College of Law San Beda College (Mendiola) (Mendiola) July 19, 2011

The process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making (It) includes each step of a course of action that begins with the analysis of the facts of a problem and concludes with the application and communication of the results of the research.

I.

Statutes or statutory law - Constitution: fundamental law of the law

a. Legislature: - The Congress, comprised of the Senate and the House of Representatives - Acts (1900-1935, 4,275) - Commonwealth Acts (1935-1945, 733) - Republic Acts (1946-1972; 1987-2011, 10,153) - Mga Batas Pambansa (1979-1985, 884)

b. Executive - Office of the President and Administrative Agencies - Presidential Decrees (Marcos 1972-1985, 2,034), Executive Orders, Presidential Proclamations - Treaties and international agreements - Administrative/Departmental Orders, Rules, Rulings, Memorandum Orders and Circulars - Local government ordinances

c. Judiciary - Rules of Court - Civil Procedure - Special Proceedings - Criminal Procedure - Evidence - Summary Procedure

II. Jurisprudence or case law - Decided or written opinions by courts - Decisions and resolutions of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (1901 to the present: over 70,000 cases) III. Muslim Law or Shari a Law - limited application

Classification of Law by Authority Classification of Law by Source

MANDATORY AUTHORITY
 Consists of the law itself, as expressed in the verbatim

texts of the statute or case law.  Mandatory authorities must be followed and must be cited first.

PERSUASIVE AUTHORITY
 Laws and decisions of other jurisdictions  Opinions of government agencies (BIR, DOJ)  Executive interpretation of legislative

enactments is accorded weight by the judiciary  Persuasive authorities may be followed.

 PRIMARY SOURCE Official records of the statute or case law as published by the issuing agencies SECONDARY SOURCE
 Published by unofficial sources

 PRIMARY SOURCE  Statutory law

Congressional records Official Gazette (O.G.) Pursuant to E.O. No. 200 (1987): newspapers of general circulation

 Case law
Philippine Reports Official Gazette Advanced Sheets

SECONDARY SOURCE
 Statutory law

Vital Legal Documents Commentaries, textbooks

 Case law

Supreme Court Reports Annotated (SCRA) Supreme Court Decisions (SCAD)

Advantages of Using Electronic Media Factors to Consider in Choosing an Electronic Legal Research Library Current Electronic Legal Research Resources

The use of available technology (e.g., computers, the internet, PDAs) and electronic media (e.g., optical discs, hard drives, e-books, flash drives) for legal research This has become a popular methodology because the information is more updated and the use of search engines facilitate easier, faster, more accurate research.

Can store large amounts of information

 Storage for hundreds of thousands of pages

Portable
 Can be carried around easily

Takes up very little space

 An entire library can fit in a space as big as one

textbook Facilitates faster research

 Search engines and customized search

templates produce search results in seconds

Information is flexible and more easily manipulated

 Can be copied to another electronic medium, printed,

edited more easily Information is easier to update and can be more current
 Files are easily processed and uploaded

Durable
 Can last a lifetime with proper use

Cost-effective
 Cheaper in the long run; contains considerably

larger volume of materials

Currency

Is the database up-to-date? Is the information upto-date?

Accuracy
 What are the sources of the information?

Reliability
 Who published or operates the website?

Usability
 Is the information inside the library arranged

properly? With a subject index?  Does it have a search engine? What are the type of searches that can be done?  Can the information be cited as a mandatory or persuasive authority?  Is the library a primary or secondary source of legal information?

Internet (Online Resources) Optical Media

INTERNET: A massive network of computers linked together and communicating with each other through a series of protocols
 Carries the information sources and services that

comprises the web

WORLD WIDE WEB (www): The information sharing model built on top of the Internet

 FREE ACCESS SITES

 Non-commercial; access is free  There are over 200,000 sites on the web with legal

information  Examples of Foreign sites

Cornell Legal Information Institute www.law.cornell.edu Findlaw www.findlaw.com World Legal Information Institute www.worldlii.org Internet Legal Research Group - www.ilrg.com LexisOne www.lexisone.com

COMMERCIAL OR SUBSCRIPTION SITES

 Pay-for-use sites  Password is required to access data  Foreign-run sites

Westlaw - published by Thompson Reuters www.westlaw.com

COMMERCIAL OR SUBSCRIPTION SITES

Lexis-Nexis
Has content from over 33,000 sources Features the Shepard s Citation Service, LexisNexis Case Summaries, Headnotes Includes coverage and analysis of laws of more than 230 countries

www.lexisnexis.com

A storage medium or device in which information, including sounds and/or images, or software code, has been stored, either by mastering and/or replication, which may be accessed and read using a lens scanning mechanism employing a high intensity light source such as a laser or any such other means as may be developed in the future. (Sec. 3 (i), Republic Act No. 9239, The Optical Media Act of 2003)

CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only-Memory)

 Stores up to 650 megabytes of data  Can store up to 300,000 text pages  Stamped by a vendor; once stamped, it cannot be

erased or filled with new data  Conforms to a standard size and format so it can be used in any CD-ROM player

DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disc Read-OnlyMemory)

 Holds a minimum of 4.7 gigabytes of data,

enough for a full-length movie or app. 2 million text pages

 Free Access Sites The Official Government Portal of Republic of the Philippines www.gov.ph Senate of the Philippines ww.senate.gov.ph House of Representatives www.congress.gov.ph Supreme Court website sc.judiciary.gov.ph Chan Robles www.chanrobles.com Lawphil www.lawphil.net

 Commercial Sites

CD Asia Online www.cdasiaonline.com

Contains Laws and Jurisprudence

PRIMARY SOURCES
 Case Law Supreme Court e-library

(distributed to courts)

SECONDARY SOURCES
 Publications of private companies/entities

Accesslaw, Inc. Laws Annotated and Comprehensive Access to the Tax System Agoo Institute e-Library: A Century and years of Supreme Court Decisions EMSAVIL Law Office E-Juris

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 CD Asia publications The Philippine Law Library

Includes the popular Lex Libris series Laws Philippine Edition, Taxation Philippine Edition, Jurisprudence, Department of Justice (Opinions of the Secretary), Local Autonomy and Local Government, Environment and Natural Resources, Labor and Social Legislation, Philippine Elections, Trade Commerce and Industry, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Persons and Family Relations

 CD Asia publications
Other titles in the PLL Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, The Student Edition, The Bench Companion, National Administrative Register, Proceedings of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, Impeachment Proceedings Against Joseph E. Estrada, DAR Legal Information Archive, Compendium of Philippine Customs Laws and Regulations, and Government Procurement Policy Board.

 CD Asia publications
The Legal Knowledge Titles
Education Law and the Private Schools by Atty. Ulpiano Sarmiento III Philippine Judicial and Legal Forms by Atty. Theodore O. Te Indigenous Peoples and the Law by Atty. Sedfrey M. Candelaria, et al. Philippine Legal and Judicial Ethics (featuring the book The Good Lawyer by Atty. Bobby A. Quitain) Lexicon of Philippine Legal Terms by the CD Asia Editorial Board

 CD Asia publications
The Philippine Legal Encyclopedia Series
Philippine Law Encyclopedia Philippine Taxation Encyclopedia

 Subject Index  Catalogue of materials for the same subject matter  Search through the group possible through tagging of basic data units ex. Philippine Law Encyclopedia, The Student Edition

 Hyperlinks

A word, phrase, or image that allows the user to jump to a new document or another section of a database  Useful in looking for related or connected information ex. Philippine Taxation Encyclopedia


 Search Engines  A tool that sifts through the pages of a compilation, matching the search parameters with available information.  General and site specific search engines  Used together with search templates and indexed or tagged information ex. Supreme Court , CD Asia Online, The Student Edition

 Search Parameters
 Formulation of search query using key word/s or

phrases with connectors and special characters  Use of Boolean method of searching the use of operators and special characters together with the key words
Example of special characters: *, ? Example of operators: and, or

Phrase Searching
 Use quotation marks

to capture two or more words as an exact phrase  Example : qualified theft , consummated felonies , national territory , breach of promise to marry , 114 SCRA 77

Proximity Searching
 An extended version of phrase searching; ability

to capture phrase with words in-between

Sample proximity search for statutory citations Ex.Look for all citations of Republic Act No. 8424 - Can be cited as follows: Republic Act No. 8424 Republic Act 8424 Rep. Act No. 8424 Rep. Act 8424 RA No. 8424 RA 8424

Proximity Search

Rep* 8424 /5 or RA 8424 /5

Sample unordered proximity search for keywords Ex.Look for all instances of tax exemption Can be written as tax exempt; exempted from tax; exemption from taxes; exempted from paying taxes Unordered proximity search

tax* exempt* @10

There are many resources available for legal research.

 Exercise discernment in choosing the resources you will use.  Use only resources that are reliable, accurate and current.  For electronic legal research, look for features in the resources

that will help fine-tune your research (i.e., search engines, search parameters, etc.)

It is worthwhile to invest in legal research resources.

 Using these resources results in increased efficiency and

productivity.