CHAPTERS 7-9

REPORTERS:
BALITA, VANESSA
DIAMANTE, NADINE
BERNARDO, ALDRIN
MORENO, RENEE
 Chapter 7
Conquest and Penetration:
the Birth of Mestizo
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
FEBRUARY 15, 1898
 USS Maine exploded while docked in
Havana Harbor
 Theodore Roosevelt blamed it on the dirty
treachery of the Spaniards
 Roosevelt together with Capt. Alfred Thayer
and Henry Cabot Lodge manipulated Pres.
McKinley into declaring war with Spain
 Reasons: (1) assist Cuban rebels to win
independence from Spain and (2) occupy the
Philippines and crush the newly-born
Philippine Republic
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
 On April 1898, war broke out between
United States of America and Spain
 On May 1, 1898 Admiral Dewey
proceeded to the Philippines and defeated
the Spanish fleet
 REASONS FOR PRO-ANNEXATION:
(a) Philippines is a springboard for
commerce in Asia, (b) Philippines is ripe
for evangelical endeavor and ( c )
Advantage of projecting sea power in the
Pacific
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
 On October 26, 1898, Pres. McKinley
instructed negotiators in Paris that he
wanted the WHOLE Philippines and not
just crucial parts of it
 TREATY OF PARIS was granted on
December 10, 1898
a. Independence to Cuba
b. Made Philippines, Guam and Puerto
Rico as America’s possessions
- this treaty legitimized the occupation
of Americans in the Philippines
HISTORICAL
BACKGROUNDTreaty of Paris was also seen as the

Marriage Contract between Civil
Law and Common Law System
(Union of Convenience)
 Philippine-American War
(February 1899): responsibility of
governance was transferred from
the State Department to War
Department headed by Elihu Root
 Philippine Commission
WHETHER OR NOT THE U.S
CONSTITUTION FOLLOWED THE
AMERICAN
 In the case of [Link]
v. Dorr, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled that
not all rights listed in the U.S. Constitution followed the
American flag into the Philippines

