LAW

Meaning
The term law means any rule of action or any system of uniformity. Thus, law in
general, determines not only the activities of men as rational being but also the
movements or motions of all objects of creation, whether animate, inanimate.
It is also a binding custom or practice of a community; a rule of conduct or action
prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority.
(Meriam-Webster Dictionary)

Purpose
It has been said that law secures justice, resolves social conflict, orders society,
protects interests, controls social relations. Life without basic laws against theft,
violence, and destruction would be solitary, nasty, brutish, and short. Life without other
laws such as those regulating traffic, sanitation, employment, business, redress of harm
or broken agreement, etc. would be less orderly, less helpful, less wholesome, etc.
No society can last and continue without means of social control, without rules of
social order binding on its members. The sum of such rules as existing in a given
society in a given society, under whatever particular forms, is what in common speech,
we understand by law or is also referred to as the legal system. Since we find law
necessary, every citizen should have some understanding of law and observe it for the
common good.

Classification of law

The method for classifying law are many. For our purposes, it would be best to
consider the main classifications of law, first, as to its purpose, and second, as to its
nature.

(1) As to its purpose:

(a) Substantive law or that portion of the body of law creating, defining, and
regulating rights and duties which may be either public or private in character.

(b) Adjective law or that portion of the body of law prescribing the manner or
procedure by which rights may be enforced or their violations redressed.
Sometimes this is called remedial law or procedural law. The provision of
law which says that actions for the recovery of real property shall be filed with
 the Regional Trial Court of the region where the property or any part thereof
lies, is an example of privet adjective law.

(2) As to its subject matter:

(a) Public law or the body of legal rules which regulates the rights and duties
arising from the relationship of the state to the people.

(b) Private law or the body of rules which regulates the relations of individuals
with one another for purely private ends. The law on obligations and contracts
comes under this heading because it deals with the right and obligations of
the contracting parties only. The state, however, is also involved in private
law; it enforces private law but simply as an arbiter and not as a party. (see
M.J. Gamboa, op. cit., p.98)

Sources of law
The principal sources of law in the Philippines are the Constitution, legislation,
administrative rules and regulations, judicial decision and customs.

1. Constitution- With the particular reference to the Constitution of the

Philippines, it may be defined as “the written instrument by which the
fundamentals power of the government is established, limited, and defined,
and by which these powers are distributed among several departments for
their safe and useful exercise for the benefit of the people.”
- It is often referred to as the fundamental law or supreme law or highest
law of the land because it is promulgated by the people themselves,
binding on all individual citizens and all agencies and government.

2. Legislation- It consists in the declaration of legal rules by a competent

authority. It is the preponderant source of law in the Philippines. Acts passed
by the legislature are so-called enacted law or statute law. Legislation
includes ordinances enacted by local governments unit.

3. Administrative or executive orders, regulations, and rulings- They are not

issued by administrative officials under legislative authority. It is intended to
clarify or explain the law and carry into effect its general provisions.
Administrative acts are valid only when they are no contrary to the laws and
constitution.
4. Judicial decision or jurisprudence- The decision of the courts, particularly the
Supreme Court, applying or interpreting the laws or the constitution form part
of the legal system of the Philippines. The decisions of a superior court on a
point of law are binding on all subordinate courts. This is called the doctrine of
precedent or stare decisis.

5. Custom- “It consist of those habits and practices which through long and
uninterrupted usage have become acknowledged and approved by society as
binding rules of conduct.”

6. Other sources- To the above may be added principles of justice and equity,
decisions of foreign tribunals, opinions of text writers, and religion. They are,
however, only supplementary, that is, they are resorted to by the courts in the
absence of all the other sources. They are, however, not binding on the
courts.