"He who is silent when conscience requires him to speak shall be debarred from speaking when conscience requires him to be silent." (Tobias v. Morris)
"He who seeks equity must do equity."
prior tempore, potior jure - he who is first in time is preferred in right.
nemo dat quod non habet- no one can give what one does not have
caveat emptor - buyer beware
caveat venditor - vendor beware
Ubi lex non distinguit, nec nos distinguere debemos - where the law does not distinguish, the courts cannot distinguish
sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas - use your own property in such manner as not to injure the rights of others.
damnum absque injuria- damage to one's self / damage without injury
partus sequitur ventrem- the offspring follows the dam/mother
Presumption of innocence does not carry with it the full enjoyment of civil and political rights.
Ex pacto illicito non oritur actio - no action
arises out of an illicit bargain
He who believes he has an action or right to deprive another of the holding of a thing, must invoke the aid of the competent court, if the holder should refuse to deliver the thing. - Art. 536. German Management & Services Inc. v. CA
Res perit domino - the thing is lost to the owner.
Non nudis pactis sed traditione dominia rerum transferantur - there is delivery if and when the thing sold is placed in the control and possession of the vendee.
Ambition without knowledge is like a boat on dry land. - Master Miyagi
The end does not justify the means.
Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt. - if eternal vigilance is the price of safety, one cannot sleep on one's right for more than a tenth of a century and expect it to be preserved in its pristine purity."
Security of tenure is a right which cannot be denied on mere speculation of any unclear and nebulous basis. - IPMS v. Arriola
Qui facit per alim facit per se - he who acts through another acts himself.
Pacta sunt servanda - agreements must be kept
Ex aequo et bono - from equity and conscience
Mutuo disenso - mutual desistance
Lex posterior derogat priori - a treaty may repeal a statute and a statute may repeal a treaty - latest point in time shall prevail
Terra nullius - nobody's land
Terra firma - solid ground
Vinculum juris - bond of law
Exceptio firmat regulim in casibus non exceptis - the expressed exception or exemption excludes others
Par in parem non habet imperium - equals have no sovereignty over each other.
Accessio cedat principali - accessory follows the principal
Salus populi est suprema lex - the welfare of the people is the supreme law
"The strength of democracy lies not in the rights it guarantees but in the courage of the people to invoke them whenever they are ignored or violated. Rights are but weapons on the wall if, like expensive tapestry, all they do is embellish and impress. Rights, as weapons, must be a promise of protection. They become truly meaningful, and fulfill the role assigned to them in the free society, if they are kept bright and sharp with use by those who are not afraid to assert them." - Ynot v. IAC
Affectio societatis - the common will of several legal persons or legal entities to merge into one entity
Delectus personae - choice persons
Uberrima fides - good faith
Jure imperii - sovereign and governmental acts
Jure gestionis - private, commercial and proprietary acts
Opinio juris sive necessitates - opinion as to law or necessity
Lex specialis derogat generalii - specific law prevails over general law
Doctrine of Rebus sic stantibus- things standing thus.. where there has been a fundamental change of circumstances, a party may withdraw from or terminate the treaty in question.
Animus revertendi - with intention to relocate
Animus manendi- the intention of remaining
pacta tertiis nec nocent nec prosunt - a treaty binds the parties and only the parties; it does not create obligations for a third state
Qui per alium facit per seipsum facere videtur - he who does a thing by an agent is considered as doing it himself.
Subpoena ad testificandum - an order to attend a court
Subpoena duces tecum - a requirement to produce a document
Forum non conveniens- the forum is inconvenient. This doctrine applies in conflicts of law cases. It gives the courts the choice of not assuming jurisdiction when it appears that it is not the most convenient forum and the parties may seek redress in another one.
Mobilia sequntuur personam - the situs of personal property is the domicile of the owner
-movables follow the person
Strictissimi juris - by the most strict right or law
Delegatus non potest delegare
Delegata postestas non potest delegari - the person to whom an office or duty is delegated cannot lawfully devolve the duty to another.
