List of Philippine legal terms

For many Latin language terms not included here also but which are used in Philippine courts, such as viz., see list of Latin legal terms.
Government acronyms are, for the most part, not listed here unless related to the judiciary. For others, see the list of Philippine government and military acronyms.

Owing to the unique history of the Philippines, its legal system is an equally unique blend of civil law (Spanish law), common law (American law), and, especially in Mindanao, Shariah law. Below is a list of Philippine legal terms:

Term Literal translation From Definition and use
A.C.,[1] administrative case[2] N/A English A case brought under administrative law in the form of a quasi-judicial proceeding by an agency of a non-judicial branch of government, or, the Office of the Court Administrator. Normally, such cases are internal disciplinary matters—court cases criminal and civil can be brought alongside them if warranted.
academic N/A English Moot—changed circumstances have rendered the case of intellectual interest only; no ruling will have a practical effect on the law or jurisprudence.
Act N/A English When on its own, as in "Act No. 3326", a law passed by the defunct colonial-era Philippine Legislature.
A.M. N/A English "Administrative matters" before the Supreme Court of the Philippines.
arguendo asserting Latin "For the sake of argument", as in, "Even arguendo that R.A. 10175 applies, this case still should be dismissed due to a lapsed prescriptive period."
arresto mayor major detention Spanish See Revised Penal Code § Penalties.
arresto menor minor detention Spanish See Revised Penal Code § Penalties.
B.P.[2] nationwide law Tagalog Abbreviation for Batas Pambansa, the name for laws passed by the defunct unicameral Batasang Pambansa.
C.A. N/A English Abbreviation for either Commonwealth Act and Court of Appeals, depending on context.
destierro exile Spanish See Revised Penal Code § Penalties.
eCourt N/A English An electronic database of cases at the lower levels of the judiciary. eCourt was seldom used before the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] Includes "eFiling", a way to submit pleadings and other court documents electronically.[4]
E.O. N/A English Abbreviation for Executive Order.
estafa scam, fraud, racket Spanish Fraud
expediente file, dossier Spanish As special rules apply to the release of the rollo, the office of each member of the Supreme Court is allowed to take a copy of the rollo. This is the expediente.[5]
fallo[2]
verdict
failure (non-legal translation)
Spanish The dispositive portion of a Court's ruling, coming at the very end of the ruling. Cf. conclusion. This word has the same meaning in the modern Spanish judicial system.[6]
fiscal[2] prosecutor Spanish A prosecutor, either at the city or provincial level, or nationwide Department of Justice level. Cf. procurator fiscal.
G.R. N/A English Abbreviation for General Register. See Case citation § Philippines.
IBP N/A English Integrated Bar of the Philippines[7]
information N/A English An indictment.[8] In the United States, which originated the term, there are grand juries, and indictments are more common, while an information is a rare type of criminal action brought in the absence of a grand jury.[9] However, the Philippines has no grand juries (and, indeed, no juries of any kind), so "information" is essentially synonymous with "indictment".[10]
intervenor-oppositor N/A English An intervenor who opposes the case of the petitioner.[11] Sometimes shortened to just "oppositor".[12] Cf. petitioner-in-intervention.
JBC N/A English Judicial and Bar Council
judge-at-large N/A English A judge without a permanent sala. Under R.A. 11459, such judges have all the rights of regular RTC judges, and the same salaries. They are also chosen by the President upon the advice of the JBC as other RTC judges are.[13]
MCTC[14] N/A English Municipal Circuit Trial Courts, a Municipal Trial Court that covers more than one municipality[15]
MeTC[14] N/A English Metropolitan Trial Courts, a type of civil court below Regional Trial Courts
MTC[14] N/A English Municipal Trial Courts, a type of civil court below Regional Trial Courts
MTCC[14] N/A English Municipal Trial Courts in Cities, a type of civil court below Regional Trial Courts
OCA N/A English Office of the Court Administrator
petitioner[2] N/A English A plaintiff.
petitioner-in-intervention N/A English An intervenor who supports the case of the petitioner.[11] Cf. intervenor-oppositor.
