OF LAW

• We test a law by its RESULTS.A law should not be interpreted so as to cause an injustice.
• In seeking the meaning of the law, the first concern of the judge: should be to discover
in its provisions the INTENT of the lawmaker.
• An indispensable part of that intent is to RENDER JUSTICE.

o ALONZO VS INTERMEDIATE APPELLATE COURT

• Art. 1088. Should any of the heirs sell his hereditary rights to a stranger before the partition, any
or all of the co-heirs may be subrogated to the rights of the purchaser by reimbursing him for the
price of the sale, provided they do so within the period of one month from the time they were
notified in writing of the sale by the vendor.

• While we admittedly may not legislate, we nevertheless have the power to interpret the law in
such a way as to reflect the will of the legislature. While we may not read into the law a purpose
that is not there, we nevertheless have the right to read out of it the reason for its enactment. In
doing so, we defer not to "the letter that killeth" but to "the spirit that vivifieth," to give effect to
the lawmaker’s will. "The spirit, rather than the letter of a statute determines its construction;
hence, a statute must be read according to its spirit or intent. For what is within the spirit is
within the statute although it is not within the letter thereof, and that which is within the letter
but not within the spirit is not within the statute. Stated differently, a thing which is within the
intent of the lawmaker is as

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 much within the statute as if within the letter; and a thing which is within the letter of the statute is
not within the statute unless within the intent of the lawmakers."

o LEAGUE OF CITIES OF THE PHILIPPINES VS COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

• The High Court held that- legislative intent is part and parcel of law, the controlling factor in
interpreting a statute.
• In construing a statute, the proper course is to start out and follow the true intent of the
legislature and to adopt the sense that best harmonizes with the context and promotes in the fullest
manner the policy and objects of the legislature.
• In fact, any interpretation that runs counter to the legislative intent is UNACCEPTABLE and
INVALID.
• This constitutional protection extends to all persons, natural or artificial, within the territorial
jurisdiction. Artificial persons, as the respondent LGUs herein, are, however, entitled to protection
only insofar as their property is concerned.

• Without belaboring in their smallest details, the arguments for and against the procedural
dimension of this disposition, it bears to stress that the Court has the power to suspend its
own rules when the ends of justice would be served thereby. In the performance of their
duties, courts should not be shackled by stringent rules which would result in manifest
injustice. Rules of procedure are only tools crafted to facilitate the attainment of justice.
Their strict and rigid application must be eschewed, if they result in technicalities that tend
to frustrate rather than promote substantial justice. Substantial rights must not be
prejudiced by a rigid and technical application of the rules in the altar of expediency. When
a case is impressed with public interest, a relaxation of the application of the rules is in
order. Time and again, this Court has suspended its own rules or excepted a particular
case from their operation whenever the higher interests of justice so require.

- The basic purpose of a State, namely to assure the happiness and welfare of its citizens
is kept foremost in mind. To paraphrase Laski, it is not an end in itself but only a means to an end,
the individuals composing it in their separate and identifiable capacities having rights which must be
respected. It is their happiness then, and not its interest, that is the criterion by which its behavior is to
be judged; and it is their welfare, and not the force at its command, that sets the limits to the authority it
is entitled to exercise. (Justice Puno Separate Opinion; Republic vs Sandiganbayan)

- It was Holmes who said that the life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience. Thus, the
early Roman law was ritualistic and highly formal. Gradually, however, it evolved, and form was
replaced by substance. The development of the law did not stop there. The Roman praetorian law
enlarged, supplemented and over-rode law which became narrow and rigid in scope. Finally, common
law produced equity jurisprudence. It is a formal set of legal and procedural rules and doctrines to aid
and even override common and statute law in order to protect rights and enforce duties fixed by
substantive law.

I. Filipinos are a freedom-loving race with high regard for their fundamental and natural rights. No
amount of subjugation or suppression, by rulers with the same color as the Filipinos’ skin or
otherwise, could obliterate their longing and aspiration to enjoy these rights
Thus, the Filipinos fought for and demanded these rights from the Spanish and American colonizers,
and in fairly recent history, from an authoritarian ruler. They wrote these rights in stone in every
constitution they crafted starting from the 1899 Malolos Constitution.
II. Although Filipinos have given democracy its own Filipino face, it is undeniable that our political
and legal institutions are American in origin. The Filipinos adopted the republican form of
government that the Americans introduced and the Bill of Rights they extended to our islands and
were the keystones that kept the body politic intact.

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 The sole purpose of government is to promote, protect and preserve these rights.
And when government not only defaults in its duty but itself violates the very rights it was
established to protect, it forfeits its authority to demand obedience of the governed and could be
replaced with one to which the people consent. The Filipino people exercised this highest of rights in
the EDSA Revolution of February 1986.
➢ The concept of philosophy is inquisitive.
➢ Reason and spirit of the law - not literally interpret, it has to look into the spirit of the law to proper
interpret.

