Merlin M. Magallona*,
University of the Philippines, Philippines
1.
Introductory Note
Reflected in the background of legal education in the Philippines are the historical forces that shaped the country’s institutional framework and social consciousness. Of enduring influence in the development of law as a conceptual apparatus and its transmission through the law school is the impact of American legal culture. This continues to be sustained by English as a medium of instruction, by the propagation of the organizing legal concepts which are central to public law, in particular to constitutional law, and by the methods of legal interpretation and analysis in the judicial process, in law teaching and in other aspects of law practice. Laws are enacted in English and it is in this language that the judicial process operates in the Supreme Court as well as in all levels of the judiciary, even as English is foreign to the broad ranks of the population. Logically, the bar examinations which serve as a formal qualifying test to admission to the legal profession, are conducted in the English language.
The revision of the Civil Code in 1950, after the country’s political independence from the United States, retained the strong remnants of the old Spanish Civil Code based on Code Napoleon. The present law relating to civil personality, property, and contracts perpetuates the conceptual roots of the old rules. A number of decisions of the Philippine Supreme Court down to the first decade of political independence were promulgated in the Spanish language. It is for this added reason that knowledge of the Spanish language has been retained as a prerequisite in legal education.
From 1521 the Philippines was a Spanish colony for more than three hundred years, and thus the first courses in law as a formal training were introduced during this period; in 1734 legal education opened in the Pontifical University of Sto. Tomas. Conducted in Spanish, legal training was principally in civil law, supplemented with canon law and natural law. Established by the Dominican Order, the Institute of Civil Law of this University stands as the oldest law school.
As the Filipino revolutionary movement expelled the Spanish colonial forces at the close of the 19th century, it proclaimed the First Philippine Republic on 21 January 1899, following the approval of the Malolos Constitution the previous day. However, earlier, by decree of 19 October 1898, the revolutionary government created a faculty of law in the Literary University of the Philippines which was established on the same day. The law curriculum, prescribing courses for a “career of jurisprudence” to be completed in six years, included Roman Law, penal law, Spanish civil law, political and administrative law, commercial law of Spain and other major European nations, colonial legislation, natural law, canon law, history of Spanish law, public international law, and private international law. The university, however, did not become a reality, and the law school never functioned.
The seizure of the Philippines by the United States from the revolutionary government, in the wake of cession from Spain under the Treaty of Paris of 10 December 1898 implanted the American rule that began the development of American legal culture, which generated conditions for the rise of legal education in English. A young graduate of the Michigan Law School, George A. Malcolm, who later became a member of the Philippine Supreme Court under the American colonial administration, was turned down in his proposal to start law studies in the newly established University of the Philippines (U.P.). Instead, he turned to the Youngmen’s Christian Association (Y.M.C.A.) in Manila which accepted his initiative and opened law courses in 1910. On 12 January 1911, the U.P. Board of Regents reversed itself and decided to establish a College of Law. Among its fifty students were the members of Malcolm’s YMCA class. The only national public law school, the U.P. College of Law now prepares for the commemoration of its 90th founding anniversary.
2. Admission to Law Practice and Legal Education
Under the Rules of Court promulgated by the Supreme Court, admission to the bar requires passing examinations administered by the Court. However, no applicant is allowed to take the bar examinations unless he has completed in a law school courses in civil law, commercial law, remedial law, criminal law, public and private international law, political law, labor and social legislation, medical jurisprudence, taxation, and legal ethics. A prerequisite to law studies is a preparatory baccalaureate degree in arts and sciences. Hence, admission to the practice of law normally entails a minimum of eight years in academic training: for a four-year preparatory bachelor’s degree (A.B. degree or a professional course with the required number of academic units in English, Spanish, History, and Economics) and a four-year Bachelor of Laws degree (LL.B).
3. General Character of Law Schools
The great majority of lawyers are graduated by private law schools. Of the 59 law schools listed by the Supreme Court in 1999 in connection with the bar examinations for that year, only five are state or public law schools, three of which are public law schools. Of the eight state-supported schools, two are established by chartered cities, five are regional schools, and one national law school which is the U.P. College of Law. About 28 law schools are university-based. At least nine schools are run by Catholic religious orders. One law school forms part of a state university established for the Muslim community and maintains education in Islamic law.
