Tanada v Tuvera, 146 SCRA 446 (GR 63915 29 December 1986)

Tayug Rural Bank v CB, GR 46158, 28 November 1986

Rural Bank v Court of Appeals L-32116 21 April 1981
In Re: Filart 40 Phil 205
ABS-CBN v Court of Tax Appeals L-52306 12 October 1981
Ferrazini v Gsell 34 Phil 693
Lichauco v Apostol 44 Phil 138
U.S. v Palacio 33 Phil 208

D igesting cases is a must in the college of law, this is actually regardless if it is being
required by your professor or not. Once cases are assigned, a law student must observe due
diligence and read these cases.
For freshmen law students, you may be wondering how to make case digests or case briefs.
Well, there are a few things to remember and they are:

1. Be aware of the specifics of the case or the syllabus concerned. In one case alone,
there could be multiple topics i.e. Political Law, Remedial Law, Civil Law and there could be
as many sub-topics i.e. for Political Law there could be Police Power and Eminent Domain.
Knowing these can properly guide you with the theme of your digests. But usually, you will
not have a hard time with this because once cases are assigned; your professor would have
specified these in his handouts.

2. Read the full text of the case. And when I say read, dont just breeze through it. Try to
understand it the first time. This will save you time because if you understood it on the first
reading, you wont have to keep going back just to read it all over again. Highlighting important
texts of the case which are related to the topic youre on will help you have a coherent grasp
of the case.

3. Now after reading the case in full, youre now ready to write your case digest. In a formal
case digest, there are five parts which are:

Caption This is just the title of the case. It can be as plain as People vs Juan de la Cruz
or detailed to include the SCRA number, GR number, ponente and the date.
Facts This portion is supposed to answer the Who, What, When, How, Why stuff of the
case.
Issues This is the legal conflict or the legal controversy sought to be resolved by the
Supreme Court.
Ruling This is the decision or jurisprudence laid down by the court.
Concurring/Dissenting Opinions These are not always present in all cases and normally
they do not place any significance to the current ruling being discussed (but they may serve
a significant role in future Supreme Court decisions especially when doctrines are reversed
or totally abandoned). These opinions may also be an additional explanation as to how certain
justices voted, the wisdom behind their votes, and as to how the decision is reached. Be very
wary because some professors would also ask questions pertaining to these opinions
especially when such opinions are adopted as the general rule in some future cases.

(Ill discuss this part in more detail in an upcoming article).

4. Other things you may want to consider may include: how your professor conducts
recitation, is your professor more of a facts guy or a court ruling guy; either way, you can
custom make your digests in a way that will make you remember the facts and the
jurisprudence of the case. Some students prefer replacing the characters with letters like
X and Y but that may not sit well with other professors especially if they are meticulous
with the facts of the case. Click this for a sample case digest.