PROJECT JURISPRUDENCE

RECOMMENDED CITATION: DELA PEÑA, Mark Angelo S. (2024), “SC: DOJ has Rulemaking Power in Preliminary Investigation,” 24 PJP 21 , available at <insert link> (last accessed on <date>). PJP BLOG : Although this content has received a favorable recommendation for citation from the admin team of PJP, it is not yet considered a peer-reviewed journal entry. CONTACT US : For immediate action on requests, comments, concerns, suggestions, and other forms of feedback, please message us on Facebook at www.m.me/projectjuris . Recently, there have been doubts regarding the legality of the 2024 Department of Justice - National Prosecution Service Rules on Preliminary Investigation (2024 DOJ-NPS Rules), especially the part thereof that modifies the minimum penalty requirement for the conduct of such investigation from "at least four years two months and one day" to "at least six years."

RECOMMENDED CITATION : DELA PEÑA, Mark Angelo S. (2024), “Richer Private International Law Jurisprudence in the US, Europe,” 23 PJP 21 , available at <insert link> (last accessed on <date>). PJP BLOG : Although this content has received a favorable recommendation for citation from the admin team of PJP, it is not yet considered a peer-reviewed journal entry. CONTACT US : For immediate action on requests, comments, concerns, suggestions, and other forms of feedback, please message us on Facebook at www.m.me/projectjuris . Reason for US and Europe’s richer jurisprudence on private international law It may be noticed that Philippine jurisprudence is not as rich in conflict of laws decisions as the US or as European countries. The reason for this is the geographical situation of the Philippines. In the US and in Europe, movement of persons and property across state lines is normal, if not rampant, as a result of the fact that their st

RECOMMENDED CITATION : DELA PEÑA, Mark Angelo S. (2024), “Reason for Municipal Law’s Reference to Foreign Laws,” 22 PJP 21, available at <insert link> (last accessed on <date>). PJP BLOG : Although this content has received a favorable recommendation for citation from the admin team of PJP, it is not yet considered a peer-reviewed journal entry. CONTACT US : For immediate action on requests, comments, concerns, suggestions, and other forms of feedback, please message us on Facebook at www.m.me/projectjuris . Students may find it interesting to ask the question of why municipal laws point to the application of foreign laws. If the municipal law of the forum has sufficient rules in place for the resolution of a dispute, why is there still a need to invoke the application of a foreign law? There are a few reasons proposed for this. First, the status, condition, and legal capacity of persons are traditionally viewed to be beyond the powers of a foreign court. Bein

RECOMMENDED CITATION:  DELA PEÑA, Mark Angelo S. (2024), “Municipal Laws, Foreign Laws, and Their Variance,” 21 PJP 21 , available at <insert link> (last accessed on <date>). PJP BLOG :  Although this content has received a favorable recommendation for citation from the admin team of PJP, it is not yet considered a peer-reviewed journal entry. CONTACT US:  For immediate action on requests, comments, concerns, suggestions, and other forms of feedback, please message us on Facebook at  www.m.me/projectjuris . Definition of municipal laws As far as the Philippines is concerned, municipal laws refer to Philippine laws. Hence, the statement “municipal law points to the application of foreign law” refers to Philippine laws that call for the application of laws of countries other than the Philippines. The term “law,” in its broad sense, refers to the 1987 Constitution, statutes passed by Congress, and decisions of the Supreme Court which form part of the law of the land. Executi

RECOMMENDED CITATION: DELA PEÑA, Mark Angelo S. (2024), "The Case of People v. Montenegro (1939)," 20 PJP 21 , available at <insert link> (last accessed on <date>). PJP BLOG :  Although this content has received a favorable recommendation for citation from the admin team of PJP, it is not yet considered a peer-reviewed journal entry. CONTACT US : For immediate action on requests, comments, concerns, suggestions, and other forms of feedback, please message us on Facebook at  www.m.me/projectjuris . The case of People v. Montenegro (1939) [1] In the case of People v. Montenegro, in 1932, accused was charged for violating a United States (“US”) federal law prohibiting excessive attorney’s fees for pension claims. Note that, in the US, each state is a country in itself but, owing to its federal system of government, the federal government maintains an overarching authority over states on certain matters such as immigration and foreign relations. Thus

