Chu Jan vs. Bernas

CHU JAN, plaintiff-appellee,
vs.
LUCIO BERNAS, defendant-appellant.

G.R. No. 10010
August 1, 1916

FACTS:

The CFI rendered judgment dismissing the appeal without special finding as to costs on the ground that: (1) the court has always dismissed cases of this nature;; (2) that he is not familiar with the rules governing cockfights and the duties of referees thereof;; (3) that he does not know where to find the law on the subject, and (4) that he knows of no law whatever that governs the rights in questions concerning cockfights.

ISSUE:

May the court dismiss a case for lack of knowledge regarding the law applicable to a case?

HELD:

NO. The ignorance of the court or his lack of knowledge regarding the law applicable to a case submitted to him for decision, the fact that the court does not know the rules applicable to a certain matter that is the subject of an appeal which must be decided by him and his not knowing where to find the law relative to the case, are not reasons that can serve to excuse the court for terminating the proceedings by dismissing them without deciding the issues. Such an excuse is the less acceptable because, foreseeing that a case might arise to which no law would be exactly applicable, the Civil Code, in the second paragraph of article 6 (now Art. 11), provides that the customs of the place shall be observed, and, in the absence thereof, the general principles of law. Therefore the judgment and the order appealed from, hereinbefore mentioned, are reversed and to record of the proceedings shall remanded to the court from whence they came for due trial and judgment as provided by law. No special finding is made with regard to costs.

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