LEGAL PROFESSION

Atty. Tanya Lat

ATENEO DE MANILA LAW SCHOOL
Section 1-F, SY 2016-2017
READING ASSIGNMENT FOR WEEKS 5-8
(August 31 to September 27, 2016)
Part II. Lawyers, Justice, and the Law
READINGS FOR SEPTEMBER 13, 2016
A. Constitutional basis

1987 Philippine Constitution:

o State policies: Article II, Sec. 9-11;
o Bill of Rights: Article III, Sec. 1-22;
o Social Justice: Article XIII, Sec. 1-19

B. Role of lawyers in society

Manuel F. Bonifacio and Merlin M. Magallona, A Study on the Legal

Profession: A Perspective (1981). (See Google Drive)

Therese Desiree K. Perez and Rufino Ranulfo Z. San Juan IV, The
Revolutionary Imperative of Lawyers in the Philippines, 70 Phil. L.J. 493-506. (See
Google Drive.)

C. Justice and the Law

Jose W. Diokno, A Filipino Concept of Justice (1987), in Rene Sarmiento,

GROW IN GRACE AND GOVERN IN WISDOM: READINGS IN LEGAL PHILOSOPHY
(Available at the library)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963). (See
Google Drive.)

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables - Watch/revisit the novel/movie. Focus on the

dynamic between Javert and Valjean, and the political, social, and
economic context in which their story unfolds.
Kathleen Reynolds, Les Miserables: The Struggle Between Legalism
and Grace
o Part 1:
http://www.recoveringgrace.org/2013/02/lesmiserables-the-struggle-between-legalism-and-grace-part-1/
o Part 2: http://www.recoveringgrace.org/2013/02/les-miserables-thestruggle-between-grace-and-legalism-part-2/
o

Michael W. Hannon, Blessed Are Les Miserables: For Theirs is the

True Philosophy of Law (2013),
http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/02/8064/
1

Reflection questions for discussion:

(1) What are your thoughts on Sen. Dioknos Filipino concept of justice?
(2) What insights about law and justice did you get from Les Miserables?
(3) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. endorses St. Augustines assertion that an
unjust law is no law at all.
What is this claim based on?
To what extent are you persuaded by Dr. Kings explanation of
the distinction between just and unjust laws?
What challenges does this assertion pose (or potentially pose)
to lawyers and would-be lawyers? Relate this to our previous
discussion on Shakespeares take on lawyers.
READINGS FOR SEPTEMBER 20, 2016
D. The Philippines and Martial Law

People of the Philippines vs. Mariano R. Marcos, et al., G.R. No. L47388, October 22, 1940.

Marites Vitug and Criselda Yabes, Martial Law, A Cautionary Tale: Josue
Javellana v. Executive Secretary, in OUR RIGHTS, OUR VICTORIES:
LANDMARK CASES IN THE SUPREME COURT (2011), 185-195.

Yves Dezalay and Bryant G. Garth, ASIAN LEGAL REVIVALS: LAWYERS

SHADOW OF EMPIRE (2010): (See Google Drive.)

IN THE

Chapter 6: The American Empire in the Philippines

Chapter 9: The Philippines and Singapore: Lawyers and the

Construction of Authoritarian Regimes

Chapter 11: Lawyers as Political Champions Against

Authoritarianism

Gill Boehringer, A Perspective on Human Rights Lawyering in the

Philippines: A Conversation with Atty. Romeo Capulong
http://www.apdp.org.au/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=111:a-perspective-on-humanrights-lawyering-in-the-philippines&catid=3:news&Itemid=26

Galman, et al. vs. Sandiganbayan, G.R. No. 72670, September 12, 1986.
National Historical Commission of the Philippines, Why Ferdinand Marcos
Should Not Be Buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, July 12, 2016,
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9c6mrxI4zoYS2I0UWFENEp6TkU/view.
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Reflection questions:

What roles did Filipino lawyers and judges play during Martial Law?

Imagine yourself as a lawyer during Martial Law. Given what you

know about yourself, what role would you have played? Why?

READINGS FOR SEPTEMBER 27, 2016

E. Germany and the Holocaust Familiarize yourself with the general facts
regarding the Holocaust that took place during World War II.

Elie Wiesel, Night, pages 26-32 (excerpts)

Elie Wiesel, The Perils of Indifference (1999).

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ewieselperilsofindifference
.html

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Law, Justice, and the Holocaust:

How the Courts Failed Germany, 1933-1945 (2010) (PDF file)

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Law, Justice, and the Holocaust

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007887

David Matas, The Law as an Accelerator of Genocide

http://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/docs/paper13.shtml

Justice Case Judgment (Nuremberg), 1947, pages 25-60 (on PDF

format)

Karen Heller, The improbable story of the man who won historys
biggest murder trial at Nuremberg, The Washington Post Online,
August 31, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-last-survivingnuremberg-prosecutor-has-one-ultimate-dream/2016/08/31/3b1607e6-6b95-11e6-ba325a4bf5aad4fa_story.html

Reflection questions:

How did German lawyers and judges contribute to the Holocaust?

Imagine yourself as a German lawyer during that time. Given what

you know about yourself, what role would you have played? Why?