➢ STRUCTURE OF OUR LEGAL SYSTEM

• The Philippine Political Structure is composed of three equal and coordinate branches of
government.
1. Legislative
2. Executive
3. Judiciary
o Legislature is vested the authority to MAKE LAWS
o Executive's authority is to ENFORCE THEM
o Judiciary's role is to interpret them (i.e. the laws) in the course of deciding justiciable controversies of a
private as well as of a public character in the course of which the legality of it the acts of the other two
other branches may be tested

• Justice Laurel Expressed

- The classical separation of governmental powers, whether viewed in the light of the political philosophy
of Aristotle, Locke, or Montesquieu, or of the postulations of Mabini, Madison, or Jefferson, is a relative
theory of government. There is more truism and actuality in interdependence than in independence and
separation of powers, for as observed by Justice Holmes in a case of Philippine origin, we cannot lay
down "with mathematical precision and divide the branches into watertight compartments" not only
because "the great ordinances of the Constitution do not establish and divide fields of black and
white" but also because "even the more specific of them are found to terminate in a penumbra shading
gradually from one extreme to the other."(Planas vs Gil)

EXECUTIVE
• Refers to the branch of government that APPLIES THE LAW.
• Headed by the PRESIDENT
• Under him is the Vice President and the Cabinet Secretaries
• Under the doctrine of qualified political agency, the President discharges his functions as Chief
Executive officer and commander- in-chief of the country through his Secretaries who run their respective
departments.
• The President shall control of all the executive departments, bureaus and offices.
• He shall ensure that the laws be faithfully executed.

LEGISLATIVE
• Refers to the branch of government that makes the law,
• Is composed of two chambers - The Senate or the upper house and the House of
Representatives, or lower house,
• The Head of the Senate is called a Senate President while the Head of the House of
Representatives is called the Speaker of the House,
• Each chamber has its respective officers, members and term of office as provided for under the
constitution.
• Its authority is to MAKE LAWS and to ALTER OR REPEAL THEM,

JUDICIARY
• Refers to the branch of government that INTERPRETS the law.
• This is represented by the SUPREME COURT.
• The Head of Supreme Court is called the Chief Justice and joined by 14 other Associate Justices.
• The Constitution vests judicial power in one Supreme Court and in such lower courts as may be
established by law- JUDICIAL POWER, by its nature, is the power to hear and decide

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 causes pending between parties who have the right to sue and be sued in the courts of law and
equity.
• It ordains the weakest department, the Supreme Court, as the guardian and final arbiter of the
Constitution.

➢ CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSIONS
• CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION (CSC)
• COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS (COMELEC)
• COMMISSION ON AUDIT (COA)

CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION

• Civil service embraces all branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities and agencies of the government including
government-owned or controlled corporation with original charters (GOCCs)
• CC serves as the central personnel or human resource agency of the government tasked with the formulation,
monitoring and implementation of quality standards in public service based on a merit system.
• It is invested with adjudicative powers to render final arbitration on disputes and personnel actions involving
matters to the Civil Service.
• The SC held that CC's only function is merely to ascertain whether the appointee possesses the minimum
requirements under the law; if so the CSC has no choice but to attest to such appointment

COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS
• Body mandated by the Constitution to enforce and administer all laws relative to the conduct of elections and
ensure that The WILL OF THE ELECTORATE PREVAILS.
• The present Constitution envisions a truly independent COMELEC committed to ensure free, orderly, honest,
peaceful, and credible elections and to serve as GUARDIAN of the people's sacred right of suffrage - the
citizenry's vital weapon in effecting a peaceful change of government and in achieving and promoting political
stability.

COMMISSION ON AUDIT
• Central auditor of the government
• Government's watchdog on the disbursement and use of public funds
• Vested with authority to determine whether the government entities comply with laws and regulations in
disbursing government funds and to disallow illegal or irregular disbursements of government funds.
• Not only empowered by the Constitution to conduct a post-audit, but it also has the power to audit non-
governmental entities receiving subsidy from or through the government.

ACTIVITY: Point relating to philosophy of law or the reason or spirit of the law.
1. Dumaguete Cathedral Credit Cooperative vs Commissioner of Internal
Revenue GR NO. 182722, January 22, 20 1 0
2. Tecson vs Salas, 34 SCRA 275, July 31, 1970
3. Francisco vs Nagmamalasakit a mga Manananggol ng mga Manggagawang
Pilipino, 41 5 SCRAA 44, November 10, 2003
4. Estrada vs Desierto, 353 SCRA 452, March 2, 2001
5. Alonzo vs Intermediate Appellate Court, GR No 728723, May 28, 1987
6. League of the Cities of the Philippines vs COMELEC, GR No. 176951, December 21, 2009
7. Republic vs Sandiganbayan

Additional Notes:
What is the principle of checks and balances in government?
- checks and balances, principle of government under which separate branches are empowered to prevent
actions by other branches and are induced to share power. Checks and balances are applied primarily in
constitutional governments.
- counterbalancing influences by which an organization or system is regulated, typically those
ensuring that political power is not concentrated in the hands of individuals or groups.

JUDICIAL REVIEW REQUISITES

- When the issue of unconstitutionality of a legislative act is raised, it is the established doctrine that the
Court may exercise its power of judicial review only if the following requisites are present:
(1) an actual and appropriate case and controversy exists; (2) a personal and substantial interest of the party
raising the constitutional question; (3) the exercise of judicial review is pleaded at the earliest opportunity;
and (4) the constitutional question raised is the very lis mota of the case.7

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 Only when these requisites are satisfied may the Court assume jurisdiction over a question of
unconstitutionality or invalidity of an act of Congress. With due regard to counsel’s spirited advocacy in
both cases, we are unable to agree that the abovecited requisites have been adequately met.

JUDICIABLE CONTROVERSIES
- A justiciable controversy is a definite and concrete dispute touching on the legal relations of
parties having adverse legal interests, which may be resolved by a court of law through the
application of a law.

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