Equity jurisdiction - regards the spirit of the law and not its letter, the intent and not the form, the substance rather than the circumstance.
Res ipsa loquitur - the thing or transaction speaks for itself.
Wesberry v. Sanders - "no right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws, under which, as good citizens, we must live."
Cognavit actiomen - he has confessed action
Relicta verificationem - his pleading being abandoned
Qui per alium facit per seipsum facere videtur - he who does a thing by an agent is considered as doing it himself
Volenti non fit injuria - that which a person assents are not esteemed in law as injury.
Novus actus interveniens - new act intervening (any intervening act that can severe the legal connection between a defendant's actions and the harm suffered by the plaintiff)
Suum jus summa injuria - the abuse of a right is the greatest possible wrong
Acts contra bonus - acts contrary to morals
Pro hac vice - for this occasion
Locus standi - legal standing- ripeness for judicial determination
Roxas v. CTA - the tax collector kills the hen that lays the golden egg. -power to tax involves the power to destroy.
Sison v. Ancheta - but the power to tax is not the power to destroy while this court sit.
Exec Sec v. Southwing Heavy Industries -
Administrative body's adoption of rules and regulation intended to carry out the provisions of the law and implement legislative policy provided:
1. Its promulgation must be AUTHORIZED by the legislature
2. It must be promulgated in accordance with the prescribed PROCEDURE
3. It must be within the SCOPE of authority given by the legislature
4. It must be REASONABLE
Ubi jus ubi remedium - there is no wrong without a remedy
Imperitia cupae adnumeratur - inexperience is counted as fault
Phil-Am Drug v. CIR
- The right to preferential hiring does not carry with it the right to be appointed to a higher position.
Ad imposible nemu tenetur - the law itself cannot exact compliance with the impossible.
Qui Jure Suo Utitur Neminem Facit Injuriam - he who exercises his own right injures no one.
honeste vivere, alterum non laedere, jus suum cuique tribuere - to live honorably: not to injure another, to give each his due.
Restitutio in integrum - restoration to original condition
Daño emergente or damnum emergens - loss of what a person already possesses
Lucro cessante or ganacias frustadas - failure to receive as a benefit that which would have pertained to him
Torreon v. Aparra, Jr.
-Testimonial evidence, if not questioned for credibility, bears the same weight as documentary evidence.
slush fund - is a fund or account that is not properly accounted, such as money used for corrupt or illegal purposes, especially in the political sphere.
Public policy - that principle of the law which holds that no subject or citizen can lawfully do that which has a tendency to be injurious to the public or against the public good.
Motu proprio- on one's own initiative
Salva v. Magpile - what is generally spoken shall be generally understood
Qui jure sio utitur nullum damnum facit - one who exercises a right does no injury
Daño emergente - the loss of what a person already possesses
Lucro cesante - the failure to receive as a benefit that would have pertained to him
Delectus personae - the right of partners to exercise their choice and preference as to the admission of any new members to the partnership.
Amici curiae - friends of the court
Affectio societatis - common will of several legal persons or legal entities to merge into one entity
Gross misconduct - any inexcusable, shameful or flagrant unlawful conduct on the part of a person concerned with the administration of justice.
Judicial recourse - motion for reconsideration, appeal, petition for certiorari
Reasonable time - so much time as is necessary under the circumstances for a reasonably prudent and diligent man to do, conveniently, what the contract or duty requires that should be done, having regard for the rights and possibility of loss, if any, to the other party. - Manotoc v. CA
Reasonable time - that amount of time for a reasonably prudent and diligent person to comply with the requirments.
Expressio Unius Est Exclusio Alterius - to express one is to exclude others
"He who sleeps on his rights shall suffer the fatal consequence of the same."
mobilia sequuntur personam - movables follow to owner's domicile
nova constitutio futuris formam imponere debet non praeteritis - a new state of the law ought to affect the future, not the past.
