Statutes (Chapter II)

LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURES

The power to make laws is lodged in the legislative department of the

government.

A statute starts with a bill.

Bill – is the draft of a proposed law from the time of its introduction in a

legislative body through all the various stages in both houses. It is

enacted into law by a vote of the legislative body. An “Act” is the

appropriate term for it after it has been acted on and passed by the

legislature. It then becomes a statute, the written will of the legislature

solemnly expressed according to the form necessary to constitute it as

the law of the state.

“Statute Law” is a term often used interchangeably with the word

“statute”. Statute Law, however, is broader in meaning since it includes

not only statute but also the judicial interpretation and application of the

enactment.

HOW DOES A BILL BECOMES A LAW – STEPS

A bill before it becomes a law must pass the strict constitutional

requirements explicit both in the 1973 Constitution and the 1987

Constitution.

Passage of a bill in a parliamentary system (unicameral assembly):

a. A member of the National Assembly may introduce the proposed bill

to the Secretary of the National Assembly who will calendar the same

for the first reading.

b. In the first reading, the bill is read by its number and title only.

c. After the first reading, the bill is referred by the Speaker to the

appropriate committee for study. At this stage, the appropriate

committee will conduct public hearings. Then after the public

hearings, the committee shall decide whether or not to report the bill

favorably or whether a substitute bill should be considered. Should

there be an unfavorable report of the committee, then the proposed

bill is dead.

d. Upon favorable action by the committee, the bill is returned to the

National Assembly and shall be calendared for the second reading.

e. In the second reading, the bill is read in its entirety.

f. Immediately after the second reading, the bill is set for open debates

where members of the assembly may propose amendments and

insertions to the proposed bill.

g. After the approval of the bill in its second reading and at least three

(3) calendar days before its final passage, the bill is printed in its final

form and copies thereof distributed to each of the members.

h. The bill is then calendared for the third and final reading. At this

stage, no amendment shall be allowed. Only the title of the bill is

read and the National Assembly will then vote on the bill. Under the

present 1987b Constitution, after the third and final reading at one

House where the bill originated, it will go to the other House where it

will undergo the same process.

i. After the bill has been passed, it will be submitted to the Prime

Minister (President) for approval. If he disapproves, he shall veto it

and return the same with his objections to the National Assembly

(House where it originated), and if approved by two-thirds of all its

members, shall become a law. Under the present set-up, if the

originating house will agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together

with the objections to the other house by which it shall be likewise be

considered and must be approved by two-thirds of the votes. Every

bill passed by Congress shall be acted upon by the President within

thirty (30) days from receipt thereof. Otherwise, it shall become a law.

CONSTITUTIONAL TEST IN THE PASSAGE OF A BILL

Three (3) very important constitutional requirements in the enactment of

statute:

1. Every bill passed by Congress shall embrace only one subject which

shall be expressed in the title thereof. The purposes of this

constitutional requirements are:

· To prevent hodge-podge or log-rolling legislation;

· To prevent surprise or fraud upon the legislature; and

· To fairly apprise the people, through such publications of

legislative proceedings as is usually made, of the subjects of

legislation that are being considered, in order that they may have

opportunity of being heard thereon by petition or otherwise, if they

shall so desire.

2. No bill passed by either House shall become law unless it has passed

three readings on separate days, and printed copies thereof in its final

form have been distributed to each member three days before its

passage.

3. Every bill passed by the Congress shall, before it becomes a law, be

presented to the President. The executive approval and veto power of

the President is the third important constitutional requirement in the

mechanical passage of a bill.

PARTS OF STATUTE

a. Title – the heading on the preliminary part, furnishing the name by

which the act is individually known. It is usually prefixed to the

statute in the brief summary of its contents.

b. Preamble – part of statute explaining the reasons for its enactment

and the objects sought to be accomplished. Usually, it starts with

“whereas”.

c. Enacting clause – part of statute which declares its enactment and

serves to identify it as an act of legislation proceeding from the proper

legislative authority. “Be enacted” is the usual formula used to start

this clause.

d. Body – the main and operative part of the statute containing its

substantive and even procedural provisions. Provisos and exceptions

may also be found.

e. Repealing Clause - announces the prior statutes or specific

provisions which have been abrogated by reason of the enactment of

the new law.

f. Saving Clause – restriction in a repealing act, which is intended to

save rights, pending proceedings, penalties, etc. from the annihilation

which would result from an unrestricted repeal.

g. Separability Clause – provides that in the event that one or more

provisions or unconstitutional, the remaining provisions shall still be

in force.

h. Effectivity Clause – announces the effective date of the law.

