Latin Maxims: Their Meaning and Importance

CHAPTER VII
LATIN MAXIMS:
THEIR MEANING AND
IMPORTANCE
STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION under ATTY. PETER ONG
Krisanta G. de Guzman, Block 6 - SN 2020-80153
TOPIC OUTLINE:
2 I. IMPORTANCE OF LATIN MAXIMS C. ON THE PRINCIPLE THAT WHAT
IS NOT INCLUDED IN THOSE
II. LATIN MAXIMS APPLICABLE TO
ENUMERATED ARE DEEMED
STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION
EXCLUDED
A. ON THE PRINCIPLES THAT LAWS
D. ON THE PRINCIPLE THAT
SHOULD BE PROSPECTIVE, NOT
SPECIAL PROVISIONS PREVAIL
RETROACTIVE
OVER GENERAL PROVISIONS
B. ON THE PRINCIPLE THAT WHEN
E. ON THE PRINCIPLE THAT
THE LAW IS CLEAR, WHAT THE
SPECIAL PROVISIONS PREVAIL
COURTS SHOULD DO IS TO
OVER GENERAL PROVISIONS
APPLY IT, NOT TO INTERPRET IT
III. CONCLUSION
Suarez (2014). Statutory Construction, Latin Maxims: Their Meaning and Importance, Chapter VII, 178-
186.
I
IMPORTANCE OF LATIN
MAXIMS
4
◈ Latin maxims are used by judges and justices in their

decisions to add elegance to their language.
◈ It gives emphasis to the legal points discussed.
Roman legal literature is noted for originality and the style of Roman
jurists is simple, clear, brief and precise.
5
◈ Our New Civil Code is Roman in origin.

Notwithstanding the modifications and enormous
improvements that have been made, the Philippines
and it’s citizens cannot remove the great influence that
Roman law still exerts in our day to day life.
II
LATIN MAXIMS APPLICABLE

TO STATUTORY
CONSTRUCTION
A. ON THE PRINCIPLE THAT LAWS SHOULD BE
7 PROSPECTIVE, NOT RETROACTIVE
Lex Prospicit, Non Respicit The law looks forward, not
backward.
Lex de Futuro, Judex de Praterio The law provides for the future,
the judge for the past.
“Article 4. Laws shall have no retroactive effect, unless the contrary is

provided.” (New Civil Code)
All statutes are to be construed as having only a prospective operation,
unless the retrospective effect is expressly declared or is necessarily
implied. In every case of doubt, the doubt must be resolved against
retrospective effect.
8
MRCA, Inc. v. Court of Appeals

G. R. No. L-86675, 19 December 1989
The Supreme Court enunciated the ruling that statutes regulating the
procedure of the courts will be construed as applicable to actions
pending and undetermined at the time of their passage. It is in that sense
and to that extent that procedural laws are retrospective.
9 The Plaintiff asked the Supreme Court to set aside the Decision of the
Court of Appeals affirming the order of the Regional Trial Court
dismissing the complaint for non-payment of the proper filing fees as
the prayer of the complaint failed to specify the amounts of moral
damages, attorney’s fees, and litigation expenses sought to be recovered
by it from the defendants, but left them “to the discretion of the court”
or “ to be proven during the trial”.
Plaintiff argued that since the decision in the Manchester case had not
yet been published in the Official Gazette when its complaint was filed,
the ruling therein was ineffective; that said ruling may not be given
retroactive effect because it imposes a new penalty for its non-
observance: the dismissal of the complaint for want of jurisdiction.
10
The Supreme Court ruled as follows:

1) Plaintiff’s argument regarding the need for publication of the
Manchester’s ruling in the Official Gazette before it may be
applied to other cases is not well taken;
2) The Manchester ruling was applied retroactively in Sun
Insurance Office, Ltd., et al. v. Asuncion, et al., (G. R. No.
L-789937-38, 13 February 1989), a case that was already
pending before Manchester was promulgated;
11
3) The Complaint in this case was filed on 24 March 1988, or ten

months after Manchester was promulgated on 7 May 1987,
hence, Manchester should apply except for the fact that it was
modified in Sun Insurance case, where we ruled that the court
may allow payment of the proper filing fees “within a
reasonable time but in no case beyond the prescriptive or
reglementary period.”
12
Nevertheless, the Supreme Court set aside the decision of the trial
court, and ordered the complaint reinstated and directed the trial court
to allow plaintiff to amend the complaint by specifying the amounts of
damages it seeks to recover from the defendants and to pay the proper
filing fees therefor as computed by the clerk of court, in line with the
Supreme Court’s ruling in Sun Insurance Office, Ltd. V. Asuncion.
B. ON THE PRINCIPLE THAT WHEN THE LAW IS
13 CLEAR, WHAT THE COURTS SHOULD DO IS TO
APPLY IT, NOT TO INTERPRET IT
Absolute Sentencia Expositore When the language of the law is
Non Indiget clear, no explanation of it is
required.
Optima Statuti Interpretatix Est The best interpreter of the statute
Insum Statutum is the statute itself.
Where the law is clear, the court’s duty is to apply it, not to interpret it
(Go Ka Toc & Sons, Co. v. Rice and Corn Board, G. R. No. L-23607,
23 May 1967, 20 SCRA 147)
14
People v. Mapa
G. R. No. L-22301, 30 August 1967, 20 SCRA 1164
Construction and interpretation come only after it has been
demonstrated that application is impossible or inadequate with them. It
is not within the power of a court to set aside the clear and explicit
mandate of a statutory provision.
15
Llamado v. Court of Appeals

