Introduction to Law 2024 — Finals Reviewer

Comprehensive flashcards covering Philippine legal research, the judicial system, executive/legislative interaction, and essential legal doctrines.

Four “Cs” of Effective Decision-Writing

The four qualities a judge should observe for effective writing: Completeness, Correctness, Clarity, and Conciseness.

Section 1, Rule 36 of the Rules of Court

Requires that a court decision must be in writing, personally and directly prepared by the judge, clearly state facts and law, be signed by the judge, and be filed with the clerk of court.

Judgment of Acquittal

Based on Rule $120$, Section $2$, it states whether the prosecution failed to prove guilt absolutely or failed to prove it beyond reasonable doubt, and determines if the act resulting in civil liability existed.

Petitioner

The party that lost before the lower court and is filing the petition before an appellate court.

Respondent

The party that won before the lower court and is responding to the petition in the appellate court.

Appellant

A party that lost at the court of origin and is filing the appeal.

Appellee

A party that won in the lower court and must defend the lower court’s decision.

Ponente

The member of the Court who delivers the opinion of the Court.

Holding

The application of a clear rule of law that is new to a particular case.

Obiter Dictum

Legal statements within a judicial opinion that are not necessary to resolve the dispute between the parties and are not binding.

Legal Analysis

A sequential process involving finding relevant authorities, verifying current status, synthesizing cases, formulating/applying rules of law, and reaching a conclusion.

IRAC

A method for organizing legal analysis especially helpful for exams, standing for Issue, Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion.

CRAC

An acronym for legal memos standing for Conclusion, Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion.

Deductive Reasoning

Reasoning used to determine if a rule applies by moving from the general (rule) to the specific (impact of the rule on particular facts).

Doctrine of Hierarchy of Courts

A rule ensuring every level of the judiciary performs its designated role and requiring that recourse must first be obtained from lower courts sharing concurrent jurisdiction.

Doctrine of Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies

A principle requiring that when an administrative remedy is provided by law, relief must be sought through that remedy before judicial intervention.

Judicial Power

The duty of the courts to settle actual controversies involving demandable and enforceable rights and to determine if there has been a grave abuse of discretion by any government branch.

Quo Warranto

A remedy to oust an ineligible public official based on acts or omissions committed prior to or at the time of appointment or election relating to qualifications.

Judicial Review

The power of the courts to examine and determine the constitutionality or validity of actions taken by the legislative and executive branches of government.

Locus Standi

Legal standing; the requirement that a person has a personal and substantial interest in a case, having sustained or facing direct injury from a law's enforcement.

Political Question

A matter to be exercised by the people in their primary political capacity or specifically delegated to another department with discretionary power.

Grave Abuse of Discretion

A capricious or whimsical exercise of judgment, equivalent to a lack of jurisdiction, that is arbitrary or despotic due to personal hostility or passion.

Doctrine of Operative Fact

An exception to the rule of unconstitutionality that recognizes a statute's existence prior to a determination of unconstitutionality as a fact with consequences that cannot be ignored.

Overbreadth

When a law employs means that are unnecessarily broad such that they infringe on protected rights.

Void-for-Vagueness

When a law is so vague that men of common intelligence must guess at its meaning and differ as to its application.

Executive Control

The power where an officer lays down rules for an act, and may order it undone/redone or perform it himself if rules are not followed.

Executive Supervision

The power to ensure rules are followed without the authority to lay down those rules or modify them.

Subordinate Legislation

The power of administrative bodies to implement broad policies passed by Congress by filling in the details lacking in the law.

Stare Decisis

The doctrine establishing that courts are bound by the decisions of superior courts and their own previous decisions to ensure consistency and stability.

Primary Authority

Legal authority that includes actual rules of law created by appropriate governmental bodies, which may be mandatory or persuasive.

Secondary Authority

Materials used to aid in explaining various areas of law, which are always persuasive but never mandatory.

Pacta Sunt Servanda

The principle that every international agreement in force is binding upon the parties and must be performed by them in good faith.

Doctrine of Incorporation

A constitutional mode where international law enters the domestic sphere by mere constitutional declaration.

Doctrine of Transformation

A mechanism requiring international law to be transferred into domestic law through local legislation.

Enrolled Bill Doctrine

The principle that the text of an act as passed and approved is conclusive of its provisions and due enactment, prevailing over the journal.

Practice of Law

Rendition of legal services, including any activity in or out of court that requires the application of law, legal procedure, or legal knowledge/skill.

Statutory Construction

The art of discovering and expounding the meaning and intention of law authors when such intention is rendered doubtful.

Verba Legis

A legal maxim meaning that from the words of the statute there must be no departure.

Res Judicata

A matter adjudged; a final judgment on the merits by a competent court is conclusive as to the rights of the parties and bars subsequent actions.

Law of the Case

The opinion delivered on a former appeal that constitutes the controlling legal rule between the same parties in that specific case.

Condonation Doctrine

A now-abandoned principle that a public official cannot be removed for administrative misconduct committed during a prior term upon being re-elected.

Psychological Incapacity

In a legal sense, the inability to understand marriage obligations, characterized by gravity, juridical antecedence, and incurability.

Dura Lex, Sed Lex

A Latin maxim meaning “The law is harsh, but it is the law.”