LEGAL RESEARCH
Chapter 6
LAW BOOKS OF SECONDARY AUTHORITY
Works which are not primary authority but which digest, discuss or analyze legal provisions, judicial
decisions or define and explain legal doctrines and terms are considered secondary materials.
These secondary sources can help analyze a problem and provide research references to both
primary sources and other secondary materials.
A. CASE DIGESTS – are compilations of paragraphs containing concise summaries of points in
cases, grouped under appropriate headings, the chief of which are alphabetically arranged.
Each paragraph in case digests is complete in itself when it has concisely and accurately
stated the point decided with reference to precise facts.
1. Philippine Digest – this publication of Lawyers Coop. was designed as a companion set to
the Philippine Reports. It has a general scheme of digesting cases and a system of
numerous references of such American counterparts as those of the Lawyer Reports
Annotated, the American Law Reports, and the United States Court Reports with
modifications to suit Philippine law.
2. Republic of the Philippines Digest – this publication also by the Lawyers Coop., dubbed
“Republic Digest” for short, starts from where the Philippine Digest leaves off, cover all
decisions of the Supreme Court from July 4, 1946 through September 1958, published and
unpublished. The set comprises Volumes 1 to 7 of digest paragraphs, classified under
pertinent topics, and Volume 8 devoted to an alphabetically arranged table of cases.
Vols. 9-17 cover decisions from 1958 to 1966.
3. Velayo’s Digest – covers not only decisions of Supreme Court but also those of the Court
of Appeals. The main set of 25 vols. Covers the leading cases of the Supreme Court and
the Court of Appeals from 1942 to 1960
4. SCRA Quick-Index Digest – this publication by Central Lawbook Supply, Inc. has three
volumes. The first two volumes condenses Volumes 1 to 36 of SCRA, while the third volume
covers Volumes 37 to 61 also of SCRA up to 1974. Every year thereafter, yearly digests have
been coming out
5. Compendium of Philippine Jurisprudence – authored by Celso L. Magsino and published
by Rex Book Store, it has 12 volumes containing digests of decisions of the Supreme Court
from 1945 to 1980
6. Other Digests – the other digests are:
a. Armando C. Castillo, Digest of Supreme Court Decisions, 9 vols. (1951-1964)
b. Napoleon Garcia, Complete Monthly Digest of Supreme Court Decisions
c. Navarrete, Digest-Index (of Supreme Court Decisions), for 1957 and 1959
d. Jurado, Leading Cases in Civil Law (Supreme Court), for 1958-1960
e. Daniel T. Martinez, Summary of Supreme Court Rulings, starting from 1986 following
the topic classification in the bar examination
f. Jesus M. Elbinias, Philippine Judicial Weekly
g. Supreme Committee, Supreme Court Digest
B. TREATISES AND TEXTBOOKS – expositions by legal writers on statutory law and case law
pertaining to a particular subject and published in book form.
1 . Administrative Law 22 . Evidence
2 . Agency 23 . Firearm Law
3 . Agrarian Reform 24 . Insurance
4 . Arbitration Law 25 . Intellectual Property
5 . Banking 26 . International Law (Public and Private)
6 . Building Code 27 . Introduction Law
7 . Business Law
28 . Agrarian Reform (With Taxation and
8 . Church Law
29 .
Coops.) Investments Law
9 . Citizenship
30 .
Judges and Courts
10 . Civil Law
31 .
Labor and Social Legislation
11 . Civil Procedure (see Rules of Court)
32 .
Land Titles and Deeds
12 . Civil Service Law
33 .
Legal Ethics
13 . Commercial Law
34 .
Legal Medicine
14 . Constitutional Law
35 .
Legal Research and Writing
15 . Construction Law
36 .
Muslim Law
16 . Cooperative
37 .
Natural Resources
17 . Corporation Law
38 .
Negotiable Instruments Law
18 . Credit Transactions
39 .
Obligations and Contracts
19 . Criminal Law (Penal Code)
40 .
Parliamentary Law
20 . Education Act
41 .
Partnership
21 . Election Law
42 .
Persons and Family Relations
43 . Philosophy, Legal 52 . Succession, Wills
44 . Political Law 53 . Tariff and Customs Code
45 . Property 54 . Taxation
46 . Rental Law 55 . Torts and Damages
47 . Roman Law 56 . Transportation, Admiralty and Maritime Law
48 . Rules of Court 57 . Trial Practice
49 . Sales
50 . Securities Act
51 . Statutory Construction
C. BAR REVIEWERS – bar review materials are very helpful to fourth year law students and those
reviewing for the bar. They are also very important to legal researchers because they
present a concise presentation of the law, legal doctrines and leading Supreme Court
decisions in capsulized form. They are usually very current and include the latest SC
decisions.
