Philippines · Overview
The legal system of Philippines
A genuinely mixed system, and the clearest example in Asia. Private law is Spanish-derived and codified: the Civil Code of 1950 governs obligations, contracts, property and succession, and the Family Code of 1987 governs marriage. Public law, procedure and the constitutional structure are American: judicial review, due process and equal protection doctrine, and a Supreme Court whose decisions form binding precedent under stare decisis. Muslim personal law applies in parts of Mindanao through Syariah courts under Presidential Decree 1083, and the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act recognises customary law over ancestral domains.
Legal tradition
Philippines belongs to the mixed civil and common law tradition. A genuinely mixed system, and the clearest example in Asia. Private law is Spanish-derived and codified: the Civil Code of 1950 governs obligations, contracts, property and succession, and the Family Code of 1987 governs marriage. Public law, procedure and the constitutional structure are American: judicial review, due process and equal protection doctrine, and a Supreme Court whose decisions form binding precedent under stare decisis. Muslim personal law applies in parts of Mindanao through Syariah courts under Presidential Decree 1083, and the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act recognises customary law over ancestral domains.
How power is divided
Unitary but with a constitutionally mandated Local Government Code devolving substantial powers, and one autonomous region: the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, created in 2019 under the Bangsamoro Organic Law with its own parliament and its own Syariah justice system.
Where law comes from
- The 1987 Constitution
- Supreme; enforced by the Supreme Court through judicial review.
- Republic Acts
- Statutes of Congress.
- The Civil Code and Family Code
- Spanish-derived codified private law.
- Supreme Court decisions
- Binding precedent; Article 8 of the Civil Code makes them part of the legal system.
- Presidential Decree 1083
- The Code of Muslim Personal Laws, applied by Syariah courts.
- Customary law
- Recognised over ancestral domains under the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act 1997.
The legal profession
A single fused profession of attorneys admitted to the Philippine Bar by the Supreme Court itself, which controls admission, discipline and the rules of practice — a power the Constitution assigns to the Court rather than to the executive or a bar council. Candidates complete a four-year law degree and sit the Bar Examinations, historically among the hardest in Asia with pass rates often under 25 per cent. All lawyers belong to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and the Court has imposed mandatory continuing legal education since 2000.
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