Recently, Congress enacted Republic Act No. 7662 providing for reforms in legal education to be carried out by a Legal Education Board. The new law provides that legal education aims to “impart to law students a broad knowledge of law and its various fields, and of legal knowledge institutions” and to “increase awareness among members of the legal profession of the needs of the poor, deprived and oppressed sectors of society.” It underscores ethical responsibility in the making of lawyers. Reforms contemplated are along an accredition system by which accredition status of a law school may be withdrawn or downgraded “if it fails to maintain the standards for its accredition status.” The law intends to establish clinical legal internship as a requisite for taking the bar examinations.
Until the creation of the Commission of Higher Education in 1994, private law schools were closely supervised by the Bureau of Higher Education of the Department of Education and Culture as to minimum requirements in curriculum, faculty, library, academic calendar, and physical plants. This function will be taken over by the Legal Education Board. The U.P. College of Law, however, will continue to enjoy a high degree of autonomy under the legislative charter of the University of the Philippines.
The role of the Supreme Court in its power to prescribe rules for admission to law practice, comes into play when it verifies the educational qualifications of an applicant to take the annual bar examinations.
4.
Law Faculty
A strategic weakness of legal education in the Philippines is the part-time character of the law faculty, a phenomenon which deprives the law school of academic presence and the legal profession a critical resource for law reform. The results of the 1989 “state-of-the art survey of law schools” by the Bureau of Higher Education still reflect the present-day reality. Pointing out that 95.85 percent of the 360 law teachers covered by the survey are part-time, it indicates their main preoccupation, as follows:
Type of Employment No. of Law Teachers Percentage
Law Practice 253 70.28
Government Agencies 53 15.55
Private Agencies 36 10.00
(No response 18 4.17)
Total 360 100.00
Law schools draw lecturers from the courts and law firms. Pursuing their full-time work in the Court of Appeals or Regional Trial Courts and in law offices, law teachers go to the law schools in the evening to lecture or hold classes, within the duration of their contracts. Moreover, hardly is there a full-time law dean.
The only known exception prevails in the U.P. College of Law which keeps a full-time dean and 20 full-time faculty members, in addition to 30 adjunct or non-regular professorial lecturers.
Under the regulations of the Department of Education and Culture, members of the law faculty are generally required to be members of the bar of good standing for five years. Holders of graduate law degrees are preferred for appointments.
5.
Teaching Methods
In 1976, a survey presented later to the first conference of law deans was undertaken on random sampling of six law schools in Metro Manila and three provincial schools, based on stratified sampling of 97 law teachers and 323 students. The responses revealed that 60 percent of law teaching was done through lectures. The results also indicated the use of “modified Socratic method” in which questions and answers were generally derived from assigned texts. Seventy percent of the teachers surveyed said they assigned per class meeting 1-5 cases from the original reports. These results still reflect the general situation today. It may be added that in provincial schools (i.e., outside Metro Manila) use of textbooks is predominant.
The U.P. College of Law is still strongly influenced by Langdell’s case method. Study of reported cases in full length is required. Use of course syllabus is mandatory. Assignment of cases and statutory materials is enriched by critical law review articles. In elective courses, seminar method is indicated by the course description as preferred.
6.
Law Curriculum
On account of the persistent call of law schools to design a revised curriculum of their own making, the Department of Education and Culture adopted a Model Law Curriculum in 1989, as shown in Annex 1. This is of current use in private law schools as well as in regional public schools, with additional courses to the core curriculum in some schools.
The “Policies and Standards on Legal Education” issued by the Department of Education and Culture classifies courses in the Model Law Curriculum as follows:
3.1 Perspective courses, consisting of such subjects as Introduction to Law, Roman Law, Legal History, Legal Philosophy, Legal Profession and Legal Bibliography, which may be taken ahead of basic law subjects.
3.2 Basic Law Subjects in the general areas of Civil Law, Political Law, Commercial Law, Criminal Law, Remedial Law, Labor Law and Legal Ethics.
3.3 Specialized Law Subjects in various areas such as Election Law, Agrarian Law, Banking Law, and Taxation.
3.4 Practicum Subjects which are skill courses in legal writing and research, counselling and advocacy, appellate practice, and the like.
Enjoying independence from the Commission on Higher Education, the U.P. College of Law now operates on a revised 4-year curriculum for regular students and a 5-year curriculum for working students (evening classes), as shown in Annex 2.
