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 Pre-Hispanic period 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. In a resolution of dispute, the datu acts as a judge while a group of elders sits as a jury. If a dispute is between datus or between members of different barangays, the dispute is settled through arbitration with some other datus or elders, serving as arbiters or mediators, from other barangays. All trials are held public. When a datu is in doubt if who between the parties are guilty, the trial is resorted to trial by ordeal—a common practice in criminal cases. An accused who was innocent was always perceived to be always successful in such ordeals, because the deities or gods of these pre-Hispanic people made the said accused do so. Hispanic period In the royal order of August 14, 1569, Miguel López de Legazpi was confirmed as the Governor and Captain-General of the Philippines. He was empowered to administer civil and criminal justice in the islands. Under the same order, Legazpi had original and appellate jurisdiction in all suits and constituted in his person all authority