TRIVIA : The Philippines was a colony of Spain from 1521 until 1898, when iT became a territory of the United States (US) under the 1898 Treaty of Paris, a result of the Spanish–American War. Under Spanish rule, the Philippines was a civil law jurisdiction. Written codes were deemed the primary source of legal authority. Until the late 1800s, the Philippines was governed by Las Leyes de los Reinos de Indias (The Law of the Indies) , a collection of enactments borne from Spain’s experience with its colonies in America. This body of law was supplemented by royal orders and decrees. It recognized indigenous laws and customs that were not in conflict with the Catholic faith or expressly prohibited under Spanish law. Criminal or civil matters that were not covered by the Law of the Indies were in theory governed by laws in force on the Spanish mainland. In practice, however, Spanish laws were consulted rather than applied consistently. A penal code was introduced in the Philippines in 1887 and a civil code in 1889, both based on their equivalents in Spain. Other codes dealing with civil procedure, commerce, and criminal procedure were enacted in 1888. More specialized areas of commercial and civil law such as mortgages, copyright, mining, railways, and water rights were covered by special enactments. The chief executive of the Government of Spain in the Philippines was the governor-general, who also possessed legislative power and was president of the Royal Audiencia, the supreme court. He shared legislative power with the Royal Audiencia, which, aside from being the principal appellate and review tribunal in the Philippines, possessed the authority to issue autos acordados (ordinances). The Royal Audencia could also assume executive power upon the governor-general’s death or prolonged absence. Spanish bureaucrats, who frequently held both executive and judicial power, carried out the administration of justice. Other examples aside from the governor-general were the alcalde mayor (provincial governor), who was also a judge of the court of first instance, and the gobernadorcillo (local may - or), who was also the municipal magistrate. During the last decades of the 19th century, Spain attempted to separate executive and judicial offices at the provincial and municipal levels. As a result, government and judicial authorities were “to be found in open conflict.” This Bankoff, note 3 supra, pp. 8, 93, 94. The Spanish Crown, acting through its councils, also issued laws that would have application to its colonies, including the Philippines. Background Note on the Justice Sector of the Philippines type of conflict had not previously arisen in the Philippines, as the administration of justice had always been viewed as an adjunct of executive fiat. When it assumed control over the Philippines in 1898, the Government of the United States issued a series of organic documents that were based on US constitutional law. It also created judicial institutions based on common law. The newly created Philippine courts relied on US jurisprudence to interpret the organic documents and apply them to Philippine political and govern mental processes. From the beginning, constitutional law was understood in the Philippines as it is in the US—as comprising not just the text of the Constitution, but “a body of rules resulting from the interpretation by a high court of cases in which the validity, in relation to the constitutional instrument, of some act of governmental power...has been challenged.” Philippine constitutional law continues to be viewed in this manner today, and the judiciary is recognized to possess not only the power but also the duty to review and declare void any act that is not in accordance with its in - terpretation of the Constitution. At present, the Philippines is considered a mixed jurisdiction. It implements laws that reflect a civil law legacy from Spanish colonial rule, such as the Civil Code and the Revised Penal Code, and the constitutional and common law tradition of the American colonial period. Philippine law also incorporates elements of precolonial customary law and sharia law of the country’s Muslim population. (2013 TACORDA CLIPPINGS NOTES/OFFICE FILES 007)
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 07:35:52 +0000
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