What the law does not include, it excludes.
Laches - failure or neglect, for an unreasonable and unexplained length of time; to do that which, by exercising due diligence, could or should have been done earlier; it is negligence or omission to assert a right within a reasonable time, warranting a presumption that the party entitled to assert it either has abandoned it or declined to assert it.
Legis posteriors priores contrarias abrogant - later laws abrogate earlier, contrary ones. irreconcilable inconsistency between two laws embracing the same subject may exist when the later law nullifies the reason or purpose of the earlier act, so that the latter loses all meaning and function.
Small claim - is an action that is purely civil in nature where the claim or relief raised by the plaintiff is solely for the payment or reimbursement of a sum of money. It excludes actions seeking other claims or reliefs aside from payment or reimbursement of a sum of money and those coupled with provisional remedies.
Nullius filius - a son of no one
Republicae ut sit finis litium - there should be an end to litigation
Nemo debet bis vexari, pro una et eadem causa - no man shall be twice vexed for one and the same cause
- the hardship on the individual that he should be vexed twice for the same cause.
Res judicata - a matter adjudged
Deposition de bene esse - take for purposes of a pending action
Deposition perpetuam rei memoriam - taken to perpetuate testimony for purposes of an anticipated action or further proceedings in case of appeal
"He who claims an exemption from his share of the common burden of taxation must justify his claim by showing that the legislature intended to exempt him by words too plain to be beyond doubt or mistake."
MCIAA v. Marcos - Since taxation is the rule, and exemption is the exception, the exemption may thus be withdrawn at the pleasure of the taxing authority.
articulo mortis - at the point of death
Doctrine of Immutability of Final Judgment - an immutability of judgment is the principle that once a judgment has become final and executory, it may no longer be modified in any respect, even if the modification is meant to correct what is perceived to be an erroneous conclusion of fact or law.
Law of the case - whatever is once irrevocably established as the controlling legal rule or decision between the same parties in the case continues to be the law of the case, whether correct on general principles or not, so long as the facts on which such decision was predicated continue to be the facts of the case before the court.
Semper praesumitur pro matrimonio - marriage is always presumed
Prima facie - disputable presumption
The basic tenet of immutability of judgments evokes that at some point, a decision must become final and executory and, consequently, all litigations must come to an end. Moreover, a second motion for reconsideration does not suspend the running of the period to appeal and neither does it have any legal effect.
Sin perjuicio judgment - a judgment without a statement of the facts in support of its conclusion and is to be supplemented later by the final judgment. (It is void)
Prefatory statement**
Prejudicial question
Collateral attack - an attack, made as an incident in another action, whose purpose is to obtain a different relief.
Noscitur a sociis - when a particular word or phrase is ambiguous in itself or is equally susceptible of various meanings, its correct construction may be made clear and specific by considering the company of words in which it is found or with which it is associated.
Functus officio - having fulfilled the function, discharged the office, or accomplished the purpose, and, therefore, of no further force or authority.
Grave abuse of discretion - either that the judicial or quasi-judicial power was exercised in an arbitrary or despotic manner by reason of passion of personal hostility, or that the judge, tribunal or board evaded a positive duty, or virtually refused to perform the duty enjoined or to act in contemplation of law, such as when such judge, tribunal or board exercising judicial or quasi-judicial powers acted in a capricious or whimsical manner as to be equivalent to lack of jurisdiction.
Chua-Qua v. Clave - "If the two eventually fell in love, despite the disparity in their ages and academic levels, this only lends substance to the truism that the heart has reasons of it own which reason does not know. But, definitely, yielding to this gentle and universal emotion is not to be so casually equated with immorality. The deviation of the circumstances of their marriage from the usual societal pattern cannot be considered as a defiance of contemporary social mores."
Disposicion captatoria - any disposition made upon the condition that the heir shall make some provision in his will in favor of the testator or of any other person shall be void. Both the condition and the disposition are void.
