Effective

Reading
Skills
1. Veronica Pangilinan
2. Taddsly Jiro Nuez
3. Gilbert Magnaye
4. Joanna Felisa Co Go
 (Development Psychologist )

Our reading ability and habits transform our

way of thinking and our thinking becomes us.
This is also true in legal reasoning.

How we read the law and court cases transform our minds.
As we read legal arguments and reasoning, we create mental habits that eventually develop
a legal mind.

Laws do not come out in thin air. They are the product of the collective mind of Congress.
Before a bill becomes a law, it passes through a long and tedious process where its
provisions are deliberated and argued upon. These deliberations make up what I known
as legislative intent. The latter serves as the guiding principle or even the context in
interpreting the laws. When we read a law, we read its intent and context. As we do, we
get into the mental framework of Congress.

The same is true in reading jurisprudence or court cases. We enter into the minds of judges
and justices, and uncover how they use the language, how they utilize style and voice in
their writing, and above all, how they reason. Then dissenting opinions in the Supreme
Court cases tell us that, at least, there are many sides of viewing a legal problem.
Sometimes, the dissenting opinions come as more sensible and logical than the majority
opinion. But such is the hallmark of democracy – the majority rules.

All these are available to the reader when reading law materials. Again, Maryanne Wolf says,
“we are not only what we read, we are how we read.”

For those who aspire to become lawyers, reading is an indispensable habit and s skill that
must be constantly improved.
Three basic reading materials (main sources of
reading materials ):
1. The CODE (the bare law without commentaries),
which is popularly called the “codals”
2. The COMMENTARIES (textbooks by professors
of law)
3. The JURISPRUDENCE (cases decided by the
Supreme Court and can be read in the Supreme
Court Reports Annotated [SCRA]).

Of the three, the codals and jurisprudence must be

the main diet.
Law students must live under the foundation of
these materials.
1. students tend to make them their main reading
material.

This is understandable considering that with

commentaries the author lays out
his explanation of the law,
his perspective of the law, and
his digests of the cases he has read

The author has done all the work and “spoon feed” this
to the students.
However, it must be maintained that this is
counterproductive.
In reality, the students are deprived of the chance to intellectually
digest the codals and jurisprudence if they rely primarily on the
commentaries.

If challenged with a legal question, the student who is addicted to

commentaries would immediately and instinctively want to look
for the commentaries for answers.

As a result, self-confidence in dealing with this situation is low.

Hence, sole reliance on commentaries can be counterproductive in

developing legal reasoning.

Codals and jurisprudence therefore must be emphasized as the

main reading materials and the commentaries should be treated
as secondary sources.

In this chapter, we will examine the techniques on how to read

codals and jurisprudence or published court cases.
 Patience and perseverance, values which is

required for study of law.

 Reading the materials repeatedly is IMPORTANT

in study of law.

 Law reading materials tend to have technical

words that often require rereading.

Example from the book
“In effect, judicial decisions assume the same
authority as the statute itself and, until
authoritatively abandoned, necessarily become,
to the extent that they are applicable, the criteria
which must control the actuations not only of
those called upon to abide thereby but also of
those in duty bound to enforce obedience
thereto”
-Caltex Philippines, Inc. vs Palomar, G.R. No.L-
19650 (September 29, 1966)
 “read the statute, read the statute, read the

statute”- Harvard Law Professor Felix

Frankfurter
 Legal materials contain technical terms and
concepts that requires careful reading.
 Marking Important words, phrases and sentences
can help understand your readings.

Example:
“By the very nature of cases involving the
application of Article 36, it is logical and
understandable to give weight to the expert opinions
furnished by psychologist regarding the psychological
temperament of parties in order to determine the root
cause, juridical antecedence, gravity and incurability
of the psychological incapacity.”
-Ting vs Ting, G.R. No. 166562 (March 31, 2009)
 Both expert opinion and psychological
incapacity are legally defined under
existing law and rules.
 Readers must not only take note of these
kinds of phrases but must carefully trace
their sources and determine what is the
extent of their meaning.
Example:
“’To correct’ simply means ‘to make or
set aright; to remove the faults or error from’
while to change means ‘to replace something
with something else of the same kind or with
something that serves as a substitute.”

“’Status’ refers to the circumstances

affecting the legal situation (that is, the sum
total of capacities and incapacities) of a
person in view of his age, nationality and his
family membership.”
-Silverio vs Republic, G.R. No. 174680
Example.
“Indeed, the terms ‘annul’ and ‘null and
void’ have different legal connotations and
implications. Annul means to reduce to
nothing; annihilate; obliterate; to make void
or of no effect; to nullify; to abolish; to do
away with whereas null and void is something
that does not exist from the beginning/ A
marriage that is annulled presupposes that it
subsists but later ceases to have legal effect
when it terminated through a court action.
But in nullifying a marriage which already
exist from the very beginning.”
-Suntay vs Suntay, G.R. No. 132524
(December 29,1998)
 The words “status,” “annul,” and the phrase
“to correct” and “null and void” are some of the
many words and phrases being dealt with
carefully in court cases.

