Legal method essentials 3.0 / Dante B. Gatmaytan.

Includes bibliographical references.

Legal Method is the most important course in the law school curriculum. It is also the most misunderstood and unappreciated. I suspect this is the case because the course does not deal with substantive law such as Constitutional Law, Persons and Family Relations, or Criminal Law - weightier courses taught in the first semester of law school. These are also "bar subjects", thus students understandably focus on these courses. Students often fail to appreciate legal method because it is a course on technique. It imparts skills needed by law students and lawyers alike. Substantive courses might teach these skills and techniques incidentally, but in the end, they impart doctrines. Legal method is the course that is devoted to learning a craft. Legal Method has a greater purpose outside personal and professional competence. Taught correctly, it trains students of law to analyze the state of the legal system and to consider its sequences on Philippine society. This book focuses on the Supreme Court for two reasons. The first reason is that the Supreme Court has a unique role in our system of government. As the ultimate guardian of the Constitution, it has "the distinguished but delicate duty of determining and defining constitutional meaning, divining constitutional intent, and deciding constitutional disputes." The Supreme Court's word is typically the final word on legal issues. These are few options available to reverse its rulings: wait for a change in the composition of the Court, a constitutional amendment, or an impeachment of the Justices. The second reason is that the Court's power is susceptible to abuse. A court that abandons the rule of law will produce dire consequences for society. The Supreme Court is "vested with the sovereign prerogative of passing judgment on the life, liberty or property of his fellowmen" and judges "must ultimately depend on the power of reason for sustained public confidence in the justness of his decision." --Preface of the book.