DUE PROCESS OF LAW
ORIGIN OF DUE PROCESS
·
Magna
Carta in 1215
“No
man shall be taken or imprisoned or dessiezed or outlawed or in any manner
destroyed; nor shall we go upon hi, nor send upon him, but by the lawful
judgment of his peers or by the law of the land”
·
King Edward III’s Statute 28 in 1355
“No
man, of what state or condition whoever he be, shall be put out of his lands,
or tenements, nor taken, nor imprisoned, nor indicted, nor put to death,
without he be brought in to answer by due process of law”
LAW OF THE LAND
-
The general law, a law which hears before it
condemns which proceeds upon inquiry and renders judgment only after trial. (Daniel Webster, Dartmouth College Case)
DUAL ASPECT OF DUE
PROCESS: Substantive and Procedural
DUE PROCESS CLAUSE
“No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due
process of law.”
-
No attempt was made to spell out the exact
meaning or define the concept with some degree of exactitude
-
REASON: A
precise definition of due process might prove constricting and prevent the
judiciary from adjusting it to the circumstance of particular cases and to the
ever-changing conditions of society
-
Continues to be dynamic and resilient, adaptable
to every situation calling for its application
-
The Court prefers to have the meaning of the
phrase gradually ascertained by the process of inclusion and exclusion in the
course of the decisions of cases as they arise
-
Responsiveness to the supremacy of reason,
obedience to the dictates of justice
(Jus. Fernando)
-
A guaranty against any arbitrariness on the part
of the government, whether committed by the legislature, the executive, or the
judiciary.
-
Examples
of violation of due process:
Ø
The law itself unreasonably deprives a person of
his life or his liberty or his property
Ø
The enjoyment of rights is conditioned on an
unreasonable requirement
Ø
Unjustified withholding of a right
Ø
Any government act that militates against the
ordinary norms of justice or fair play
PERSON
-
Due
process protects all persons, natural and artificial
-
Artificial
person are also covered by the protection but only insofar as their property is concerned
o
REASON: The
life and the liberty of the artificial person, as a creature of law, are
derived from and therefore subject to the control of the legislature
DEPRIVATION
-
To deprive is to take away forcibly, to prevent
from possessing, enjoying or using something
-
Connotes denial of the right to life, liberty or
property
-
Deprivation per se is not necessarily
unconstitutional. What is prohibited is the deprivation of life, liberty or
property without due process of law
-
Examples
of valid deprivation:
Ø
When a person is required to render services in
defense of the State
Ø
when a person’s life is declared forfeited for
commission of a heinous offense
Ø
a person afflicted with a communicable disease
is confined in a hospital or quarantined in his own home
Ø
a criminal punished with imprisonment
Ø
prohibition on the carrying of unlicensed
firearms
Ø
prohibition on minors to drink intoxicating
beverages
Ø
requiring individuals to first pass the
corresponding government examinations before they may practice their
professions
Ø
property taken because it is offensive to the
public welfare
Ø
a building on the verge of collapse is
demolished under the police power in the interest of the public safety
Ø
property expropriated after payment of just
compensation so it may be devoted to some public use
Ø
property distrained and levied upon in case of
tax delinquency of its owner
PERSON
-
Due
process protects all persons, natural and artificial
-
Artificial
person are also covered by the protection but only insofar as their property is concerned
o
REASON: The
life and the liberty of the artificial person, as a creature of law, are
derived from and therefore subject to the control of the legislature
DEPRIVATION
-
To deprive is to take away forcibly, to prevent
from possessing, enjoying or using something
-
Connotes denial of the right to life, liberty or
property
-
Deprivation per se is not necessarily
unconstitutional. What is prohibited is the deprivation of life, liberty or
property without due process of law
-
Examples
of valid deprivation:
Ø
When a person is required to render services in
defense of the State
Ø
when a person’s life is declared forfeited for
commission of a heinous offense
Ø
a person afflicted with a communicable disease
is confined in a hospital or quarantined in his own home
Ø
a criminal punished with imprisonment
Ø
prohibition on the carrying of unlicensed
firearms
Ø
prohibition on minors to drink intoxicating
beverages
Ø