The efficacy of a holographic will cannot be left to the mercy of unscrupulous third parties.
Reserva troncal - Art. 891 CC. The ascendant who inherits from his descendant any property which the latter may have acquired by gratuitous title from another ascendant, or a brother or sister, is obliged to reserve such property as he may have acquired by operation of law for the benefit of relatives who are within the third degree and who belong to the line from which said property came.
Depacage - different aspects of a case involving a foreign element may be governed by different systems of law.
Doctrine of relative revocation (Molo v. Molo) - revocation of the old will is a suspensive condition or depends upon the efficacy of the new disposition, and if the new will intended as a substitute is inoperative, the revocation fails, and the original will remain in force.
Fideicommisary substitution (Art. 863) - the fiduciary or 1st heir instituted is entrusted with the obligation to preserve and to transmit to a 2nd heir the whole or part of the inheritance, provided such substitution does not go beyond one degree from the heir originally instituted.
Social Justice.—Social justice is “neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor anarchy,” but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the State so that justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated. Social justice means the promotion of the welfare of all the people, the adoption by the Government of measures calculated to insure economic stability of all the competent elements of society, through the maintenance of a proper economic and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the members of the community, constitutionally, through the adoption of measures legally justifiable, or extra-constitutionally, through the exercise of powers underlying the existence of all governments on the time-honored principle of salus populi est supremo, lex. Social justice, therefore, must be founded on the recognition of the necessity of interdependence among divers and diverse units of a society and of the protection that should be equally and evenly extended to all groups as a combined force in our social and economic life, consistent with the fundamental and paramount objective of the state of promoting the health, comfort, and quiet of all persons, and of bringing about “the greatest good to the greatest number.” Calalang vs. Williams et al., 70 Phil., 726, No. 47800 December 2, 1940.
non refert quid notum sit judici si notum non sit in forma judici - it matters not what is known to the judge, if it is not known to him judicially.
Curing - refers to treating a physical illness
Healing - inner sense of peace, coherence, and purpose the patient finds even in the midst of an incurable condition
Contra proferentem rule - the interpretation of obscure words or stipulations in a contract shall not favor the party who caused the obscurity.
Arm's length principle - the transaction with a related party to be made under comparable conditions and circumstances as a transaction with an independent party.
Jus abutendi - right to abuse
Jus utendi - right to use and exclude others from its use
Jus possidendi - hold possession
Jus fruendi - enjoy its fruits
Jus accessiones - acquire its accessions
Jus vindicandi - recover it
Jus disponendi - transfer and even destroy it
Documents - dead proofs (probatio morta)
Wintesses - living proofs (probatio viva)
Falsa demonstratio non nocet - a false description does not vitiate
Bird in the hand theory - a bird in the hand is much better than a bird in the bush.
Ante litem motam - spoken before a lawsuit is brought
Optima statuli interpretatix est ipsum statutum - taken as a whole and under the principle that the best interpreter of a statute is the statute itself
Res inter alios acta alteri nocere non debet - a transaction between two parties ought not to operate to the peril of another, or things transacted between strangers do not injure those who are not parties to them.
Qui tacet consentire videtur - he who is silent appears to consent
Ratio legis est anima legis - the reason of the law is its soul
If we speak of the law as our mistress, we who are here know that she is a mistress only to be won with sustained and lonely passion - only to be won by straining all the faculties by which man is likened to God.
To live well, to excel or flourish, is to function well.
No person would want to meet his maker with a lie on his lips.
Lex iniusta non est lex - an unjust law is not law
Id quod ius natural dicitur quod naturalis ratio sine omni deliberatione aut sine magna dictat esse faciendum - that which natural reason, without much or even any need of reflection, tells us what we must do
Ejusdem generis - where general words follow an enumeration of persons or things, by words of a particular and specific meaning, such general words are not to be construed in their widest extent, but are to be held as applying only to persons or things of the same kind of class as those specifically mentioned.