Florenz Regalado’s Remedial Law compendium
Albano Civil Law reviewer
Bernas The 1987 Philippine constitution –reviewer primer
Francisco Pre-week Memory Aidfd in all Bar subjects 1997 edition
D. LEGAL PERIODICALS – the most serious and highly reputed legal periodical are the
academic law reviews are published by virtually all accredited law schools as training
grounds for student editors. They contain both articles by established scholars and student-
written comments and case notes. Both lead articles and comments are marked by
extensive footnotes, making them useful research tools.
In addition to general law reviews, there is an ever growing number of specialized
academic journals, focusing on topics from ecology to industrial relations. Most of these are
student-edited, but a few specialized scholarly journals, such as the American Journal of
Legal History and the Journal of Legal History and the Journal of Legal Studies, are edited
by faculty.
Legal Periodicals -
Ateneo Law Journal
Court of Agrarian Relations Journal
Far Eastern Law Review
Francisco College of Law Journal
Integrated Bar of the Philippines Journal
Lawyers Journal
The Lawyers Review
Lyceum Law Review
MLQ Law Quarterly
Philippine International Law Journal
Philippine Labor Law Journal
Philippine Law Journal (of UP)
Philippine Lawyers Association Journal
Philippine Tax Journal
San Beda Law Journal
Tax Quarterly of the Philippines
The Law Review (UST)
University of the East Law Journal
University of Manila Law Gazette Journal
University of San Carlos Law Review
Leading Law Journal in the Philippines – Philippine Law Journal of the UP College of Law
which has been in existence since 1910. It is distinguished by its scholarly articles, reviews
and commentaries. It is exchanged with leading universities in the United States and
Europe and its articles by leading Filipino academicians and students of the College of
Law are recorded in bibliographic listings around the world.
Newspapers daily case digests – started by Justice Federico B. Moreno
Manila Times
Daily Mirror
Bulletin Today
Times Journal
Daily Express
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Philippine Star
Business Day
E. LEGAL ENCYCLOPEDIA – while a textbook deals with one subject or phrase of a subject of
the law, encyclopedia treats of all subjects. It is a comprehensive treatise of the entire field
of the law. This whole field of the law is divided into topics arranged in alphabetical order. It
presents in concise form, brief but comprehensive statements of the current law upon said
topics.
A legal encyclopedia as distinguished from law dictionaries is a subject-book which presents
to the user the means of making his own definitions. It deals with a whole field of law as
distinguished from treatise which treats of a portion of the subject. It gives a literary
statement of the law as distinguished from digests which presents isolated summaries of
points of law.
Cyclopedia of Philippine Law – first attempt to publish a legal encyclopedia in the
Philippines, to be authored by Alvir & Associates. However, only the first volume
containing a textual treatment of the law from A to C was publish.
Encyclopedia of Philippine Law and Jurisprudence (Pedro Venida) – only its first volume
had been published
Philippine Tax Reporters – specialized encyclopedia on taxation; advertised as a 25-
volume cyclopedia, with annual supplements; deals extensively with the National
Internal Revenue Code, special tax laws, tax rulings, circulars, decisions and treatises.
After three volumes, it stopped.
The Philippine Legal Encyclopedia – Jose Agaton R. Sibal; published by Central Law
Book Publishing Co.
F. LAW DICTIONARIES – are useful for identifying the definitions of words in their legal sense or
use. For each word or phrase, a short definition is given. Some also provide a citation to a
court case or other reference having the source of the word or phrase.
Diccionario de Administracion de las Islas Filipinas – published in 1887
Diccionario Juridico Recopilador – Martinez de San Agustin, 1922; a study which
included chronological and alphabetical indexes of Philippine legislation and
jurisprudence.
Philippine Law Dictionary – Federico B. Moreno, 1972; it defined legal terms and phrases
that, as part of our law and jurisprudence, was necessary to a law practitioner. Those
definitions are related to Philippine codes or statues and/or the authoritative court
decisions where they may be found by citation to specific provisions of law or to
reported cases.