A constraint on the curriculum content is Rule 138 of the Rules of Court, prescribed by the Supreme Court for bar examinations, thus:
Sec. 14. Passing average - In order that a candidate may be deemed to have passed his examination successfully, he must have obtained a general average of 75 per cent in all subjects without falling below 50 per cent in any subject. In determining the average, the subjects in the examination shall be given the following relative weights: Civil Law, 15 per cent; Labor and Social Legislation, 10 per cent; Mercantile Law, 15 per cent; Criminal Law, 10 per cent; Political and International Law, 15 per cent; Taxation, 10 per cent; Remedial Law, 20 per cent; Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises, 5 per cent.
7.
Law Students
The 1989 survey of law schools conducted by the Bureau of Higher Education finds that two-thirds of the population in the law schools are working students. Of this estimate, 85 percent are regular or full-time employees in government agencies or private firms. This accounts for the fact that, with few exceptions, classes are invariably held in the evening in private law schools as well as in public schools outside of the U.P. College of Law. Note that generally the law faculty in private schools is drawn from the bench and law firms which demand a full day’s work.
Regular day classes are maintained by the U.P. College of Law for full-time students. However, evening classes are held for working students.
8. Admission to Law Schools
As a government regulation, it is prescribed that “the law school must administer a Law Admissions Test.” In practice, schools are left to design the content and form of aptitude testing. Generally, law schools admit applicants who have completed preparatory law studies, i.e., A.B. degree or equivalents.
The U.P. College of Law administers a law admission examination, as a pre-qualification to personal interview and essay examination.
9.
Graduate Studies
About six private law schools offer graduate studies for an LL.M degree. In addition to LL.M. degree, one university law school maintains courses for a Doctor of Civil Law degree. The U.P. College of Law has suspended its LL.M. degree program for comprehensive review.
10. Estimate: What Law Graduates Do
Activities of law graduates who pass the bar examinations and thus become lawyers may be estimated by means of a 1976 file of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines in terms of percentage shown as follows:
Activities No. of Lawyers Percentage
Private practice 4,644 23.4
Privately employed
with some private
practice 1,573 7.9
Lawyers in government
service 6,398 32.2
Non-practicing lawyers 6,100 30.7
Did not indicate activity 1,126 5.7_
19,841 100.00
In a regional survey of the legal profession completed in 1981 and covering 1,074 lawyers as respondents, the results showed that 21 percent worked as legal counsels of government agencies and corporations, 18 percent in private law practice, 11 percent as legal counsels in private business firms, 9 percent as regular government officials, 7 percent as members of law firms, 6 percent as law clerks in the Supreme Courts and clerks of court in the lower courts, 6 percent as judges, 6 percent as high government officials and members of Congress, and 4 percent as public prosecutors.
ANNEX 1
MODEL LAW CURRICULUM
(LL.B)
Bureau of Higher
Education
Department of Education
and Culture
First Year
Persons and Family Relations 4 Obligations & Contracts 5
Constitutional Law I 3 Criminal Law II 3
Criminal Law I 2 Constitutional Law II 3
Legal Profession 2 Legal Writing 2
Legal Research 2 Legal Ethics 2
Statutory Construction 2
_________ _________
16 units* 15 units*
Second Year
Property 4 Negotiable Instruments Law 3
Land Titles & Deeds 1 Credit Transactions 3
Sales 2 Administrative Law 2
Criminal Procedures 2 Civil Procedure 4
Labor Standards 2 Transportation 2
Elective/Practicum I 2 Public International Law 2
Elective 2 Elective/Practicum II 1
_________ _________
15 units* 17 units
Third Year
Succession 4 Business Organization II (C) 4
Legal Counselling 2 Evidence 4
Business Organization I (PAT) 3 Torts and Damages 2
Taxation I 2 Legal Forms 1
Labor Relations 3 Taxation II 3
Insurance 2 Problems Areas in Legal
Elective/Practicum III 2 Ethics 2
Special Proceedings 2
_________ _________
18 units 18 units
Fourth Year
Civil Law Review I 4 Civil Law Review II 4
Constitutional Law Review 3 Remedial Law Review 4
Criminal Law Review 4 Commercial Law Review 4
Legal Medicine 4 Conflict of Laws 2
Labor Law Review 2 Practice Court II 2
Elective/Practicum IV 2 Elective 2
Practice Court I (Practicum V) 2
_________ _________
21 units 18 units
*In addition, perspective courses may be offered; e.g. Introduction to Law, Roman Law, Legal Philosophy, Legal Bibliography, provided that the total course offerings for each term shall not exceed 18 units.