Onus probandi - the obligation to prove an assertion or allegation that one makes; the burden of proof
Fait accompli - a thing that has already happened or been decided before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option but to accept it
Quo warranto - by what authority
Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat - he who asserts, not he who denies, must prove
Bursting bubble theory - presumptions are like bats of the law flitting in the twilight but disappearing in the sunshine of actual facts.
Omnia praesumuntur rite et solemniter esse acta donec probetur in contrarium - all things are presumed to have been done regularly and with due formality until the contrary is proved.
Por lo que puedo valer principle - liberality in admitting evidence
Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus - false in one thing, false in everything
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia - intersexuality - Republic v. Cagandahan
Verba legis non est recedendum - from the words of a statute, there must be no departure
Social justice cannot be permitted to the refuge of scoundrels any more than can equity be an impediment to the punishment of the guilty.
Potestas delagata non delegari potest - what has been delegated cannot be delegated
The Constitution is the shore of legislative authority against which the waves of legislative enactments may dash, but over which it cannot leap. - Government v. Springer
A slight doubt created in the identity of the perpetrators of the crime should be resolved in favor of the accused.
The first duty of the prosecution is not to prove the crime but to prove the identity of the criminal, for even if the commission of the crime can be established, there can be no conviction without proof of identity of the criminal beyond reasonable doubt.
"If he cannot judge the limits of his power, he cannot call upon its strength. If he cannot sense the possible, he will exhaust himself attempting the impossible."
"An unconstitutional law is void. It produces no rights, imposes no duties and affords no protection. It has no legal effect. It is, in legal contemplation, inoperative as if it has not been passed."
"civillian authority is at all times supreme over the military"
"A constitution must be firm and immovable, like a mountain amidst the strife of storms or a rock in the ocean amidst the raging of the waves."
An EX POST FACTO LAW is one which:
1. MAKES criminal an act dine before the passage of the law and which was innocent when done, and punishes such an act;
2.AGGRAVATES a crime, or makes it greater than it was, when committed;
3.changes the punishment and inflicts a greater PUNISHMENT than the law annexed to the crime when committed;
4.ALTERS the legal rules of evidence and authorizes conviction upon less or different testimony than the law required at the time of the commission of the offense;
5.assumes to regulate civil rights and remedies only, in effect imposes PENALTY or deprivation of a right for something which when done was lawful
6.deprives a person accused of a crime some lawful PROTECTION to which he has become entitled, such as the protection of a former conviction or acquittal or a proclamation of amnesty
A bill of attainder is a legislative act which inflicts punishment without trial.
actus non facet reum nisi men cit rea - the act is not criminal when the mind is not criminal
nullum crimen nulla poena sine lege - there is no crime when there is no law that punishes the act
If the foreign vessel is a merchant vessel, there are two rules as to jurisdiction, namely: (1) French rule is that crimes committed on board are not triable in our country unless those affect the peace and security of our country, and (2) English rule is that crimes are triable unless such crimes affect merely the internal management of the vessel. The English rule is followed in our jurisdiction.
nemo ex alterius incommode debet lecupletari - no man ought to be made rich out of another's injury
Art 1 1987 Constitution
"The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago with all the islands and waters embraced therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial, and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular shelves, and other submarine areas. The waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines."
Constituent Functions: OLPRCJPP
1. The keeping of order and providing for the protection of persons and property from violence and threat
2. The fixing of legal relations between man and wife and between parents and children
3. The regulation of the holding, transmission and interchange of property and determination of its liabilities for debt or for crime
4. Determination of contract rights between individuals
5. Definition and punishment of crime
6. Administration of justice in civil cases
7. Determination of political duties, privileges and relations of citizens
8. Preservation of the state against outside or external encroachment and danger and promotion of international interest
"No inch of Philippine territory can be impregnated by an alien color."
"There can be no legal right as against the authority that makes the law on which the right depends."
"State, as a sovereign, can do no wrong."