ponencia[2] report Spanish The Court's majority opinion.
ponente[2] speaker [at a meeting] Spanish The writer of the Court's majority opinion. Mostly used in the context of the Supreme Court, but can be used at the Regional Trial Court level.
prefatory statement[2] N/A English A statement which summarizes a legal document, similar to an abstract.
prisión correccional corrective imprisonment Spanish See Revised Penal Code § Penalties.
prisión mayor major imprisonment Spanish See Revised Penal Code § Penalties.
quasi-judicial agency N/A English An agency of the executive branch that exercises some judicial functions and before which a minimum of due process is required.[16] Cf. administrative case.
quo warranto by what authority Latin See Quo warranto § Philippines.
R.A. N/A English Abbreviation for Republic Act.
raffle Original meaning:
a type of lottery 		English The system by which cases are assigned to judges in multi-sala courts. As of 1974, "[n]o case may be assigned to any branch without being raffled."[17] As of 2013, raffles can be conducted electronically via "eCourt".[18] The gambling-related word "raffle" comes from the sources of randomness required by the Supreme Court: preferably a roulette wheel is to be used, but if that's not available, a bingo or jueteng tambiolo is permissible.[19]
reclusión perpetua perpetual seclusion Spanish See Revised Penal Code § Penalties.
reclusión temporal temporary seclusion Spanish See Revised Penal Code § Penalties.
respondent[2] N/A English A defendant.
rollo Original meaning:
a set of documents rolled up for easier archival and transit, or a scroll 		Spanish Short for rollo de casación (cassation archive) or rollo de apelación (appeal archive),[20] the rollo is the complete archive of a particular case, including documents received from a lower court and anything submitted regarding the case, directly to any Philippine court, though most often used in relation to the higher courts.[5] The term has its origin in the Real Audiencia de Manila, and is still used in the modern Supreme Court of Spain (Tribunal Supremo) and Spanish judicial system.[21] Cf. expediente.
RTC[14] N/A English Abbreviation for Regional Trial Court.
sala[2] courtroom Spanish Courtroom, though used only to refer to a specific branch of a Regional Trial Court, and not to refer to higher courts, unlike in Spain, where sala remains in use for all courts (e.g. in the set phrase la sala acuerda[22]—lit. the chamber agrees, or to describe a division of the Spanish Supreme Court, e.g. la tercera Sala—"Branch №3".) An acting judge serving in a temporary or acting capacity is said to be without a sala.[1] Some RTC branches have only a single sala.[17] Also cf. judges-at-large.
SC N/A English Supreme Court of the Philippines
SCC[14] See sharīʿah § Etymology Arabic Sharia Circuit Court
SDC[14] See sharīʿah § Etymology Arabic Sharia District Court
TRO N/A English A temporary restraining order.[23]
TSN N/A English Transcript of stenographic notes.[24] A court stenographer first takes down their notes in their preferred form of shorthand, e.g. Gregg shorthand, then produces a longhand transcript from it called a TSN.[25]
UDK N/A English An undocketed case, undocketed because, for example, the docket fee has not yet been paid.[5] Undocketed cases are still numbered, and may be ruled on at the discretion of the court, for example, Fletcher v. Bureau of Corrections has no G.R. number, but is instead cited as UDK-14071.[26]
  1. ^ a b Garcia v. Macaraig, Jr., A.C. No. 198-J (Supreme Court of the Philippines May 31, 1971) ("Respondent was, like every lawyer who gets his first appointment to the bench, eager to assume his judicial duties and rid himself of the stigma of being ’a judge without a sala’, but forces and circumstances beyond his control prevented him from discharging his judicial duties.").
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Philippine Law Dictionary (3rd ed.). Rex Bookstore Inc. 1988. ISBN 9789712349119.
  3. ^ Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas (May 8, 2020). "Raffle of newly-filed cases in ECQ areas resumes through videoconferencing". GMA News Online. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  4. ^ "06. Pursuing Swift and Fair Administration of Justice" (PDF). Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022. National Economic and Development Authority. 2017. p. 90. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c "The Internal Rules of the Supreme Court". Supreme Court of the Philippines. May 4, 2010. A.M. No. 10-4-20-SC.
