Philippines Law
Historical Overview

Introduction
The Philippines, an archipelago of 7,107 islands (about 2,000 of which are inhabited), with a land area of 115,600 sq m, has a population of 76.5 m. Some 87 major dialects are spoken all over the islands. English and Filipino are the official languages with English as the language of instruction in higher education. According to the 2000 census, the functional literacy rate is 83.8%. Agriculture constitutes the largest single sector of the economy. The country has a total labour force of 64.5%.
The Philippine legal system is aptly described as a blend of customary usage, and
Roman (civil law) and Anglo-American (common law) systems. The civil law operates in areas such as family relations, property, succession, contract and criminal law while statutes and principles of common law origin are evident in such areas as constitutional law, procedure, corporation law, negotiable instruments, taxation, insurance, labour relations, banking and currency. In some Southern parts of the islands, Islamic law is observed.
This particular legal system is the result of the immigration of Muslim Malays in the fourteenth century and the subsequent colonization of the islands by Spain and the United
States.
Historical Background
Philippine legal history may be categorized according to the various periods in the political history of the country: the pre-Spanish period (pre 1521); the Spanish regime (1521-1898); the Philippine Republic of 1898; the American regime (1898-1935); the Commonwealth era
(1935-1946); the Japanese occupation (1941-1944); the Period of the Republic (1946-1972); the Martial Law Period (1972-1986); and the continuation of the Republic.
Pre-Spanish Period
Historians have shown conclusively that the early Filipinos lived in numerous independent communities called barangays under various