8.0 INTRODUCTION TO LAW

De Leon defines law in its most comprehensive sense as "any rule of action or any system of uniformity".

Hence, law is not limited to the activities of men as rational beings but also movements and motion of all other animate or inanimate objects.

8.1. GENERAL DIVISION OF LAW

1. The strict legal sense, which is also known as the state law and promulgated/enforce by the state.

2. The non-legal sense, which includes divine law, natural law, moral law, and physical law and is not promulgated/enforce by the state.

8.2. SUBJECTS OF LAW

With the 5 divisions of law, all apply to men as rational beings except one, that is, physical law, which operates on all things, including men. Physical law is called as such figuratively speaking.

8.3. THE NON LEGAL LAWS

8.4. THE STATE LAW

8.5. CHARACTERISTICS OF LAW

1. It is a rule of conduct. Law only acknowledges external acts telling what shall be and shall not be done.
2. It is obligatory. Law is a positive command imposing obedience.
3. It is promulgated by legitimate authority. The legislature is the legitimate and competent authority in a democratic country. Under the Constitution, laws called "statutes" are enacted by Congress.
4. It is a common observance and benefit. Law is intended by man to serve man. It regulates harmonious relations to make order and co-existence possible.

8.6. NECESSITY AND FUNCTIONS OF LAW

1. What would life be without law? The need for internal order is as constant as the need for external defense.
2. What does law do? 
1. Law secures justice.
2. Law resolves social conflict.
3. Law orders society.
4. Law protects interests.
5. Law controls social relations.
3. What is our duty as members of society? No society can last and continue without means of social control, without rules of social order binding on its members.

8.7. SOURCES OF LAW

The principal sources of law in the Philippines are as follows:

1. Constitution. With reference to the Philippine Constitution, the term is defined as  "the written instrument by which the fundamental powers of the government are established, limited, and defined, where these powers are distributed among the several departments for their safe and useful exercise to benefit the people." Constitution is often referred as the fundamental law or supreme law or highest law because it is promulgated by the people themselves.
2. Legislation. Acts passed by the legislature are so-called enacted law or statute law. This includes ordinances enacted by local government units.
3. Administrative or executive orders, regulations, and rulings.  Those issued by administrative officials under legislative authority to clarify or explain the law carry into effect its general provisions. Administrative acts are valid only when they are not contrary to the law and Constitution.
4. Judicial decisions and jurisprudence. Court decisions, particularly the Supreme Court, applying or interpreting the laws or the Constitution from 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 state decisis. Supreme Court may also reverse or modify its previous rulings.
5. Custom. The habits and practices, which through long and uninterrupeted usage have become acknowledged and approved by society as binding rules of conduct.
6. Other sources. These are resorted to by the courts in the absence of all the other resources but they not binding. They include:
1. Principles of justice and equity
2. Decisions of foreign tribunals
3. Opinions of textwriters
4. Religion

8.8. ORGANS OF SOCIAL CONTROL

Law is a means of social control. In addition to he legal institutions in the Philippines, there are a number of organs of social control:

1. Churches
2. Corporations
3. Political parties
4. Trade associations
5. Schools 
6. Labor unions
7. Professional organizations
8. Social clubs
9. Families

8.9. LAW COMPARED WITH OTHER MEANS OF SOCIAL CONTROL

Some basic differences between social controls through law and other methods are:

1. Laws are made and administered by authorized institutions acting on behalf of the entire citizenry while churches, for example, only act with their members.
2. Only legal institutions can make rules, regulations, and order for the entire citizenry while social and economic organizations govern only limited numbers.
3. People associated with organizations can ordinarily terminate their relationship and free themselves from the impact of its rules and regulations while citizens of a state cannot do this unless they decide to leave the geographical area.
4. The sanctions or techniques of control through law are more varied and complex than the techniques available to organizations such as churches, labor unions, and political parties.
5. Before the law "operates" against an individual, various procedural steps are required while organs of social control are generally not required to comply with such procedures in acting against individuals.

8.10. ORGANIZATION OF COURTS

1. Regular courts. The Philippine judicial system consists of a hierarchy of courts with the Supreme Court as the apex. The other courts are:
1. One Court of Appeals
2. Regional Trial Courts in different cities and provinces
3. Metropolitan Trial Courts (in Metropolitan areas), Municipal Trial Courts (in cities not forming metropolitan areas), and Municipal Circuit Trial Courts (in areas defined as municipal circuits)
2. Special courts. Under the Constitution, there are:
1.  The Sandiganbayan. A special anti-graft court with same level as the Court of Appeals.
2. The Court of Tax Appeals
3. Quasi-judicial agencies. Administrative bodies performing quasi-judicial functions, such as settlement or adjudication of controversies and disputes:
1. The National Labor Relations Commission
2. The Securities and Exchange Commission
3. Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board
4. Issuance Commission
5. Constitutional Commissions
1. Civil Service Commission
2. Commission on Elections
3. Commission on Audit

8.11. CLASSIFICATIONS OF LAW

1. As to purpose. 
1. Substantive Law, responsible for creating, defining, and regulating rights and duties, either public or private in character.
2. Adjective Law prescribes the manner or procedure by which rights may be enforced or their violations redressed. This is sometimes called remedial law or procedural law.
2. As to subject matter.
1. Public Law regulates the rights and duties arising from the relationship of the state to the people.
1. Criminal law defines crimes and provides for their punishment.
2. International law which governs the relations among nations or states
3. Constitutional law governs the relations between the state and its citizens
4. Administrative law governs the methods by which the functions of administrative authorities are to be performed.
5. Criminal procedure, a private law which governs the methods of trial and punishment in criminal cases.
2. Public law regulates the relations of individuals for purely private ends.

8.12. LAW ON OBLIGATIONS AND CONTRACTS DEFINED

Art. 1307 defines law of obligations and contracts as "the body of rules which deals with the nature and sources of obligations and the rights and duties arising from agreements and the particular contracts."

8.13. CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES

Republic Act No. 386, known as the Civil Code of the Philippines, covers law on obligations and contracts.

The Civil Code of the Philppines is based mainly on the Civil Code of Spain which took effect in the Philippines on 7th of December 1889. It was approved as Republic Act No. 386 on the 18th of June 1949 and took effect on the 30th of August 1950.