G. R. No. L-84850, 29 June 1989
“the words to be given meaning whether they be found in the
Constitution or in a statute, define and therefore limit the authority and
discretion of the judges who must apply those words. If judges may,
under cover of seeking “true spirit” and “real intent” of the law,
disregard the words in fact used by the law-giver, the judges will
effectively escape the constitutional and statutory limitations on their
authority and discretion.”
C. ON THE PRINCIPLE THAT IT IS NOT THE
16 LETTER OF THE LAW THAT KILLETH, IT IS
THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW THAT GIVETH LIFE
Ratio Legis Est Anima The reason of the law is its soul.
Ratio Legis Interpretation according to spirit
Cessante Ratione Cesat Ipsa Lex When the reason for the law
ceases, the law ceases to exist.
Two schools of thought on which prevails if the letter of the
17 law conflicts with its spirit
Justice Isagani Cruz:
“A too literal reading of the law is apt to constrict rather than fulfill its
purpose and defeat the intention of the authors. That intention is usually
found not in the ‘letter that killeth but in the spirit that giveth life,’
which is not really that evanescent or exclusive. Judges must look
beyond and not be bound by the language of the law, seeking to
discover by their own lights the reason and rhyme for its enactment.
That they may properly apply it according to its ends, they need and
must use not only learning but also vision.” (People v. Sales, G. R. No.
L-66469, 29 July 1986)
18
“In case of doubt in the interpretation or application of the laws, it is

presumed that the law-making body intended right and justice to
prevail.” (Torres v. Limhap, 56 Phil. 141; de Castro v. Olondriz and
Escudero, 50 Phil. 725; Dominador Aytona v. Andres Castillo, et al., G.
R. No. L-54718, 19 January 1962)
19
Chief Justice Ramon Aquino:
“It is dangerous to rely on the so-called spirit of the law which we
cannot see nor handle and about which we do not know very much.”
(Villanueva v. Commission on Elections, G. R. No. L-54718,
4 December 1985)
“If the language of the law is clear and unequivocal, then read the law
to mean exactly what it says. If not, look for the intention of the
legislature.” (Chartered Bank Employees Association v. Ople, G. R. No.
L-44717, 28 August 1985)
D. ON THE PRINCIPLE THAT WHAT IS NOT
20 INCLUDED IN THOSE ENUMERATED ARE
DEEMED EXCLUDED
Expressio Unius Est Exclusio Express mention is implied

Alterius exclusion
The enumeration of specified matters in a statute is construed, as an

exclusion of matters not enumerated unless a different intention
appears.
21
Primero v. Court of Appeals

G. R. No. L-48468, 22 November 1989
Expressio Unius Est Exclusio Alterius is only an “ancillary rule of
statutory construction.” It is not of universal application. Neither it is
conclusive. It should be applied only as a means of discovering
legislative intent which is not otherwise manifest and should not be
permitted to defeat the plainly indicated purpose of the legislature.
B. ON THE PRINCIPLE THAT SPECIAL
22 PROVISIONS PREVAIL OVER GENERAL
PROVISIONS
Generalia Specialibus Non A general law does not nullify a
Derogant specific or special law.
“[I]t is a familiar rule of statutory construction that to the extent of

any necessary repugnancy between a general rule and a special law or
provision, the latter will control the former without regard to the
respective dates of passage.” (Maria Virginia V. Remo v. The
Honorable Secretary of Foreign Affairs, G. R. No. 169202, 5 March
2010)
23
“The fact that one law is special and the other general creates a
presumption that the special act is to be considered as remarking an
exception of the general act, one as a general law of the land and the
other as the law of the particular case.” (Solid Homes, Inc. v. Payawal,
G. R. No. L-84811, 29 August 1989)
“Whenever two statutes of different dates and of contrary tenor are of
equal theoretical application to a particular case, the statute of latter
date must prevail being a later expression of legislative will.”
(Philippine National Bank v. Cruz, G. R. No. L-80593, 18 December
1989)
III. CONCLUSION
24
Latin maxims does not only interpret statutes, but also provide elegance
and emphasizes legal points. It is simple, brief, clear, and precise. It is a
straight to the point interpretation of laws on the principle that it applies
to.
Thus, it is imperative that law students not only memorize, but learn by
heart the most Latin maxims they can in the whole course of the study.
Maraming salamat po!
Quidquid Latine Dictum Sit Altum Videtur
(Whatever is spoken in latin sounds profound)
25

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CHAPTER VII

◈ Latin maxims are used by judges and justices in their

◈ Our New Civil Code is Roman in origin.

LATIN MAXIMS APPLICABLE

“Article 4. Laws shall have no retroactive effect, unless the contrary is

MRCA, Inc. v. Court of Appeals

The Supreme Court ruled as follows:

3) The Complaint in this case was filed on 24 March 1988, or ten

Llamado v. Court of Appeals

“In case of doubt in the interpretation or application of the laws, it is

Expressio Unius Est Exclusio Express mention is implied

The enumeration of specified matters in a statute is construed, as an

Primero v. Court of Appeals

“[I]t is a familiar rule of statutory construction that to the extent of

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