requiring individuals to first pass the
corresponding government examinations before they may practice their
professions
Ø
property taken because it is offensive to the
public welfare
Ø
a building on the verge of collapse is
demolished under the police power in the interest of the public safety
Ø
property expropriated after payment of just
compensation so it may be devoted to some public use
Ø
property distrained and levied upon in case of
tax delinquency of its owner
-
Examples
of unlawful deprivation:
Ø
A person sentenced to death for conviction of a
petty offense
Ø
Execution of persons mentally or physically
handicapped to improve or preserve the beauty and vitality of the race
Ø
A person is imprisoned without trial
Ø
A person is prevented from criticizing the
government
Ø
A person is forced to follow a particular
religion
Ø
Destruction of one’s property even if it is not
noxious or intended for a noxious purpose
Ø
Taking of property without just compensation
Ø
Regulating one’s property in such an arbitrary
manner as to deprive him of its lawful enjoyment
Ø
Prohibiting the construction on residential land
of any building that might obstruct the view of the public plaza from the
highway
LIFE
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Connotes the integrity of the physical person
-
It is not permissible for the government to
deprive the individual of any part of his body
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Any measure that would even only endanger his
health or subject him to unnecessary pain or to unreasonable physical exertion,
would also be subject to challenge
-
Embraces the enjoyment by the individual of all
the God-given faculties that can make his life worth living
-
Included
in the guaranty:
Ø
Right to give full rein to all his natural
attributes
Ø
To expand the horizons of his mind
Ø
To widen the reach of his capabilities
Ø
To enhance those moral and spiritual values that
can make his life more meaningful and rewarding
LIBERTY
-
Liberty is
the freedom to do right and never wrong (Mabini)
-
Liberty guaranteed under the due process clause
is not unbridled license but liberty regulated by law
-
A person is free to act but he may exercise his
right only in such manner as not to injure the rights of others
-
One’s own liberty must be enjoyed consistently
with the enjoyment of a lie liberty by other
-
The individual, as a creature of society, should
be prepared to surrender part of his freedom for the benefit of the greater
good
-
Salus
populi est suprema lex
-
Subject only to the reasonable restrictions of
the law, a person is free to do as he pleases
-
Do anything that does not offend public welfare
-
Examples:
Ø
One’s freedom of expression cannot be used to
unfairly destroy another’s reputation, or to incite rebellion, or to offend
public morals
Ø
Abuse of the sanctity of home by converting it
into a den of criminality or a hotbed of disease
PROPERTY
-
Anything that can come under the right of
ownership and be the subject of contract
-
Includes all things that are within the commerce
of man
-
Includes:
real, personal, tangible and intangible
-
One cannot have a vested right to a public
office as this is not regarded as property
XPN:
salary already earned
REASON
FOR THE EXCEPTION: salary that has already accrued is a property right
-
Mere privileges are not property rights and are
therefore revocable at will
-
One does not have a vested property right in the
continued operation of law
REASON:
may be repealed or amended at will by legislature, or in the maintenance of a
judicial doctrine, which may be modified or reversed in the discretion of the
SC
SUBSTANTIVE DUE
PROCESS
-
Requires the intrinsic validity of the law in
interfering with the rights of the person to his life, liberty or property
-
Whether or not the law is a proper exercise of
legislative power
-
The law must have a valid governmental objective and must be pursued in a lawful manner
PROCEDURAL DUE
PROCESS
-
“Strike,
but hear me first!” (Themistocles to Eurybiades)
-
one which hears before it condemns, which
proceeds upon inquiry and renders judgment only after trial (Daniel Webster)
-
the twin
requirements of notice and hearing constitute the essential elements of due process and
neither of these elements can be eliminated without running afoul of the
constitutional guaranty
-
Requisites
of Procedural Due Process:
o
Competent and impartial court
o
Jurisdiction over the subject matter
o
Hearing
o
Judgement based upon lawful hearing previously
conducted
Competent Court
-
one vested with jurisdiction over a case as
conferred by law
JURISDICTION
-
the power of the court to take cognizance and
