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Laurel's Supreme Court tenure may have been overshadowed by his presidency, yet he remains one of the most important Supreme Court justices in Philippine history. He authored several leading cases still analyzed to this day that defined the parameters of the branches of government as well as their powers.
[http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1936/jul1936/gr_l-45081_1936.html ''Angara v. Electoral Commission''], [[Case citation#Philippines|63 Phil. 139 (1936)]], which is considered as the Philippine equivalent of ''[[Marbury v. Madison]]'', [[case citation|5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803)]], is Laurel's most important contribution to jurisprudence and even the rule of law in the Philippines. In affirming that the Court had
<blockquote>The Constitution is a definition of the powers of government. Who is to determine the nature, scope and extent of such powers? The Constitution itself has provided for the instrumentality of the judiciary as the rational way. And when the judiciary mediates to allocate constitutional boundaries, it does not assert any superiority over the other departments; it does not in reality nullify or invalidate an act of the legislature, but only asserts the solemn and sacred obligation assigned to it by the Constitution to determine conflicting claims of authority under the Constitution and to establish for the parties in an actual controversy the rights which that instrument secures and guarantees to them.<ref>{{cite
Another highly influential decision penned by Laurel was [http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1940/feb1940/gr_l-46496_1940.html ''Ang Tibay v. CIR''], [[Case citation#Philippines|69 Phil. 635 (1940)]]. The Court acknowledged in that case that the substantive and procedural requirements before proceedings in administrative agencies, such as labor relations courts, were more flexible than those in judicial proceedings. At the same time, the Court still asserted that the right to [[due process of law]] must be observed, and enumerated the "cardinal primary rights" that must be respected in administrative proceedings. Since then, these "cardinal primary rights" have stood as the standard in testing due process claims in administrative cases.
''Calalang v. Williams'', [[Case citation#Philippines|70 Phil. 726 (1940)]] was a seemingly innocuous case involving a challenge raised by a private citizen to a traffic regulation banning [[kalesa]]s from [[Manila]] streets during certain afternoon hours. The Court, through Laurel, upheld the regulation as within the [[Police power (United States constitutional law)|police power]] of the government. But in rejecting the claim that the regulation was violative of [[social justice]], Laurel would respond with what would become his most famous [[aphorism]], which is to this day widely quoted by judges and memorized by Filipino law students:
<blockquote>Social justice is neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor anarchy, but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the State so that justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated. Social justice means the promotion of the welfare of all the people, the adoption by the Government of measures calculated to insure economic stability of all the competent elements of society, through the maintenance of a proper economic and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the members of the community, constitutionally, through the adoption of measures legally justifiable, or extra-constitutionally, through the exercise of powers underlying the existence of all governments on the time-honored principle of [[salus populi est suprema lex]]. Social justice, therefore, must be founded on the recognition of the necessity of interdependence among divers and diverse units of a society and of the protection that should be equally and evenly extended to all groups as a combined force in our social and economic life, consistent with the fundamental and paramount objective of the state of promoting the health, comfort, and quiet of all persons, and of bringing about "the greatest good to the greatest number.<ref>{{cite PH act|chamber=GR|number=47800|url=http://www.chanrobles.com/cralaw/1940decemberdecisions.php?id=237|title=MAXIMO CALALANG v. A. D. WILLIAMS|website=chanrobles.com|access-date=
While an associate justice, Laurel also held other appointive posts. Laurel was appointed by President [[Manuel L. Quezon]] as a member of the Moral Code Committee in 1939 and as member of the Code Committee in 1940. In 1941, he was also appointed as Professor of Civil Law at the Central College of Law. He was also named as acting [[Secretary of Justice (Philippines)|Secretary of Justice]] and acting [[Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines|Chief Justice]] on December of the same year and Commissioner of Justice in January 1942.<ref name="register"/> His time as associate justice ended on February 5, 1942
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===Domestic problems===
====Economy====
During Laurel's tenure as president, [[hunger]] was the main worry. Prices of essential commodities rose to unprecedented heights. The government exerted every effort to increase production and bring
====Food shortage====
