Midterm Consti Reviewer.docx

MIDTERM REVIEWER

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the action of signing or giving formal consent to a treaty, contract, or agreement, making it officially valid.

CONSTI 1 (POLITICAL LAW) CONSTITUTION -

Written instrument enacted by direct action of the people and by which the fundamental power of government are distributed among several departments for their safe and useful exercise for benefit of body politic.

SUPREMACY OF THE CONSTITUTION -

Constitution is the basic and paramount law to which all other laws must conform and to which al persons, including the highest officials of the land, must defer.

AMENDMENT -

Refers to a change that ads, reduces, or deletes without altering the basic principle involved Generally affects only the specific provision being amended

JUDICIAL REVIEW OF AMENDMENTS -

JUDICIARY MAY DECLARE INVALID PROPOSAL ADOPTED -

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Implies a change that alters a basic principle in the Constitution; the change affects the substantial entirety of the Constitution, as when the change affects substantial provisions of the Constitution Generally affects several provisions of the constitution

QUANTITATIVE TEST -

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Asks whether the proposed change is "so extensive in its provisions as to change directly the 'substantial entirety' of the constitution by the deletion or alteration of numerous existing provisions." The court examines only the number of provisions affected and does not consider the degree of the change.

QUALITATIVE TEST

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Inquires into the qualitative effects of the proposed change in the constitution. The main inquiry is whether the change will "accomplish such far reaching changes in the nature of our basic governmental plan as to amount to a revision." Whether there is an alteration in the structure of government is a proper subject of inquiry. Thus, "a change in the nature of [the] basic governmental plan" includes "change in its fundamental framework or the fundamental powers of its Branches." A change in the nature of the basic governmental plan also includes changes that "jeopardize the traditional form of government and the system of check and balances

2 STEPS INVOLVED IN AMENDMENT AND REVISION 1. 2.

Proposal Ratification

PROPOSAL -

Usually made by the Congress or Constitutional Convention May be directly made through initiative (people only propose amendments and not revision) Better made by legislative action Vote of at least ¾ of all the members of the Congress shall be needed The choice of the method of proposal lies in the exclusive discretion of the legislature.

2 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN SIGNING THE PROPOSAL 1. 2.

People must be the author and thus sign the entire proposal. No agent or representative can sign on their behalf. The proposal must be embodied in the petition.

RATIFICATION

Community of persons, more or less numerous, permanently occupying a fixed territory, and possessed of an independent government organizd for political ends to which the great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience.

ELEMENTS OF STATE 1. 2. 3. 4.

People Territory Government Sovereignty

ACCEPTED CRITERIA FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE 1. 2. 3. 4.

Permanent population Defined territory Government Capacity to enter into relations with other states

PEOPLE -

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By less than ¾ of the members of the Congress A call for a constitutional convention by less than 2/3 of the legislature A ratification made by less that a majority of the votes cast Plebiscite irregularly held

STATE

REVISION -

Question on the validity of the adoption of the amendments to the Constitution

Inhabitants of the State

TERRITORY -

Fixed portion of the surface of the earth inhabited by the people of the State

COMPONENTS OF TERRITORY: 1. 2. 3.

Land mass (terrestrial domain) Inland and external waters (maritime and fluvial domain) Air space above the land and waters (aerial domain)

ART 1. The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular shelves, and other submarine areas. The waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines. ARCHIPELAGO DOCTRINE -

Connecting the outermost points of the archipelago with straight baselines and consider all the waters enclosed thereby as internal waters; entire archipelago is regarded as one integrated unit instead of being fragmented into so many thousand islands

GOVERNMENT -

Agency or instrumentality through which the will of the State is formulated, expressed and realized. 2 functions: 1. Constituent – constitute the very bonds of society (compulsory)

2.

Ministrant – undertaken to advance the general interests of society (optional)

DOCTRINE OF PARENS PATRIAE -

Act as guardian of the rights of the people

DE JURE GOVERNMENT -

Has a rightful title but no power or control

DE FACTO GOVERNMENT -

Government of fact; exercises power or control but without legal title

SOVEREIGNTY -

Supreme and uncontrollable power inherent in the State by which that State is governed

LEGAL SOVEREIGNTY -

Authority which has the power to issue final commands

POLITICAL SOVEREIGNTY -

Power behind the legal sovereign or the sum of the influences that operate upon it

INTERNAL -

Power of the State to control its domestic affairs

EXTERNAL -

Power of the State to direct its relations with other States, is also known as independence.

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There being no change in the bellingerent occupation, the political laws of the occupied territory are merely suspended, subject to revival under the jus postliminium upon the end of the occupation. Judicial decisions; valid during the occupation and even beyond except those of a political complexion, which are automatically annulled upon the restoration of the legitimate authority. When there is change in sovereignty, political laws of the former sovereign are not merely suspended but abrogated.

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ACT OF STATE -

Act done by the sovereign power of a country, or by its delegate, within the limits of the power vested in him. Cannot be questioned or made the subject of a legal proceedings in a court of law

THE STATE MAY NOT BE SUED WIHTOUT ITS CONSENT. -

Does not mean that at all times state is immune from suit

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Application of the doctrine of immunity from suit has been restricted to sovereign or governmental activities (jure imperii) State immunity cannot be extended to commercial, private and proprietary acts (jure gestionis)

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ONE STATE CANNOT ASSERT JURISDICTION OVER ANOTHER -

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However, foreign states may be sued in the host state if engaged regularly therein in a business or trade or, even if not so engaged, on the basis of its contracts in the host state which may be considered as purely commercial, private and proprietary acts, but not with respect to its contracts entered into by it as governmental or sovereign acts.