 Not the right to bear arms, at a time when the Americans were
pacifying Filipino freedom fighters; nor the right to trial by jury.
REASON: Americans looked down on the indios as uncivilized
savages.
ILUSTRADOS
 The upper class lawyers,
doctors and landowners
 Key to policy attraction;
William Howard Taft
realized that majority of
Filipinos looked upon the
elite for leadership and
inspiration
 “Little Brown Brothers”
 Partido Federalista
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
 In1901, the U.S. Congress had to enact laws to govern the
Philippines
 Spooner Amendment (John Spooner) which created the
principal organ of administration the PHILIPPINE
COMMISSION
 Military Government ended and a CIVIL GOVERNMENT
was instituted
 William Howard Taft – head of 2nd Philippine Commission
CONSTITUTION
ALISM AND
COMMON LAW
 INVIOLABLE RULE: “No
person shall be deprived of life,
liberty or property without due
process of law.”
 Americans saw to it that the
transplanted constitutional
rights would be developed along
the lines laid out in the United
States
 Supreme Court of USA had
jurisdiction over all judgments of
the Philippine Supreme Court
 Appeal from judgment of
Philippine Supreme Court lay
with that of the Washington Court
MALOLOS CONSTITUTION
 Even before the American
Regime, the Philippines has a
provision on due process
 “No person shall be deprived
temporarily or permanently of
his property or rights, or
disturbed in his possession,
except by virtue of a judicial
sentence”
 Guaranty of Procedure
(Judicial Procedure)
JUDICIARY
 Expected to carry out colonial
policy
 Influence of American
jurisprudence on laws extended
to the Philippines by
congressional edict and by
principle of STARE DECISIS
 Majority of members of
Supreme Court were Americans
 Absolute and unconditional
loyalty to the US
PHILIPPINE COMMISSION
 Vested with LEGISLATIVE and EXECUTIVE functions
 Judicial functions were exercised by a judiciary with an American-
dominated Supreme Court at is apex
 EFFECTS:
a. grant of legislative power meant the influx of borrowed laws as
well as COMMON LAW doctrines
b. It is inevitable for the Philippine Supreme Court to interpret the
provisions of those laws in line with American precedents.
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: HEGEMONY
OF POLICE POWER
 Use common law concepts
in public law to assert
colonial authority
 Subordinated property rights
to police power
 Supremacy of police power
especially if the property
involved is invested with
social function
DE VILLATA V. STANLEY
 Government may require
shipping companies to carry
mail FREE OF CHARGE
 Business of common carriers is a
quasi-public employment
 When he enters the business,
additional burdens may be
imposed upon him
 Knew that one of the conditions
for obtaining a license was to
agree to a free carriage of mail
 Overturned 4 years later
ASCENDANCY OF SUBSTANTIVE
DUE PROCESS IN COMMON LAW
 During the 20’s, political mood in the USA affected the course of
judicial thought in the Philippines
 Change of administration in Washington
 Business civilization began to influence judicial thought
 Laissez faire as a plan for dynamic action
 In order to encourage private enterprises, sold to private firms all
government corporations
ASCENDANCY OF
SUBSTANTIVE DUE PROCESS
IN COMMON LAW
 Effects (Philippines): (a) opposed grant of Philippine independence, (b)
federal taxes supposed to be paid by American businessmen doing
business in the Philippines were not collected and (c) American-
dominated judiciary became a model of what a court should be in
protecting property interests
 1922 – Congress passed a law regulating the price of rice; a Chinese
merchant questioned it constitutionality. SC declared the said law
unconstitutional; emphasized the private nature of the property whose
price was sought to be regulated
 Property rights: sacred under the Constitution
ASCENDANCY OF SUBSTANTIVE
DUE PROCESS IN COMMON LAW
 LIBERTY OF CONTRACT
- Employee and Employer may enter such terms as they may agree
upon
- constitutionality of the Women and Child Labor Law was
questioned
- SC declared the provision of said law regarding payment of
maternity leave as unconstitutional because the same was not with the
consent of all the parties
ASCENDANCY OF SUBSTANTIVE DUE
PROCESS IN COMMON LAW
 Yu Cong Eng Case
- declared unconstitutional
the Chinese Bookkeeping Act
which made it unlawful for any
person engaged in commerce,
industry or any other activity for
the purpose/profit to keep its
account books in any language
other than English, Spanish or
any local dialect
PROCEDURAL LAW:
INQUISITORIAL TO
ADVERSARIAL
 General Order No. 68 – displaced the provisions of Siete
Partidas on marriage, securing liberty of marriage and
instituting civil marriages
 General Order No. 58 abolished inquisitorial proceeding and
adopted accusatorial system. Thus, it had to secure all the
rights of an accused under American rules except trial by
the jury
 Philippine Commission (1900-1907) passes 1,800 laws in
public character
PROCEDURAL LAW: INQUISITORIAL
TO ADVERSARIAL
 Under the Spanish
Inquisitorial system, illegally
obtained evidence may be
admissible
 American jurisprudence:
twists and turns
 In the case of Stonehill v.
Diokno – abandoned Moncado
ruling and reverted back to the
earlier doctrines of exclusion
RETENTION OF PRIVATE LAW AND
CUSTOM LAW
 Pre-existing private laws in the Philippines were left alone, except for
certain aspects thought to be in conflict with American notions of
democracy & republicanism.
 Amendments were instituted w/ respect to marriage law (GO 68
allowing civil marriages), laws governing associations, adoption,
absence, & prescription
 Custom law was retained because of the American’s failure to penetrate
the areas inhabited by the ethnic communities
 Protect existing property rights
CRIMINAL LAW: THE LONE
SURVIVOR IN PUBLIC LAW
 Spanish-imposed penal code was not superseded by the American
colonial administrators
 It was merely altered in order for it to be consistent with political and
civil rights and also to serve the purpose of the new sovereign
 Crimes against fundamental laws of the State – abrogated or
modified
 In order to pacify the rebellious indios: Treason, Insurrection and
Sedition Law, Libel Law, Law on Perjury, and the Customs
Administrative Act
JUDICIAL SYSTEM FOLLOWS THE
FLAG
 Common Law system should prevail over civil law
 Importation of American statutes in the Philippines
 Doctrine of Stare Decisis (assure stability in legal relations and
avoid confusion)
Statutory interpretation
- techniques and guidelines followed in common-law courts are
employed
- began to resort to American common law jurisprudence
RETENTION OF CIVIL CODE PROVISIONS
ON PERSON AND PROPERTY