KINDS OF STATUTES

1. General Law – affects the community at large. That which affects all

people of the state or all of a particular class.

2. Special Law – designed for a particular purpose, or limited in range

or confined to a prescribed field of action on operation.

3. Local Law – relates or operates over a particular locality instead of

over the whole territory of the state.

4. Public Law – a general classification of law, consisting generally of

constitutional, administrative, criminal, and international law,

concerned with the organization of the state, the relations between

the state and the people who compose it, the responsibilities of public

officers of the state, to each other, and to private persons, and the

relations of state to one another. Public law may be general, local or

special law.

5. Private Law – defines, regulates, enforces and administers

relationships among individuals, associations and corporations.

6. Remedial Statute – providing means or method whereby causes of

action may be affectuated, wrongs redressed and relief obtained.

7. Curative Statute – a form of retrospective legislation which reaches

back into the past to operate upon past events, acts or transactions in

order to correct errors and irregularities and to render valid and

effective many attempted acts which would otherwise be ineffective for

the purpose intended.

8. Penal Statute – defines criminal offenses specify corresponding fines

and punishments.

9. Prospective Law – applicable only to cases which shall arise after its

enactment.

10. Retrospective Law – looks backward or contemplates the past; one

which is made to affect acts or facts occurring, or rights occurring,

before it came into force.

11. Affirmative Statute – directs the doing of an act, or declares what

shall be done in contrast to a negative statute which is one that

prohibits the things from being done, or declares what shall not be

done.

12. Mandatory Statutes – generic term describing statutes which require

and not merely permit a course of action.

CONCEPT OF VAGUE STATUTES

Statues or act may be said to be vague when it lacks comprehensible

standards those men “of common intelligence must necessarily guess at

its meaning and differ as to its application.

Statute is repugnant to the Constitution in two (2) respects:

1. It violates due process for failure to accord persons fair notice of

conduct to avoid; and

2. It leaves law enforcers unbridled discretions.

The Supreme Court held that the “vagueness” doctrine merely requires a

reasonable degree of certainty for the statute to be upheld--- not absolute

precision or mathematical exactitude. Flexibility, rather than meticulous

specificity, is permissible as long as the metes and bounds of the statute

are clearly delineated

REPEALS OF STATUTE MAY BE EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED

Express repeal – is the abrogation or annulling of a previously existing

law by the enactment of a subsequent statute which declares that the

former law shall be revoked and abrogated.

Implied repeal – when a later statute contains provisions so contrary to

irreconcilable with those of the earlier law that only one of the two

statutes can stand in force.

The repeal of a penal law deprives the court of jurisdiction to punish

persons charged with a violation of the old penal law prior to its repeal.

Only a law can repeal a law.

The intention to repeal must be clear and manifest, otherwise, at least,

as a general rule, the later act is to be construed as a continuation of,

and not a substitute for, the first act.

Two (2) categories of repeal by implication:

1. Where provision in the two acts on the same subject matter are in an

irreconcilable conflict;

2. If the later act covers the whole subject of the earlier one and is

clearly intended as a substitute – to be a complete and perfect system

in itself.

ORDINANCE

Ordinance – an act passed by the local legislative body in the exercise of

its law-making authority.

TEST OF VALID ORDINANCE

1. Must not contravene the Constitution or any statute;

2. Must not be unfair or oppressive;

3. Must not be partial or discriminatory;

4. Must not prohibit but may regulate trade;

5. Must be general and consistent with public policy; and

6. Must not be unreasonable.

REASON WHY AN ORDINANCE SHOULD NOT

CONTRAVENE A STATUTE

Local councils exercise only delegated legislative powers conferred on

them by Congress as the national law making body.

The delegate cannot be superior to the principal.

ROLE OF FOREIGN JURISPRUDENCE

Philippine laws must necessarily be construed in accordance with the

intention of its own law makers and such intent may be deduced from

the language of each law and the context of other local legislation related

thereof.