decide a case
A. Actions in personam
1. Over the defendant – acquired by the
court upon his voluntary appearance or through service of summons upon him
o
may be effected personally or by substitute service, or in exceptional cases, by
publication
B. Actions in rem or quasi in rem
-
Derived from the power it may exercise over the
property
-
Jurisdiction
over the person is not essential, provided the relief granted by the court is limited to such as can be enforced
against the property itself
-
GR: Property
is always presumed to be in the possession of the owner or his agent, who may
be safely held under certain conditions to know that proceedings have been instituted against it
HEARING
-
Notice to a party is essential to enable it to
adduce its own evidence and to meet and refute the evidence submitted by the
other part
-
Every litigant is entitled to his day in court
-
Every litigant has a right to be notified of
every incident of the proceeding and to be present at every stage thereof so
that he may be heard by himself and counsel for the protection of his interest
-
A decision rendered without hearing is null and
void ab initio and may be attacked directly or collaterally (David v. Aquilizon)
-
No party should be made to suffer in person or
property without being given a hearing
-
The law does not require another notice and
hearing for a review of the decision of the board of special inquiry on the
basis of evidence previously presented (Caoile
v. Vivo)
-
Due process is not violated where a person is
not heard because he has chosen, for whatever reason, not to be heard. If he
opts to be silent where he has a right to speak, he cannot later be heard to
complain that he was unduly silenced.
Right of
confrontation
-
Does not necessarily mean a physical
face-to-face confrontation of the adversaries in the court
-
Merely means the right to be given an
opportunity to cross-examine and this right of course can be done through the
parties’ counsel
Right to appeal
-
Not essential to the right to a hearing
-
May be allowed or denied by the legislature in
its discretion
XPN:
when guaranteed by the Constitution
-
The requirements of due process are deemed
satisfied as long as the litigant is given his day in court at the trial of his
case, and he cannot demand as a matter of right another day in the appellate
court
-
But as long as the law allows him to appeal,
denial of the remedy is denial of due process
When can notice and
hearing be omitted without violating the due process?
Ø
Cancellation of the passport of a person
sought for the commission of a crim
Ø
Preventive suspension of a civil servant facing
administrative charges
Ø
Distraint of properties for tax delinquency
Ø
Padlocking of restaurants found to be unsanitary
or of theaters showing obscene movies
Ø
Abatement of nuisances
Nuisance per se
-
Objectionable under any and all circumstance
because it presents an immediate danger to the welfare of the community
-
May be
abated summarily
Nuisance per accidens
-
Objectionable only under some but not all
circumstance, there being situations when it is perfectly legitimate and
acceptable
-
The right thing in the wrong place
-
May be abated only upon judicial authorization
-
XPN: legislature
has authorized its summary abatement, provided the nuisance per accidens is of trifling value only
Presumption
-
GR:
presumption are not deemed violative of due process
-
Provided:
o
there is a rational or natural connection between
the fact proved and the fact ultimately presumed from such fact
o
based on human experience
Judgment
-
to insure against arbitrariness, due process
requires that judgment be based upon the lawful hearing previously conducted
Requisites of Procedural Due Process in
Administrative Proceedings
1. right
to hearing which includes the right to present one’s case and submit evidence
in support
2. the
tribunal must consider the evidence presented
3. the
decisions must have something to support itself
4. the
evidence must be substantial
5. the
decision must be rendered on the evidence presented at the hearing or at least
contained in the record and disclose to the parties affected
6. the
tribunal or body or any of its judges must act on its or his own independent
consideration of the law and facts of the controversy and not simply accept the
views of a subordinate in arriving at a decision
7. the
board or body should, in all controversial questions, render its decision in
such a manner that the parties to the proceeding can know the various issues
involved, and the reason for the decision rendered
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