ARTICLE VIII - JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT Flashcards
T or F
The judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such lower courts as may be established by law.
True Sec 1 Art 8
T or F
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.
True. Sec 1 Art 8
What is judicial power?
It is the court’s authority to settle justiciable controversies or disputes involving rights that are enforceable and demandable before the courts of justice or the redress of wrongs for violations of such rights.
What is judicial review?
Judicial review refers to both the authority and duty of the courts to determine whether a branch or an instrumentality of government has acted beyond the scope of the latter’s constitutional powers.
What is grave abuse of discretion?
GAD implies such capricious and whimsical exercise of judgment as is equivalent to lack of jurisdiction or where the power is exercised in an arbitrary or despotic manner by reason of passion or personal hostility, which must be so patent and gross as to amount to an evasion of positive duty or to a virtual refusal to perform the duty enjoined or to act at all in contemplation of law.
What are the pillars of limitations to judicial review?
- That there be absolute necessity of deciding a case
- That rules of constitutional law shall be formulated only as required by the facts of the case
- That judgment may not be sustained on some other ground
- That there be actual injury sustained by the party by reason of the operation of the statute
- That the parties are not in estoppel
- That the court upholds the presumption of constitutionality
What are the pillars of limitations to judicial review?
- That there be absolute necessity of deciding a case
- That rules of constitutional law shall be formulated only as required by the facts of the case
- That judgment may not be sustained on some other ground
- That there be actual injury sustained by the party by reason of the operation of the statute
- That the parties are not in estoppel
- That the court upholds the presumption of constitutionality
What are the functions of judicial review? Explain each.
- Checking - check on the different bodies of government if there is abuse
- Legitimating - validating an act of the branch of government
- Symbolic - duty to formulate guiding and controlling principles, precepts, doctrines or rules
What are the requisites of judicial review?
- There is an actual case or controversy
- Petitioners possess locus standi
- Question of constitutionality is raised at the earliest opportunity
- Issue of constitutionality is the lis mota of the case
What is actual case or controversy?
It involves a conflict of legal rights, an assertion of opposite legal claims, susceptible of judicial resolution as distinguished from a hypothetical or abstract difference or dispute.
In other words, there must be a contrariety of legal rights that can be interpreted and enforced on the basis of existing law and jurisprudence.
T or F
Controversy must be justiciable, definite and concrete, touching on the legal relations of parties having adverse legal interests, which may be resolved by a court of law through the application of a law.
True
T or F
For a dispute to be justiciable, a legally demandable and enforceable right must exist as basis and must be shown to have been violated.
True.
T or F
Whether a case actually exists depends on the pleaded allegations as affected by the elements of standing, as the status being a “real-party-in-interest” in criminal actions and as offended parties in special proceedings as interested parties.
True.
T or F
An actual case or controversy means an existing case or controversy that is appropriate or ripe for determination, not conjectural or anticipatory, lest the decision of the court would amount to an advisory opinion.
True.
T or F
The judicial power does not extend to hypothetical questions since any attempt at abstraction could only lead to dialectics and barren legal question and to sterile conclusions unrelated to actualities.
True.
What is facial as applied challenge?
A facial challenge is an examination of the entire law, pinpointing its flaws and defects, not only on the basis of its actual operation to the parties, but also on the assumption or prediction that its very existence may cause others not before the court to refrain from constitutionally protected speech or activities.
What are the two concepts that affect the existence of an actual case or controversy?
Ripeness and mootness
What are the two concepts that affect the existence of an actual case or controversy?
Ripeness and mootness
What is ripeness?
It relates to the premature filing of a case.
A question is ripe for adjudication when the act being challenged has had a direct adverse effect on the individual or entity challenging it.
What is mootness?
It pertains to a belated or unnecessary judgment on the issues.
A case or issue is considered moot and academic when it ceases to present a justiciable controversy by virtue of supervening events, so that an adjudication of the case or a declaration on the issue would be of no practical value or use.
In such instance, there is no actual substantial relief which a petitioner would be entitled to, and which would be negated by the dismissal of the petition.
T or F
The moot and academic principle is not a magical formula that can automatically dissuade the courts in resolving a case.
True.
What are the instances wherein the SC will decide cases even if moot and academic?
- There is a grave violation of the Constitution
- The exceptional character of the situation and the paramount public interest is involved
- When constitutional issue raised requires formulation of controlling principles to guide the bench, bar and the public.
- The case is capable of repetition yet evading review
What does “capable of repetition yet evading review” mean?
Two factors need to be considered:
- The challenged action was in its duration too short to be fully litigated prior to its cessation or expiration
- There was a reasonable expectation that the same complaining party would be subjected to the same action.
What is locus standi?
Inextricably linked with the actual case or controversy requirement is that the party presenting the justiciable issue must have the STANDING to mount a challenge to the governmental act.
The necessity of a person’s standing to sue derives from the very definition of judicial power. Necessarily, the person availing a judicial remedy MUST SHOW THAT HE POSSESSES A LEGAL INTEREST OR RIGHT TO IT
It is defined as a personal and substantial interest in a case such that the party has sustained or will sustain direct injury as a result of the challenged governmental act.