STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION NOTES FOR REVALIDA PDF

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important notes in statutory construction. important notes in statutory construction, important topics in statutory construction. with legal maxim and explanation...

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STATCON REVALIDA

I.

Doctrine of Necessary Implication – this doctrine states that what is implied is as much a part of thereof as that is which is expressed. Latin Maxim – ex nexessitate legis – from the necessity of the law. Every statute is understood, by implication to contain all such provisions as may be necessary to effectuate its objective and purpose, or to make effective rights, powers, privileges or jurisdiction which grants, including all such collateral and subsidiary consequences as may be fairly and logically inferred from its terms.

II.

Limits of the Courts to power to construe 1. Courts may not enlarge nor restrict statutes a. They are not authorized to insert into the law on what they think should be in it or supply what they the legislature would have supplied if its intention had been called to the omission b. They should not revise even the most arbitrary or unfair act of the legislature; nor rewrite the law to conform to what they think should apply 2. Courts are not to be influenced by question of wisdom a. The court merely interprets regardless of whether they wise or beneficiary b. Courts does not pass upon the question or wisdom of legislation for they are not to supervise the legislation.

III.

Judicial Review 1. There must be an actual case or controversy – The first requisite demands that there be an actual case calling for the exercise of judicial power by the Court. 2. The parties challenging the act must have the legal standing – such individual have a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy. They are directly and personally affected. The persons who have the legal standing are the Citizens, taxpayers, transcended importance, and the legislatures 3. The question is raised in the earliest possible opportunity – the controversy must not be moot and academic for it ceases to present a justiciable controversy by virtue of supervening events. The declaration would have no practical use or value. 4. The issue of constitutionality must be the very lis mota of the case involves legal conflicts of rights.

IV.

Judicial Restriction - judicial interpretation that encourages judges to limit the exercise of their own power. It asserts that judges should hesitate to strike down laws unless they are obviously unconstitutional.

V.

Parts of a Statute 1. Title – in accordance with the Article 6, Sec 26, Consti – every bill shall embrace only one subject which shall be expressed by one title 2. Preamble – prefatory statement or explaining what the purpose or reason of making of the law. 3. Enacting clause – states the authority by which the act is enacted. Ex. I the president, here by order…” 4. Purview of body of the statute – states what the law is about. 5. Separability clause – the other provision of the act will not be affected is a provision is declared null and void. 6. Repealing clause – repeals the law 7. Effectivity clause – date of effectivity

VI.

Bill Drafting Process

VII.

Intrinsic v Extrinsic Aids to Construction Intrinsic aids are the aids to construction are those found within the pages of the statute itself. Title – aid in case of doubt to its construction asserting the legislative will. Preamble -the prefatory statement, which states the reason or objective of the statue Punctuation marks, Capitalization of letters, headnotes and epigraphs, Dictionaries Extrinsic aid this are the aid of construction that can be found outside of the printed page. Legislative History - Its history proper covers the period and the steps done from the time the bill is introduced until it is finally passed by the legislature. President’s message to the legislature – indicates his thought on the proposed legislation Explanatory note – A short exposition of explanation accompanying a proposed legislation by its author or proponent.

VIII.

Three ways which Bill is Passed 1. President approved and signed the bill 2. Upon the receipt of the bill and there has been inaction from the President for 30 days upon the receipt, the bill becomes a law 3. If the bill was vetoed by the president, the congress may override the veto by the concurrence of the 2/3 of vote from the sperate houses

IX.

Statutory Construction Statutory construction is an art of process of discovering and expounding the meaning and intention of the authors of the law. The purpose of this is to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the law.

X.

Contemporaneous Construction Contemporaneous Construction are the constructions placed upon the statutes at the time of or after the enactment by the executive, legislative, judicial authorities as well as those who are involved in the process of legislation are knowledgeable of the intent and the purpose of the law.

XI.

Constitutional Construction To ascertain the intent or purpose of the framers of the law or constitution as expressed in the language of the fundamental law. The purpose of this is to protect and enhance the people’s interest as a nation collectively and as person individually

XII.

Construction v. Interpretation Construction is the art or process of discovering and expounding the meaning and intention of the framers of the law Interpretation is the art of finding the true meaning and sense of any form of words.

XIII.

Laws v Statute Law in a jural and generic sense it refers to the whole body of system of law, It includes, statutes, EO, PD, Jurisprudence Statute is an act of legislature as an organized body, expressed in the form and passed according to the procedure required to constitute it as part of the law of the land.

XIV.

Restriction in Passing the Revenue bill 1. Art. 6, Section 24 of the Constitution – All appropriation, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of the public debt, bills of local application, and private bills shall originate exclusively in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments. 2. Section 25, (1) the Congress may not increase the appropriations recommended by the president. 3. Special appropriations must specify its purpose 4. Congress shall strictly follow the procedure for approving appropriations 5. Discretionary funds appropriated for particular officials shall be disbursed only for public purposes. 6. President shall have the power to veto an item or items in an appropriation but not affect the remaining provisions

XV.

Codification v Revision Revision – to restate the existing law into one statute and simplify complicated statutes/provisions and make laws on the subject easily found. Codification – the process involves taking judicial decisions of legislative act and turning them into codified laws. Ex. Civil code, penal code, labor code

XVI.