Striations - rifled firearms produce unique, weapon-specific, microscopic marks on the sides of the bullets as the bullets travel through the barrel
Laissez-faire -
Public trust doctrine - parens patriae
Regalian doctrine art 12 of the consti
L
Noscitur associis
Stand ground when in the right.
Quando res non valet ut ago, valeat quantum valere potest - the binding force of a contract must be recognized as far as it is legally possible to do so.
The power to regulate does not include the power to prohibit or confiscate.
"Dwelling is aggravating because of the sanctity of privacy which the law accords to human abode. He who goes to another's house to hurt him or do him wrong is more guilty than he who offends him elsewhere. Dwelling aggravates a felony where the crime is committed in the dwelling of the offended party provided that the latter has not given provocation therefor."
“The Law is a jealous mistress and requires a long and constant courtship. It is not to be won by trifling favors, but by a lavish homage. ” (Justice Joseph Story, US Supreme Court, 1829)
Distribution or sale of dangerous drugs as heinous for being a grievous, odious and hateful offense and which, by reason of its inherent or manifest wickedness, viciousness, atrocity and perversity is repugnant and outrageous to the common standards and norms of decency and morality in a just, civilized and ordered society.
"Equity as an exceptional extenuating circumstance does not favor, nor may it be used to reward, the indolent or the wrongdoer for that matter. This Court will not allow a party, in guise of equity, to benefit from its own fault."
Sin perjuicio judgment - a judgment without a statement of the facts in support of its conclusions, to be later supplemented by the final judgment.
Proximity rule (de los santos v. Mallare) - freedom of discussion without fear of embarrassment or misgivings of possible betrayals of personal trust or confidential matters of State.
The vitality of democracy lies not in the rights it guarantees, but in the courage of the people to assert and use them whenever they are ignored or worse infringed. - Sydeco v. People
State is a politically organized community independent of outside control bound by ties of nationhood legally supreme within its territory acting through a government functioning under a regime of law. - CIR v. Campos Rueda
Government is the institution or aggregate of institutions by which an independent society makes and carries out those rules of action which are necessary to enable men to live in a social state, or which are imposed upon the people forming that society by those who possess the power or authority of prescribing them. - Bacani v. NACOCO
Procedural due process cannot possibly be met without a law which hears before it condemns, which proceeds upon inquiry and renders judgment only after trial.
Genus nunquam perit - genus of a thing can never perish
Judicial controversy - an existing case or controversy that is appropriate or ripe for judicial determination, not one that is conjectural or anticipatory.
"An issue which has not been raised in the court a quo cannot be raised for the first time on appeal as it would be offensive to the basic rules of fair play, justice, and due process."
"Fraud may be characterized as the voluntary execution of a wrongful act or a willful omission, while knowing and intending the effects that naturally and necessarily arise from that act or omission."
Irreparable injury - where there is no standard by which their amount can be measured with reasonable accuracy (not susceptible of mathematical computation)
Berry Rule - ground for new trial
Insanity is a condition of the mind which is so impaired in function or so deranged as to induce a deviation from normal conduct on the person so afflicted.
Moral certainty - that degree of proof which produces conviction in an unprejudiced
Robbery with Homicide
"It is immaterial that the death would supervene by mere accident; or that the victim of homicide is other than the victim of robbery, or that two or more persons are killed or that aside from the homicide, rape, intentional mutilation, or usurpation of authroity, is committed by reason or on the occasion of the crime.
Likewise immaterial is the fact that the victim of homicide is one of the robbers; the felony would still be robbery with homicide. Once a homicide is committed by or on the occasion of the robbery, the felony committed is robbery with homicide."
"Social justice cannot be permitted to be refuge of scoundrels any more than can equity be an impediment to the punishment of the guilty."
"Equity is justice outside law, being ethical rather than jural and belonging to the sphere of morals than of law."
Travaux preparatoires - minutes of the negotiation (preparatory work)
Justice delayed is justice denied.
The end will not justify the means.