 Americans retained the Spanish-imposed Civil Code of 1889

based on the Code of Napoleon, subject to the principles and
institutions recognized in the US Constitution.
 Title I (Citizenship) – repealed
 Title II (Status of Natural & Juridical Persons) – modified by
Code of Civil Procedure & the Corporation Law
 Title IV (Marriage) – modified by Gen. Merritt in the form
of GO 68
RETENTION OF CIVIL CODE
PROVISIONS ON PERSON AND
PROPERTY
 Title V (Paternity & Filiation);
 Title VII (Parental Authority);
 Title VIII (Absence);
 Title IX (Guardianship);
 Title X (Family Council);
 Title XI (Emancipation on Majority Age)

Repealed/modified by Code of Civil Procedure

RETENTION OF CIVIL CODE
PROVISIONS ON PERSON AND
PROPERTY
 Book 2 & 3 on law of property: concepts of property, ownership,
possession, usufruct, wills, inheritance, intestate succession, &
executors – slightly modified by Code of Civil Procedure
 Book 4: laws on partition, obligations, contracts, purchase & sale, lease,
labor, carriers, partnership, agency, loan, deposit, bailments, insurance,
gambling, arbitration, pledge, mortgage, preference of credit &
prescription – repealed/modified by Code of Civil Procedure
 Most significant changes on provisions on all core activities of a
business civilization – property, obligations, contracts, business orgs.,
credit transactions, transportation, banking & insurance.
RETENTION OF CIVIL CODE
PROVISIONS ON PERSON AND
PROPERTY
 US intended to create a Filipino society in their own image, with
Americans as ruling elite
 HOW: (1) improved the economy, (2) constructed the infrastructure
of a modern civilization, (3) expanded the markets, (4) exploited
natural resources of the islands, (5) stimulated private enterprise
through government initiatives, (6) evolved patterns of trade and
commerce that retarded economic development of the islands and
monopolized importations and opening up importations to the
mother country
OBLIGATIONS AND CONTRACTS
 Common Law Doctrines:
a. Field of Tort of Proximate Cause
b. Negligence and Contributory
Negligence
c. Last Clear Chance
d. Vicarious Liability
e. Sovereign Immunity
f. Moral Damages
g. Lost of Profits
h. Speculative Profits
i. Mitigation of Damages
OBLIGATIONS AND CONTRACTS
 Principles of Estoppel are adopted
insofar as they are not in conflict
with other codes
 Equity will not aid a plaintiff
whose unexcused delay would be
prejudicial to the defendant
 Example of Hybridization:
concept of a judicious pater
familias in Roman Law with the
common-law concept of the
reasonable man
 Definition of heir
 Surety and Guaranty
COMMERCIAL LAW Philippine Commission, and
later, Philippine National
Assembly, borrowed
wholesale American laws
on: corporations; negotiable
instruments; securities,
insurance, banking,
transportation, trademarks
& copyright; unfair
competition; chattel
mortgage; insolvency &
bankruptcy; bulk sales.
COMMERCIAL LAW The following Acts superseded the Code

of Commerce of Spain & other existing
mercantile laws:
~Corporation Law 1459
~Bankruptcy Act 1956
~Negotiable Instruments Act 2031
~Warehouse Receipts Law 2137
~Public Utilities Act C.A. 146
~Insurance Law 2427
~Usury Law 2655
- Salvage Law 2616
- Irrigation Act 2153
foundation of a capitalist economy that
forms the core of a business civilization.