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ARTICLE VIII

JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT

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RECAP

Legislative Department

• makers of the law

Executive Department

• Implements and enforces the law

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JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT

They interpret and apply the law. The judiciary is an indispensable

department of every democratic government.

The success of the republic will depend on the effectiveness of the courts.

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After the overthrow of President Marcos in 1986, President Cory Aquino, using her emergency powers, promulgated a transitory charter known as the freedom constitution, which however, did not affect the composition and powers of the Supreme Court. The Freedom Charter was replaced by the Present Constitution, which vest Judicial Power ‘In one supreme court and in such lower courts as maybe established by law’

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Section 1

The judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such lower courts as may be established by law.

Judicial power includes the duty of the courts of justice to settle actual controversies involving rights which are legally demandable and enforceable, and to determine whether or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch or instrumentality of the Government.

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What is Judicial Power?

The power of courts to interpret and apply the laws to disputes or differences between the government and private persons, or between individual litigants in cases brought to them.

It involves the settlement of conflicting rights as conferred by law.

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What is this grave abuse of discretion?

Discretion may be simply defined as the power to decide one way or the other and be right either way. For Example, If the President has to choose between two prospective appointees with equally impressive credentials, his/her preference for A over B, or B over A, cannot in either case be judicially reviewed. But appointing a notorious and unqualified person on the basis only of his political ties or other irrelevant inducements could be a grave abuse of discretion that the Supreme Court has the power—but not necessarily the courage—to revoke.

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Judicial Power vested inone Supreme Court and in Lower Courts

Supreme Court

Sandiganbayan

Court of Appeals

Court of Tax Appeals

Regional Trial Courts

Metropolitan Trial Cs Municipal Trial CsMunicipal Trial Courts in Cities

Municipal Circuit Trial Cs

Shari’a Appelate Courts

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Independence of Judiciary

The SC is given the authority to appoint all officials and employees of the Judiciary

The members of the SC and judges of lower courts enjoy security of tenure

Their salaries cannot be decreased during their continuance in office

The Judiciary enjoys fiscal autonomy

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Section 2

The Congress shall have the power to define, prescribe, and apportion the jurisdiction of the various courts but may not deprive the Supreme Court of its jurisdiction over cases enumerated in Section 5 hereof.

“No law shall be passed reorganizing the Judiciary when it undermines the security of tenure of its Members”

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Jurisdiction

• From the Latin word iuris meaning "law" and dicere meaning "to speak”

• “It is define as the authority by which courts take notice of and decide cases, the legal right by which judges exercise their authority.”

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Section 3

The Judiciary shall enjoy fiscal autonomy. Appropriations for the Judiciary may not be reduced by the legislature below the amount appropriated for the previous year and, after approval, shall be automatically and regularly released.

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Fiscal Autonomy

Freedom from external control. Together with the Constitutional

Commissions and the Ombudsman, they must have the independence and flexibility needed in discharge of their constitutional activities.

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Section 4

(1) The Supreme Court shall be composed of a Chief Justice and fourteen Associate Justices. It may sit en banc or in its discretion, in division of three, five, or seven Members. Any vacancy shall be filled within ninety days from the occurrence thereof.

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Chief Justice

Reynato Puno

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ASSOCIATE Justice

Leonardo Quisumbing

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ASSOCIATE Justice

Consuelo Ynares Santiago

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ASSOCIATE Justice

Antonio Carpio

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ASSOCIATE Justice

Renato Corona

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ASSOCIATE Justice

Conchita Carpio-Morales

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ASSOCIATE Justice

Minita Chico-Nazario

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ASSOCIATE Justice

Presibitero Velasco Jr.

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ASSOCIATE Justice

Antonio Eduardo Nachura

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ASSOCIATE Justice

Teresita Leonardo De Castro

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ASSOCIATE Justice

Arturo Brion

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ASSOCIATE Justice

Diosdado Peralta

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ASSOCIATE Justice

Lucas Bersamin

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ASSOCIATE Justice

Roberto Abad

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Section 4

(2) All cases involving the constitutionality of a treaty, international or executive agreement, or law, which shall be heard by the Supreme Court en banc, and all other cases which under the Rules of Court are required to be heard en banc, including those involving the constitutionality, application, or operation of presidential decrees, proclamations, orders, instructions, ordinances, and other regulations, shall be decided with the concurrence of a majority of the Members who actually took part in the deliberations on the issues in the case and voted thereon.

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What is En Banc?

A french word which literally means, on the bench

used to refer to the hearing of a legal case where all judges of a court will hear the case rather than a panel of them

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How many votes are required to decide a case hear en banc?

Since a quorum of the Supreme Court is eight, the votes of at least five are needed and are enough, even if it is a question of constitutionality.

Moreover, those who did not take part in the deliberation do not have the right to vote.

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How many votes are needed to decide a case in division?

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Section 4

Cases or matters heard by a division shall be decided or resolved with the concurrence of a majority of the Members who actually took part in the deliberations on the issues in the case and voted thereon, and in no case without the concurrence of at least three of such Members. When the required number is not obtained, the case shall be decided en banc: Provided, that no doctrine or principle of law laid down by the court in a decision rendered en banc or in division may be modified or reversed except by the court sitting en banc.