RECOMMENDED CITATION: DELA PEÑA, Mark Angelo S. (2024), “Definition of Foreign Laws,” 19 PJP 21 , available at <insert link> (last accessed on <date>). PJP UNDOCKETED : This content is yet to be be peer reviewed and has not yet received any favorable recommendation for citation. It may or may not be queued up for citation recommendation or peer review. Caution is advised. CONTACT US: For immediate action on requests, comments, concerns, suggestions, and other forms of feedback, please message us on Facebook at www.m.me/projectjuris . In the Philippine legal system foreign laws are those promulgated, issues or enacted by a country other than the Philippines. For purposes of private international law and from the viewpoint of the Philippines, the term “municipal law” refers to the laws of the Philippines. On the other hand, the laws of a country other than the Philippines are “foreign laws.” In other words, French laws are the municipal laws of Fran

RECOMMENDED CITATION: DELA PEÑA, Mark Angelo S. (2024), “Substantive or Procedural Nature of Private International Law Rules,” 18 PJP 21, available at <insert link> (last accessed on <date>). ABOUT THE AUTHOR/S: Mark Angelo S. Dela Peña is a lawyer, court litigator, and law professor. LAST REVISION: [None]. There has been a long, ongoing and continuing debate on the question of whether private international law rules are substantive or procedural in nature. My journal, of course, does not aim to end such debate as the capacity to do so belongs to experts in the field of civil law and remedial law. However, the following observations are respectfully submitted. First, a substantive law in its broad sense is one that creates or abolishes a right. On the other hand, a procedural law in its broad sense is one that provides for the manner by which a right may be asserted or pursued. Justice Feria, in a dissenting opinion, once observed that sub

RECOMMENDED CITATION: DELA PEÑA, Mark Angelo S. (2024), “The Case of Vinuya v. Romulo,” 17 PJP 21, available at <insert link> (last accessed on <date>). ABOUT THE AUTHOR/S: Mark Angelo S. Dela Peña is a lawyer, court litigator, and law professor. LAST REVISION: [None]. --- The case of Vinuya v. Romulo (2010) [1] The case of Vinuya v. Romulo is about the tragic comfort women system, a legacy of the Rape of Nanking. In December 1937, Japanese military forces captured the City of Nanking in China and began a “barbaric campaign of terror” known as the “Rape of Nanking,” which included the rapes and murders of an estimated 20,000 to 80,000 Chinese women, including young girls, pregnant mothers, and elderly women. Later, this barbaric campaign reached the Philippines during the Japanese occupation. Petitioners in this case wanted the Executive Department to espouse their claims for an official apology from the Japanese Government and othe

RECOMMENDED CITATION: DELA PEÑA, Mark Angelo S. (2024), “Differences: Private International Law and Public International Law,” 16 PJP 21, available at <insert link> (last accessed on <date>). ABOUT THE AUTHOR/S: Mark Angelo S. Dela Peña is a lawyer, court litigator, and law professor. LAST REVISION: [None]. --- Public international law deals with rights, obligations, and interactions between and among states and international actors concerning their membership in the community of nations. On the other hand, private international law deals with the study of the determination, analysis, and application of the proper law -- whether domestic law or foreign law -- on a given set of facts with a foreign element, affecting contracts, property, obligations, and other private transactions between private individuals. A discussion of what “foreign element” means will be made in a separate journal. At this point, suffice it to say that a foreign element is a factual, not legal, situ

RECOMMENDED CITATION: Mark Angelo S. Dela Peña (2024), “CHOICE OF LAW” AS A BETTER NAME THAN “CONFLICT OF LAWS”, 15 PJP 21, available at <insert link> (last accessed on <date>). ABOUT THE AUTHOR/S: Mark Angelo S. Dela Peña is a lawyer, court litigator, and law professor. LAST REVISION: [None]. “Conflict of laws” is a misnomer. Like the term “private international law,” the term “conflict of laws” is also a misnomer. It creates confusion because it implies that there is necessarily a “conflict” or antagonism between the laws of the Philippines and those of a foreign country. The term itself frames the mind in the wrong way. The truth of the matter is that a conflict is not even necessary for the application of conflict of laws rules. Hence, for example, Philippine laws on legitime – a person’s compulsory share in the estate of a deceased person – may be the same with Chinese law on succession. The attention of private international law as a subject is not on the “conf