When words and phrases like these are

defined and explained, their definition must be
memorized and phrases like these builds up
one’s legal vocabulary skills which would come
handy during examinations.
 READ CONTEXTUALLY

Context is about overall meaning of

something. It’s the entire structure of
statements -- its form and intent. It’s the
picture or image that comes out when all
words and sentences are considered.
 READ CONTEXTUALLY
Example

“Article 19. Every person must, in the exercise

of his rights and in the performance of his
duties, act with justice, give everyone his due,
and observe honesty and good faith.”
 READ CONTEXTUALLY
Simple sentence
• Everyone must act.
Dependent clauses
• in the exercise of his rights
• in the performance of his duties
Phrases
• with justice
• give everyone his due
• and observe honesty and good faith
 READ CONTEXTUALLY

1. “Everyone must…. act”;

2. “in the exercise of his rights”; and in the
performance of his duties”;
3. “with justice,” “give everyone his due,”
“observe honesty and good faith”
 READ CONTEXTUALLY

“Article 19. Every person must, in the exercise

of his rights and in the performance of his
duties, act with justice, give everyone his due,
and observe honesty and good faith.”

“Whenever a person exercises his right or

performs his duties, he must act justly and in
good faith.”
 READ CONTEXTUALLY

Article 19 refers to people treating each other

honestly and fairly.The very context of it is the
picture or image of the Civil Code itself.
 READ CONTEXTUALLY
The process of finding the context is as follows:
1. Identify the different parts of a sentence.
2. Put them in order;
3. Draw out its main thought or context;
4. Paraphrase it;
5. Relate the main thought to the rest of the body of
law from which the sentence is derived;
6. Get the over all context (picture, image) of the
law;
7. Use the over all context as guide in reading every
provisions in the law.
 READ CONTEXTUALLY

“for the things we have to learn before we can do

them, we learn by doing them.”

- Aristotle
 CONTEXT IN CHAPTERS
Example
BOOK I
PERSONS
Title I. – CIVIL PERSONALITY
CHAPTER 1
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Art. 37. Juridical capacity, which is the fitness to be the subject of legal
relations, is inherent in every natural person and is lost only through
death. Capacity to act, which is the power to do acts with legal effect, is
acquired and may be lost. (n)
 CONTEXT IN CHAPTERS

Important words:
persons, civil personality, juridical capacity,
capacity to act, restrictions on capacity to act,
and limitations on capacity to act.

CONTEXT – Personality or personhood

 Facts, Issues, and Rulings

• Don’t look directly on the FIR.

• Spend enough time to reading the
arguments raised by the trial court and the
court of appeals.
• If possible, include footnotes in reading the
case.
Decided Case
 Civil
 Criminal
 Administrative
 Labor Case

Contains decisions and reasoning of lower courts

and the adjudicating bodies
The decision of the SC will be either:
 Affirmation
 Rejection
 Modification
Rommel Jacinto Dantes Silverio having undergone a sex
reassignment surgery:

1.sought to have his first name changed from Rommel

to Mely, and
2. his sex from male to female.

Trial court granted his petition.

CA, however, upon appeal filed by the Republic of the

Philippines thru the OSG, reversed the trial court
decision, holding that there is no law allowing the
change of entries of either name or sex in the birth
certificate by reason of sex alteration.
1. The court is of the opinion that granting the
petition would be more in consonance with
the principles of justice and equity.
2. With his sexual re-assignment, petitioner,
who has always felt, thought, and acted like
a woman, now possesses the physique of a
female.
3. Petitioner’s misfortune to be trapped in a
man’s body is not his own doing and should
not be in any way taken against him.
1. Petitioner always feels, acts, and thinks like
a woman;
2. He is a woman trapped in a man’s body;
3. This is a misfortune and the petitioner is a
victim thereof;
4. Hence, granting his petitioner is just and
equitable.
1. CA ruled that the trial courts lacked legal
basis.
2. There is no law allowing the change of
either name or sex in the certification of
birth on the ground of sex reassignment
through surgery.
3. The CA granted the Republic’s petition, set
aside the decision of the trial court and
ordered the dismissal of SP Case 02-
105207
1. In order that changes of name and sex in
the certificate of birth be allowed on the
ground of sex reassignment through
surgery, there must be a law allowing it.
2. The trial court allowed such changes in
Silverio’s certificate of live birth;
3. But there is no law allowing such changes
on the ground of sex reassignment;
4. Hence, the trial court’s decision mist be
annulled as it lacks legal basis.
Just by comparing the syllogisms of both trial
court and court of appeals’ argument, which
has more solid and correct reasoning?

* * *
RTC’s argument is inductive (conclusion is
probabilistic)

CA’s argument is deductive (conclusion

“follows” its premises)
“…while petitioner may have succeeded in
altering his body and appearance through the
intervention of modern surgery, mo law
authorizes the change of entry as to sex in
the civil registry for that reason. Thus, there
is no legal basis for his petition for the
correction or change of the entries in his
birth certificate.”
1. No need to state since it is the same with
CA

POINT AT:
a. Need to identify arguments
b. Mentally construct their syllogism