The Law, Somewhere

By Atty. Eduardo T. Reyes III

So I’m sitting here in the middle of an urban jungle where nobody knows me- except, perhaps, my laptop and my coffee.

I’m writing- as what I’m always doing- about the law and how it applies to life. There is always something to be discovered about the law. It has many furls that it is surprising how many further little folds there are after one is discovered.

After completing and submitting the manuscript of my third law book to the publisher, I thought I would lapse into writing fatigue. But to my astonishment, I immediately embarked on my fourth one. Teaching the law has its acute irony: it makes one learn some more. Writing about the law, too, teaches the writer more about the law. It allows for the author to dive into the deep but not too clear waters of the law.

I wonder how sharing one’s knowledge about the law through writings, a law book, teaching, and other lectures, is appreciated. Are the recipients grateful because the teacher is actually giving away their knowledge of the law borne of hindsight, rich experience, and decades of study? Or are the recipients feeling a sense of entitlement and don’t care because, well, they deserve to be taught, anyway?

Is gratefulness a virtue that the law recognizes? Indeed, it is. In civil law, there is a basic principle that states: no person shall unjustly enrich himself/herself at the expense of another. Too, sentimental value has value in law pursuant to Articles 476 (Property) and 2218 (Moral Damages) of the New Civil Code.

While writing away here in the midst of anonymity, my mind races to all the other minds who have somehow listened to some lessons which this humble author have imparted. Is it possible that they have forgotten how they were taught the law that what they possess, they were imbued with since birth?

One thing about the law is that it is a product of time and experience. The law as a rule is applied prospectively precisely because based on past experiences, future eventualities must either be avoided, or encouraged.

One therefore is not born with the law. The law is taught and learned. The conveyors of the law are key in the social construct as they keep the law alive. It is said that when the reason for the law ceases, then the law itself dies.

In life, too, we have reasons for living. We search for the purpose of our lives. For a life without a purpose is no life at all.

For this author, he has found his calling. It is to teach the law. To share insights about the law.

So even in my short break from work while having a vacuum from teaching and delivering lectures, I still think and breathe the law.

I will continue to teach and write about the law because it is my nature. It is my advocacy. It is my purpose in life.

There is profound meaning in sharing insights about the law. It fills the writer’s soul instead of emptying him/her out.

As I’m writing this piece, an estimated 1,000 copies of my 2024 edition law book has been sold all over the country. Law schools, legal practitioners, and some courts are using the book as reference or legal citation.

Being part of one’s legal mind, or helping shape legal opinions- in or out of the classroom and courtroom- is indeed no mean feat.

Writing about the law, somewhere, it seems, feels like sharing it everywhere.

(The author is the senior partner of ET Reyes III & Associates (ETRIIILaw)– a law firm based in Iloilo City. He is a litigation attorney, a law professor, MCLE lecturer, bar reviewer and a book author. Among the books he authored is Law on Property and Essentials of Land Registration [2024 Edition] which was on the bestseller’s list in online shops for several months. His website is etriiilaw.com).