Dictionary of International Law and Diplomacy – Gamboa
Philippine Labor Dictionary – Isidro (1966)
Dictionary of Insurance Terms and Phrases – Tiopanco (1976)
Chapter 7
SEARCH MATERIALS AND FINDING TOOLS
There have been a large volume of statutory law and case law that have been churned out by
our legislative mill and judicial branch of government since 1900 and the legal researcher needs
some means of subject access into this large body of law. The effective operation of the
doctrine of precedent requires that prior decisions be easily available. Without a topical
approach to legal sources, researchers could not find existing decisions or statues on point.
We therefore need search materials and finding tools for legal research. The purpose of these
materials and tools is not to persuade, nor do they themselves have any primary or persuasive
authority. They are only means for locating primary sources. It is then necessary to read those
primary sources to determine their applicability to a particular situation. In legal research, as in
other sense of relevance – a keen appreciation of which sources are legally and factually
relevant to the specific inquiry.
A. CITATORS – supply references to decisions in which other cases have been cited, reviewed,
affirmed, reversed, overruled, criticized or commented upon, and to cases in which statutes
have been construed, and to statutes in which prior acts have been amended, renewed
or repealed.
Philippine Citations – first citator published in the Philippines; Dizon (1937); 2 volumes
which contain complete citations found in Vols. 2 to 64 of the Philippine Reports and in
the Official Gazette to April 1947 (including occupation issues) of the decisions of the
Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals as well as of Philippine laws, including Royal
Decrees and Orders, Ordinances of the City of Manila, and other matters.
This citatory provides the researcher with knowledge at a glance whether a given
reported Philippine decision has been overruled, criticized, limited in its application,
distinguished or followed in subsequent reported decisions. Likewise, by consulting the
citations to codes and statutes, the researcher will have before him all reported
Philippine decisions wherein a particular Philippine statute has been cited, invoked,
applied, construed or discussed.
Philippine Citations – next citatory publish in the Philippines in 1964 by Paras; 2 vols.,
Volume 1 deals with citations covering Vols. 1 to 82 of the Philippine Reports and issues
of the Official Gazette from 1942 to 1962. Volume 2 contains code citations, statute
citations, and citations of administrative rules as well as Spanish laws applied to the
Philippines.
Philippine Citator – contained in Volume 11 of the Philippine Digest. It lists all the citations
in the Philippine Reports, the Supreme Court of Spain, the United States Supreme Court,
the other Federal Courts, and the courts of various states and territories of the United
States.
Citations in the decisions of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Court of Tax
Appeals, reported in Vol. 52 of the Official Gazette are contained in the Citator which
forms part of the 1956 Official Gazette Desk Book. For 1959 Supreme Court Decisions, a
citatory is offered in Navarrete’s Digest-Index. Citations are also included in each
volume of the Philippine Reports.
B. INDEXES – usually means a subject-index which is like the index found in textbooks, statutes,
etc. A subject index is an alphabetically arranged topical words in which, by means of
references under each topic, materials relating to these topics expressed in appropriate
words is digested.
1. Indexes to the “Public Laws of the Philippine Islands
2. Indexes to the Public Laws of the Commonwealth
3. Laws and Resolutions Index
4. Philippine Annotated Laws (P.A.L.) Index
5. Index to Republic Acts – Moran
6. Subject Index to Presidential Decrees and other Presidential Issuances (until 1978)
7. Index Guide of Vital Legal Documents
8. Index – Isabelo Moran (Presidential Decrees)
9. Index in the Philippine Permanent and General Statutes
10. Commonwealth Acts Annotated – Guevarra
11. Public Laws of the Commonwealth – Jacobo
12. Guevarra’s Annotated Laws
13. Philippine Treaties Index
14. Philippine Digest – Vols. 18-19
15. Republic of the Philippines Digest – Vols. 6, 9 11 and 13
16. Ateneo de Manila Libraries’ Index – covering 1911 to 1975 of Supreme Court Decisions
17. Title Index to Supreme Court Decisions – Milagros Santos Ong; 1945-1978 with 1978-
1982 supplement
18. SCRA Quick-Index
19. UP Law Library – with card indexes to legal periodicals
C. BIBLIOGRAPHIES – a list of descriptions of published materials either relating to a given
subject, or by a given author. A bibliography of law books may refer to a list of an author’s
legal works, or of the literature bearing on a particular subject or field of law.
1. Philippine Legal Bibliography – Justice Federico B. Moreno (1973)
2. Handbook on Legal Bibliography – Andres Soriano (11984)
3. A Guide to Philippine Legal Materials – Fortunato Gupit and Daniel Martinez (1993