ANNEX 2
Law Curriculum for
Bachelor of Laws
________
College of Law
University of the
Philippines
First Year
1st Semester Units
Law 99. Legal Bibliography 1
Law 100. Persons & Family Relations 4
Law 109. Criminal Law 1 3
Law 115. Legal History 2
Law 116. Legal Method 2
Law 121. Constitutional Law 1 4
16
2nd Semester Units
Law 101. Obligations and Contracts 5
Law 110. Criminal Law 2 4
Law 117. Legal Theory 2
Law 120. The Legal Profession 2
Law 122. Constitutional Law 2 4
17
Second
Year
1st Semester Units
Law 102 Property 4
Law 103. Sales 2
Law 104. Torts and Damages 3
Law 113. The Law on Labor and Social Legislation 1
And the Principles of Agrarian Reform 3
Law 124. Remedial Law 1 (Criminal Procedure) 3
Elective 2
17
2nd Semester Units
Law 107. Credit Transactions 3
Law 114. Labor and Social Legislation 2 3
Law 123. Administrative Law 3
Law 125. Remedial Law 2 (Civil Procedure) 5
Law 173. Agency and Partnership 3
17
Third
Year
1st Semester Units
Law 105. Succession 3
Law 108. Bills, Notes and Commercial Papers 3
Law 111. Public International Law 3
Law 126. Remedial Law 3 (Evidence) 3
Law 129A. Taxation 1 3
Elective 2
17
2nd Semester Units
Law 106. Corporation Law and Securities Act 5
Law 112. Private International Law 2
Law 118. Medical Jurisprudence 1
Law 129B. Taxation 2 3
Law 174. Remedial Law 4 (Special Proceedings) 2
Electives 4
17
Fourth Year
1st Semester Units
Law 119. Supervised Legal Research and Writing 2
Law 127. Remedial Law 5 (Practicum 1) 4
Electives 10
16
2nd Semester Units
Law 128. Remedial Law 6 (Practicum 2) 4
Electives 12
16
Total Number of Elective Courses …………………………… 30 units
Total Number of Core Courses ……………………………… 103 units
Total Academic Load (8 Semesters) …………………………. 133 units
Partial List of
Elective Courses
1. Law 132. Philippine Indigenous Law
2. Law 133. Land Titles and Deeds
3. Law 134. Intellectual Property Law
4. Law 135. Trust
5. Law 137. Problems and Issues in Commercial Law
6. Law 138. Transportation and Maritime Law
7. Law 139. Insurance Law
8. Law 140. Legal Accounting
9. Law 141. Administration of Criminal Justice
10. Law 143. Contemporary Developments in International Law
11. Law 144. United Nations and World Order
12. Law 145. Settlement of International Disputes
13. Law 146. Problems in Asean Integration
14. Law 147. Diplomatic and Consular Law and Practice
15. Law 150. Comparative Law
16. Law 151. Roman Law
17. Law 153. Constitutional Law Problems
18. Law 155. Problems in Local Government
19. Law 158. Natural Resources Law
20. Law 163 Special Problems in Taxation
21. Law 175. Law and Environment
22. Law 180. Law of the Sea
23. Law 181. Banking and Financial Law
24. Law and Poverty
References
Bonifacio, M.F. and Magallona, M.M. (1982). Quezon City: U.P. Law Center, 1982
Bureau of Higher Education. (1989). State of Legal Education in the Philippines, Manila, Philippines.
Cortes, Irene. (1994). Quezon City: U.P. Law Center.
Gupit, Fortunato. (1985). “Towards a New Consensus for a New Curriculum,” Criminal Justice, May-August, pp. 9-18.
Magallona, Merlin M. (1997). “May Legal Education Contribute to the Making of Better Judges?” In Rule of Law and Democracy, ed. by Gorawantschy, Beatrice, et als. Manila: Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Institute for Development Research.
_____________________. (1998). Recreating Legal Education for Justice and Development Manila: UNDP-Supreme Court Project (Manuscript).
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* Professor of Law, College of Law, University of the Philippines; Director, Institute of International Legal Studies, University of the Philippines Law Center.