TIPS FOR DIGESTING CASES
Jake Bryson Dancel
Introduction
Digesting cases is part of a law
student's life. Such activity forms 33-40%
of the time a law student will spend while
he is battling at least four years of law
school. Most, if not all, students see it as a
pain in the ass.
Because of this reason, some
students try to find ways to make their life
easier, one of which is consulting Atty. Go
Ogle for ready-made case digests (I was
doing this during my early days in the law
school :D). Another is borrowing their
classmates work and having it
paraphrased. For some, they would cram
over the full text and copy everything that
they deem relevant to the case.
NEVER DO THESE THINGS!!!
First, the purpose of your professors
in having you required to digest cases is
not to inflict pain and additional suffering
in your lives, but rather, they want to
make you understand the law better by
consuming the well-done meal prepared
by High Court and understanding the
nutrients of the case. That is why it is
called digesting not dissecting; the
product of this process is a digested case.
Second, by copying a digested case
online, you will never really know what
happened and you would end-up praying
to all the saints when you are called for
recitation. At times, there will be
butterflies in your stomach or your heart
will leap to your throat.
Third, copying part of the contents
of the full texts online, some unnecessary
words or phrases are added to your digest,
it will make it longer and you would
consume more ink of that precious
fountain pen of yours.
Next, when you will be taking the
Bar and will realize that should have read
the full texts of the cases assigned to you
during your law school days. Statutory
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laws are easy to memorize, but
memorization is useless if you would not
know how it is being applied. Bear in mind
that the cases decided by the Supreme
Court forms part of the law of the land;
they are not merely guides to
interpretation but rather has the same
force and effect as to that of a valid
legislation.
Last, you are spending astronomical
amount of money in law school. You
should make the most out of your
investment.
WHAT TO DO
1. For starters, you must DECIDE
ON THE FORMAT you will be using and
be consistent in using that format.
Personally, I use Facts/Issue/Held format.
You may also use other formats.
2. READ THE FULL TEXT of the
case assigned. Do not simply look for
keywords or skip some paragraphs, you
may be missing the most relevant part of
the case in relation to your subject.
2.a. Concentrate on the issue/s related to
your subject. Most cases involve several
topics and laws. Avoid including the
matters that is not relevant to your
subject unless it has utmost significance to
the totality of case.
2.b. Identify the parties. This is
important. Interchanging the petitioner
and respondent will get you confused and
may substantially affect the outcome of
your digest.
3. WRITING THE FACTS:
3.a. Do away with using the name of the
parties. This will save you from writing
lengthy names all throughout the case,
unless the name of the
 TIPS FOR DIGESTING CASES
Jake Bryson Dancel
petitioner/respondent is shorter than
petitioner or respondent. Make sure your subject or topic.
that you use Name-Name and pronoun-
pronoun reference for your parties.
Identify what is convenient.
Illustration:
3.a.1. Rogelito D.
Nakapagpabagabag use
petitioner or respondent instead.
3.a.2. Jan Go use as-
is or use last name
3.b Do not include dates unless they are
material facts of the case.
Example:
The parties entered into a contract.
When the obligation became due and
demandable, the debtor failed to comply.
-vs-
The parties entered into a contract
on October 10, 2017. On December 31,
2017, when the obligation became due and
demandable, the debtor failed to comply
with his obligation.
3.c Briefly state the reason why the
action was instituted. Try to include only
the facts that gave rise to the issue.
3.d State each action across the
different levels of the court and the
judgment.
Ex. Z instituted a civil action
against X before the (court a quo), who
ruled in favor of Z. Aggrieved, X appealed
to the (appellate court) (continue until
the judgment of the court before it was
elevated to the SC). Hence, this
appeal/petition.
4. ISSUE
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Identify the issues related to
Be consistent with your
opening words most commonly used
are:
Is x x x?
Whether or not x x x. (end with
a period)
Did x x x x?
5. HELD/RULING
This is where the main dish
is the meat of the case.
Write it like you are
answering in your exam.
A nswer
Answer the issue you
raised with Yes or No. Look
at the dispositive portion of
the decision or the wherefore
premises considered
paragraph to double check.
You may also add, The
petition is devoid of merit etc.
L egal basis
Make sure that it is
related to your issue and that it is
what the court used in coming up
with their decision. Use general
words like, under the law, the law
provides, the court said, etc.
You may replicate the
words used by the court here.
A pplication
Narrate the facts in
connection with the legal basis
C onclusion
It is like an echo of your
application. It usually starts with
Hence, Therefore, etc.
 TIPS FOR DIGESTING CASES
Jake Bryson Dancel
N.B. Do not include the dispositive FINAL NOTES:
portion for goodness sake! Please remove footnotes if you are
doing the copy-paste method.
5. Read your output and check for Dont obvious that you just copied
grammatical errors and spelling the digest online. Be consistent.
corrections. Use notepad app for your
draft, if available. (save the environment) Caveat: This is only my recommendation
and opinion based on my own observation
6. Prepare your case for the prescribed on how some students do their case digests.
form of your professor. (written/printed)

Sample case digest:

IN RE: MANZANO
A.M. No. 88-7-1861-RTC
October 5, 1988

Facts: Judge Rodolfo Manzano sent a

letter to the Supreme Court requesting to
allow him to accept appointment as a
member of the Ilocos Norte Provincial
Committee on Justice create pursuant to
Presidential Executive Order No. 856 as
amended by EO No. 326.

Issue: Whether or not Judge Manzano can

accept appointment as a member of
INPCJ.

Held: No. The committee was created by

the executive branch of the government
where its members discharge
administrative functions. Though it may
be quasi-judicial, it is still administrative
in nature. Judge Manzano is not a
subordinate of an executive or legislative
official, however eminent. His integrity in
the adjudication of cases contribute to the
solidity of such structure. RTC Judges
may only render assistance to the
aforesaid committees when such
assistance is reasonably incidental to the
fulfillment of their judicial functions.

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