  6. ^ "Sentencia, fallo, condena y veredicto no son sinónimos". fundéu RAE (in European Spanish). Real Academia Española. February 4, 2011.
  7. ^ "About". Integrated Bar of the Philippines. Retrieved June 25, 2020. The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) is the official organization of all Philippine lawyers.
  8. ^ Buan, Lian (August 6, 2017). "Indicted? Charged? A guide to court jargon". Rappler. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  9. ^ Molo, Steven; Lamken, Jeffrey (2018). "What's the Difference Between a Criminal Indictment, a Criminal Information, and a Criminal Complaint?". MoloLamken LLP. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  10. ^ Behan, Christopher W. (May 2003). "Don't Tug on Superman's Cape: In Defense of Convening Authority Selection and Appointment of Court-Martial Panel Members" (PDF). Military Law Review. 176. Rochester: 235.
  11. ^ a b Falcis III v. Civil Registrar-General, G.R. No. 217910 (Supreme Court of the Philippines October 30, 2019).
  12. ^ Canlas, Jomar (November 22, 2007). "Pasig court ruling: Justice Ong 'a natural-born Filipino citizen'". The Manila Times. Archived from the original on November 24, 2007. Retrieved December 5, 2007.
  13. ^ Acosta, Persida (February 18, 2020). "What are judges-at-large?". The Manila Times. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g "Quality Manual: The Judiciary (JUD-QMS-QM-001)" (PDF). Supreme Court of the Philippines. January 10, 2018. p. 8. Retrieved June 25, 2020. (Published date from [1])
  15. ^ Atencia, Romulo P. (April 21, 2016). "The hierarchy of courts". Catanduanes Tribune. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  16. ^ Umali, Toni (April 26, 2015). "Due process in administrative proceedings". BusinessMirror. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
    • Ang Tibay and National Workers Brotherhood v. The Court of Industrial Relations and National Labor Union, Inc., G.R. No. L-46496 (Supreme Court of the Philippines February 27, 1940), Text.
  17. ^ a b Circular No. 7 (Supreme Court of the Philippines September 23, 1974), Text.
  18. ^ Merueñas, Mark (June 14, 2013). "PHL Supreme Court goes 'paperless' with eCourt system". GMA News Online. Retrieved June 25, 2020. Assigning of cases or "docketing" as well as raffling of cases to judges are all done electronically through the eCourt.
  19. ^ Guidelines on the selection and designation of executive judges and defining their powers, prerogatives and duties (PDF) (A.M. 03-8-02-SC, Section 3(d)). Supreme Court of the Philippines. February 15, 2004. p. 5.
  20. ^ , Recurso de casación núm. 31/16 (Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Aragón [es]). PDF
  21. ^ "Rollo".
  22. ^ Auto, Recurso de casación № 59/2018, p. 11 (Supreme Court of Spain, Sala de lo Contencioso–Administrativo), Text.
  23. ^ Re: Special Rules for Temporary Restraining Orders and Preliminary Injunctions (Administrative Circular 20-95). Supreme Court of the Philippines. September 12, 1995.
  24. ^ Yaranon v. Rulloda, A.M. No. P-94-1045 (Supreme Court of the Philippines, Third Division March 21, 1995) ("TSN, 7 September 1994, pp. 2 & 4; TSN, 14 September 1994, pp. 1-2 & 5; Folder No. 3, Transcript of Stenographic Notes in A.M. No. P-94-1045."), Text.
  25. ^ Exemption of Court Stenographers from Attendance to Court Hearings and Directive to Finish the Pending Transcript of Stenographic Notes Within A Month Prior to Effectivity Date of their Retirement (PDF) (OCA Circular 12-2019). Office of the Court Administrator. January 29, 2019.
  26. ^ Fletcher v. BOC (Supreme Court of the Philippines, First Division July 17, 2009), Text.