COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE JUDICIAL ROLE AND ITS EFFECT ON THE THEORY ON JUDICIAL

PRECEDENTS IN THE PHILIPPINE HYBRID LEGAL SYSTEM

BY ceSAR VILLANUEVA

Like most developing countries, the challenge faced

by the PH was the need to evolve legal system that is
logically and structurally coherent and responsive to
the complex needs of its diverse society.
The paper studies
1. The implications of the confluence of common law
principles what originally was an established civil
law system
2. The emerging theory on judicial precedents
STARE DECISIS, DOCTRINA LEGAL AND
JURISPRUDENCE CONSTANTE
Stability, uniformity and predictability are the
compelling reasons for the value placed upon
judicial precedents
The primary principle of hierarchy in the
doctrine of stare decisis (lower court is obliged
to accept the position held by its hierarchical
superior) flows from the theory that decided
cases, in their own right, sources of law
Jurisprudence
constantegive
judicial
precedents
authoritative
weight
when
established by a number of decisions
Doctrina legal exists only when a decision of
the SC is confirmed by a second decision of the
same Court involving a similar case
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PH THEORY ON
JUDICIAL PRECEDENTS
1. Adoption of the American Court System
2. Judicial Review and Constitutional Law
The modling of the PH JD system in the pattern
of the AM JD, and the transplanting of
American constitutionalism in PH soil,
necessarily resulted in the adoption of the
doctrine of JD review predicated upon the
supremacy of the Consti, over legislative or
executive acts.
3. Transplant of Anglo-American Laws and
Principles
In the earlier days of the American regime,
Anglo-American jurisprudence is BINDING in
the Philippines.
With the establishment of the PH Republic on
July 4, 1946 and the consequent appointment of
Filipino Justices to the SC, Anglo-American
doctrines began to be treated as merely
PERSUASIVE.
Although the PH doctrine on JD prcedents is no
longer bound by the Anglo-American common
law developments, the reality of the situation
makes the latter very persuasive on PH
jurisprudence.
4. Tenacity of Civil Law Influence
The underlying bias of the civil law system for
coherence,
structure
and
high-level
generalization was a tantalizing feature that on
the part of the Filipino civil law trained lawyers,

was difficult to give up in light of the almost

haphazard growth of common law doctrines
through case law.
The civil law tradition finds expression in the
PH case-law when the SC itself directs the
courts to be cautious in overruling legislative
judgments, holding that it is the sworn duty of
judges to apply the law without fear or favor, to
follow its mandate, not to tamper with it. The
courts cannot adopt a policy different from that
of the law since what the law grants, the courts
cannot take away.
5. Socio-Economic Demands in Modern PH
Society
The SC, which in the exercise of its power of
JD review must promote the constitutional
directive which have less to do with the
structure of the government and more with the
mission of the state to promote a more equitable
distribution of opportunities, etc.
REFLECTIONS AND KEY POINTS
The PH legal system has straddled the main
features of the principles of stare decisis,
doctrina legal and jurisprudence constante in
evolving a composite doctrine on judicial
precedents.
What has clearly emerged from the beginning of
this century is a Philippine principle of judicial
precedents that has the following structural
characteristics:
Unity and stability achieved by the
compulsory rules that a single decision of
the SC is sufficient to establish a legal rule
or doctrine binding on lower courts
throughout the archipelago
Predictability achieved by the practice that
such doctrines are generally followed by
the SC in subsequent cases
Flexibility and growth achieved by the rule
that the SC is not enjoined from
abandoning a doctrine if it determines its
falsity or practicality, but that in instances
where it must abandon a doctrine, the SC
manages or qualifies the adverse effects to
do justice to those who have relied upon
the doctrine prior to its abandonment.