List of Philippine legal terms - Wikipedia

The Wikipedia page was last edited on 4 April 2023, at 23:46 (UTC).

A.C.

administrative case

A.M.

"Administrative matters" before the Supreme Court of the Philippines.

arguendo

"For the sake of argument", as in, "Even ___ that R.A. 10175 applies, this case still should be dismissed due to a lapsed prescriptive period."

arresto mayor

(correctional) Suspension of the right to hold office and the right of suffrage during the term of the sentence

arresto menor

(light) Suspension of the right to hold office and the right of suffrage during the term of the sentence

B.P.

Abbreviation for Batas Pambansa, the name for laws passed by the defunct unicameral Batasang Pambansa.

C.A.

Abbreviation for both Commonwealth Act and Court of Appeals, depending on context.

destierro

Any person sentenced to this shall not be permitted to enter the place or places designated in the sentence, nor within the radius therein specified, which shall be not more than 250 and not less than 25 kilometers from the place designated.

E.O.

Abbreviation for Executive Order.

expediente

As special rules apply to the release of the rollo, the office of each member of the Supreme Court is allowed to take a copy of the rollo. This is the expediente.

fallo

The dispositive portion of a Court's ruling, coming at the very end of the ruling. This word has the same meaning in the modern Spanish judicial system.

fiscal

A prosecutor, either at the city or provincial level, or nationwide Department of Justice level.

G.R.

Abbreviation for General Register.

IBP

Integrated Bar of the Philippines

information

An indictment. In the United States, which originated the term, there are grand juries, and indictments are more common, while an information is a rare type of criminal action brought in the absence of a grand jury. However, the Philippines has no grand juries (and, indeed, no juries of any kind), so "information" is essentially synonymous with "indictment".

intervenor-oppositor

An intervenor who opposes the case of the petitioner. Sometimes shortened to just "oppositor".

JBC

Judicial and Bar Council

judge-at-large

A judge without a permanent sala. Under R.A. 11459, such judges have all the rights of regular RTC judges, and the same salaries. They are also chosen by the President upon the advice of the JBC as other RTC judges are.

OCA

Office of the Court Administrator

petitioner

A plaintiff.

petitioner-in-intervention

An intervenor who supports the case of the petitioner.

ponencia

The Court's majority opinion.

ponente

The writer of the Court's majority opinion. Mostly used in the context of the Supreme Court, but can be used at the Regional Trial Court level.

prefatory statement

A statement which summarizes a legal document, similar to an abstract.

prisión correccional

corrective imprisonment.

prisión mayor

major imprisonment.

quo warranto

Latin for “by what authority”—as in, “by what authority does this person hold this office?”

R.A.

Abbreviation for Republic Act.

raffle

The system by which cases are assigned to judges in multi-sala courts. As of 1974, "[n]o case may be assigned to any branch without being raffled." As of 2013, raffles can be conducted electronically via "eCourt". The gambling-related word "raffle" comes from the sources of randomness required by the Supreme Court: preferably a roulette wheel is to be used, but if that's not available, a bingo or jueteng tambiolo is permissible.

reclusión perpetua

perpetual seclusion.

reclusión temporal

temporary seclusion.

respondent

A defendant.

rollo

Short for rollo de casación (cassation archive) or rollo de apelación (appeal archive), the rollo is the complete archive of a particular case, including documents received from a lower court and anything submitted regarding the case, directly to any Philippine court, though most often used in relation to the higher courts. The term has its origin in the Real Audiencia de Manila, and is still used in the modern Supreme Court of Spain (Tribunal Supremo) and Spanish judicial system.

sala

Courtroom, though used only to refer to a specific branch of a Regional Trial Court, and not to refer to higher courts, unlike in Spain, where sala remains in use for all courts. An acting judge serving in a temporary or acting capacity is said to be without a sala. Some RTC branches have only a single sala.

TRO

A temporary restraining order.

TSN

Transcript of stenographic notes. A court stenographer first takes down their notes in their preferred form of shorthand, e.g. Gregg shorthand, then produces a longhand transcript from it called a TSN.

UDK

An undocketed case, undocketed because, for example, the docket fee has not yet been paid. Undocketed cases are still numbered, and may be ruled on at the discretion of the court, for example, Fletcher v. Bureau of Corrections has no G.R. number, but is instead cited as UDK-14071.