Supreme Court of the Philippines

The Supreme Court (; colloquially referred to as the Korte Suprema (also used in formal writing) is the highest court in the Philippines. The Supreme Court was established by the Second Philippine Commission on June 11, 1901 through the enactment of its Act No. 136, an Act which abolished the Real Audiencia de Manila, the predecessor of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court compound, which sits in what is formerly a part of the University of the Philippines Manila campus, occupies the corner of Padre Faura Street and Taft Avenue in Ermita, Manila, with the main building directly in front of the Philippine General Hospital’s cancer institute. History Early history Prior to the conquest of Spain, the islands of the Philippines were composed of independent barangays, each of which is community composed of 30 to 100 families. Typically, a barangay is headed by a datu or a local chief who exercises all functions of government—executive, legislative and judicial; he is also the commander-in-chief in times of war. Each barangay has its own laws. Laws may be oral laws, which are the traditions and customs of the locality handed down from a generation to generation, or written laws as promulgated by the datu who is typically aided by a group of elders. In a confederation of barangays, the laws are promulgated by a superior datu with the aid of the inferior datus.