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===Foreign policies===
====Philippine-Japanese Treaty of Alliance====
On October 20, 1943, the Philippine-Japanese Treaty of Alliance was signed by [[Claro M. Recto]], who was appointed by Laurel as his [[Secretary of Foreign Affairs (Philippines)|Foreign Minister]], and Japanese Ambassador to Philippines Sozyo Murata. One redeeming feature was that no conscription was envisioned.<ref name="Molina, Antonio 1961"/>
====Greater East Asia Conference====
[[File:Greater East Asia Conference.JPG|thumb|Greater East Asia Conference]]
Shortly after the inauguration of the Second Philippine Republic, President Laurel, together with cabinet Ministers Recto and Paredes flew to Tokyo to attend the [[Greater East Asia Conference]] which was an international summit held in Tokyo, Japan from November 5
The Conference addressed few issues of any substance, Eradication of Western Opium Drug Trade and to illustrate the [[Empire of Japan]]'s commitments to the [[Pan-Asianism]] ideal and to emphasize its role as the "liberator" of Asia from Western [[colonialism]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Gordon|first=Andrew|title=The Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|page=211|isbn=0-19-511060-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FiEMgP36lScC&q=%22Greater+East+Asia+Conference%22&pg=PA211|access-date=April 13, 2008}}</ref>
====Martial law====
Laurel declared the country under martial law in 1944 through Proclamation No. 29, dated September 21.<ref name="Lawphil-Proc29">{{cite PH act|title=Proclaiming Martial Law Throughout the Philippines|chamber=PP|number=29 |url=https://lawphil.net/executive/proc/procXXX/proc_29_1944.html|
==== Filipinization of the Catholic Church ====
On the day of [[Inauguration of Jose P. Laurel|his inauguration]], Laurel sought to gain recognition for the new republic from the [[Holy See]]. Correspondence between the diplomats of the [[Vatican City|Vatican]] and Japan told that the Holy See did not wish to recognize any new states for the duration of the War. Despite this, Laurel still sought to appeal to the Pope about instating Filipinos into the Church hierarchy.<ref>''Le président des Iles Philippines Laurel au pape Pie XII''. Rome, 11 March 1944. (A.E.S. 1927/44). '''Acts and Documents of the Holy See Relative to the Second World War Vol. 11''' pp. [http://www.vatican.va/archive/actes/documents/Volume-7.pdf#page=232 232-234]</ref>
{{Blockquote|text=As the Head of the Republic of Philippines,' I take liberty of voicing to Your Holiness the desire and sentiments of eighteen million Filipinos, the majority of whom are ardent Catholics, with respect to the matter which vitally affects the administration of the Catholic Church in Philippines, and which may have far reaching effects on their religious faith. I refer to Filipinization of the Catholic hierarchy and clergy in Philippines.
Your Holiness will remember that the movement for Filipinization of the clergy furnished one of the prime motivations of our revolution against Spain; that with overthrow of Spanish sovereignty only 250 out of 17,000 Spanish friars assigned to Philippines in 1898 were retained; that pursuant to the policy announced by the Holy See, Spanish bishops were replaced by American Catholic bishops; that during the American regime more missionaries of different nationalities came to the country; and that at present we have five Bishops and two Apostolic Prefects of foreign nationalities, while in certain provinces, such as [[Surigao (province)|Surigao]], [[Agusan (province)|Agusan]], [[Antique (province)|Antique]], [[Misamis Oriental]], [[Mindoro (province)|Mindoro]], [[Bukidnon]], [[Davao (province)|Davao]], [[Cotabato]], [[Palawan]] and [[Mountain Province]], parishes are still under the charge of foreign friars and missionaries. Now that the independence of Philippines has been finally achieved, the Republic of Philippines, though it fundamentally recognizes the separation of Church and State, can no longer remain indifferent to a long-felt need to Filipinize the local Catholic hierarchy and clergy.
In advocating this reform, the Filipino people are not moved by any spirit of animosity or hostility against any race or nationality, but they are inspired solely by the desire to win a just recognition for the Filipino race in their own country and to secure a vindication of capacity of Filipinos to manage their own affairs, temporal or spiritual. The projected measure can be achieved without in the least prejudicing interests, or sacrificing the creed or doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. Without in any way presuming to invade an ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Philippines, it is my honest belief that the spread of Catholicism among our non-Christian brethren and consequently increase of its followers in this country. This, in my opinion, is in consonance with the desire of His Holiness [[Pope Pius XI]] when he said:
«From the fact that the Roman Pontiff has entrusted to you and to your helpers a task of preaching Christian religion to pagan nations, you ought not to conclude that the role of native clergy is solely that of assisting missionaries in minor matters and in some sort of completing their work».
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