Amendment v Repeal Amendment – change, modify, delete, alter the statute. The amendment of a statute is effected by the enactment of an amendatory act modifying or altering some provisions of a statute either expressly or impliedly. Express amendment – done by providing in the amendatory act that specific sections or provisions of a statute be amended as recited therein or as common indicated, “to read as follows.” Implied Amendment- when a part of a prior statute embracing the same subject as the later may not be enforced without nullifying the pertinent provision of the latter in which event, the prior act is deemed amended or modified to the extent of repugnancy. Repeal – revoke or annul a law or legislative act. Total Repeal – revoked completely; Partial repeal – leaves unaffected portions of the statue in force;

Express or declared repeal means that the repeal is contained in a special provision of a subsequent law. Implied or tacit repeal takes place when the provisions of the subsequent law are incompatible or inconsistent with those of an earlier law.Repeal by implication - Where a statute of later date clearly reveals an intention on the part of the legislature to abrogate a prior act on the subject, that intention must be given effect. Implied repeal – earlier and later statutes should embrace the same subject and have the same object.  In order to effect a repeal by implication, the later statute must be so irreconcilably inconsistent and repugnant with the existing law that they cannot be made to reconcile and stand together. XVII.

Prospective and Retroactive Statute Prospective Statutes operates upon the acts and transactions which have not occurred when the statute take effect that is which regulates the future. Laws shall have prospective effect unless the contrary is expressly provided. Retroactive law – one which take away or impair vested rights acquired under the existing laws, or creates new obligations and imposes new duties or attached new disabilities in respect of the transactions already in the past. Ex post facto law

XVIII.

Mandatory v Directory Mandatory – statue which commands either positively that something be done or negatively that something be not done. Requires obedience. Words of commands that are commonly used are shall, should, must, ought Directory – are permissive or discretionary in nature and merely outlines the act to be don’t in such a way no injury can result from ignoring it. Words commonly used are may or may not. Whether the statute is mandatory or directory it will always depended, or we should always look back to the legislative intent.

XIX.

Statute Liberally Construe Liberal construction , the words should have or receive fair and reasonable interpretation so as to attain the intent spirit and the purpose of the law. It is equitable as it may enlarge the letter of a statue to accomplish its intended purpose and carry out its intent to promote justice. Example: Veteran and pension laws are enacted to compensate the veterans who suffered from the war or hardships in the line of their duty. Expression of gratitude to and recognition of those who rendered service to the country by extending to them regular monetary benefit. It is liberally construed in favor of the grantee. Rules of Court – in order to promote their objective of securing a just disposition of every proceeding Amnesty Proclamations - Amnesty proclamations should be liberally construed as to carry out their purpose. – to encourage to return to the fold of the law of those who have veered from the law

XX.

Strict Construction Strict Construction – construing according to the letter of the law or law and recognizing nothing that is not expressed, takes the language used in its exact meaning and admits no equitable consideration Example: Penal statutes – strictly construed against the state but liberally construed in favor of the accused. No act should be pronounced criminal which is not clearly made so. Naturalization law – strictly construed against the applicant. Wherein the state is strict in terms of the qualifications of the individual requiring for naturalization.

XXI.

Ex post Facto v Bill of Attainder Ex post facto – ex post facto law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences (or status) of actions that were committed, or relationships that existed, before the enactment of the law.

Bill of attainder – A bill of attainder was a legislative act that singled out one or more persons and imposed punishment on them, without benefit of trial. XXII.

XXIII.

Ex post facto laws are any of the following: 1. Law makes criminal an act done before the passage of the law and which was innocent when done, and punishes such act 2. Law which aggravates a crime, makes it greater than it was, when committed 3. Law which changes the punishment & inflicts a greater punishment than that annexed to the crime when committed 4. Law which alters the legal rules of evidence, authorizes conviction upon less or different testimony than the law required at the time of the commission of the offense 5. Law which assumes to regulate civil rights and remedies only, but in effect imposes penalty or deprivation of a right for something which when done was lawful 6. Law which deprives a person accused of a crime of some lawful protection to which he has become entitled, such as protection of a former conviction or acquittal, or proclamation of amnesty Doctrine of Operative Fact

he doctrine of operative fact recognizes the existence of the law or executive act prior to the determination of its unconstitutionality as an operative fact that produced consequences that cannot always be erased, ignored or disregarded.

XXIV.

Provision v. Proviso Provision is the statement within the statute or law that a particular thing must happen. Proviso – to limit the application of the enacting clause, sector or provision of the statute, or to qualify, restrain its generality of the enacting clause or section. Purpose it to limit or restrict the general language or operation of the statute not to enlarge it.

XXV.

Consequences of alternative constructions 1. consequences that may follow from alternative construction of doubtful constitutional provisions constitute an important factor to consider in construing them. 2. if a provision has more than one interpretation, that construction which would lead to absurd, impossible or mischievous consequences must be rejected. 3. e.g. directory and mandatory interpretation: Art. 8 Sec 15(1) requires judges to render decision within specific periods from date of submission for decision of cases (construed as directory because if otherwise it will cause greater injury to the public)

XXVI.

Constitution defined ฀ fundamental law which sets up a form of government and defines and delimits the powers thereof and those of its officers, reserving to the people themselves plenary sovereignty ฀ written charter enacted and adopted by the people by which a government for them is established ฀ permanent in nature thus it does not only apply to existing conditions but also to future needs ฀ basically it is the fundamental laws for the governance and administration of a nation ฀ absolute and unalterable except by amendments ฀ all other laws are expected to conform to it

XXVII.

Maxims Dura lex Sed lex – the law may be harsh but is is still the law Verba Legis – Plain meaning rule. The words used in the constitution must be given in their ordinary meaning exept where technical terms are employed Casus Omissus – a person, object or thing omitted/exclude from the enumeration must be held to have been omitted intentionally. It operates only if and when the omission has been clearly established Optima Statuti interpreatio est ipsim statutum – the best interpreter of the statue is the statute itself. Ut res magis valeat quam pereat – the construction is to be sought which gives effect to the whole statute of its every word. nullum crimen sine lege, nulla poena sine lege. - The principle that there must be no crime or punishment except in accordance with fixed, predetermined law...