What is due process of Law?

No exact definition has been given to due process because the ever-changing
condition of our society and thus we cant limit and constrict the meaning of due
process. Due process therefore continues to be dynamic and resilient, adaptable to
every situation calling for its application.
Our Supreme Court speaking through Justice Fernando, describe due process
merely as responsiveness to the supremacy of reason, obedience to the dictates of
justice. A more flexible definition is given by US Supreme Court Justice Frankfurter
would regard it as nothing more and nothing less than the embodiment of sporting
idea of fair play.
If a law itself unreasonably deprives a person, of his life or property he is
denied the protection of due process. Whatever the source of the right is, be it the
Constitution itself or merely a statute, unjustified withholding would also be a
violation of due process. Any government act that militates against the ordinary
norm of justice or fair play is considered an infraction to the great guaranty of due
process.
Under the Constitution a person may be deprived by the State of his life,
liberty, or property provided due process of the law is observed.

Who are protected?

The term person in the constitutional provision embraces all persons within
its territorial jurisdiction of the Philippines, without regard to any difference of race,
color, or nationality, including aliens.
Private Corporations, likewise, are person within the scope of the guarantee
in so far as their property is concerned. But not Municipal corporations (local
government) as they are mere creatures of the State.
Meaning of LifeLife is protected by due process of law, means something more than mere animal
existence. The prohibition against its deprivation without due process extends to all
limbs and faculties by which life is enjoyed. Any measure that would even only
endanger his health or subject to him to unnecessary pain or physical extortion
should be subject to challenge.
Meaning of LibertyLiberty, as protected by due process, denotes not only freedom from physical
restraint. It also embraces the right to man to use his faculties with which has been

endowed by his Creator subject only to limitation that he does not violate the law or
rights of others.
Liberty is not a license or unlimited freedom to act according to ones will. The very
enjoyment of rights necessarily imposes the observance of duties.
Meaning of PropertyProperty, as protected by due process of law, may refer to the thing itself or the
right over a thing. The constitutional provision, however, has reference more to the
rights over the thing. It includes the right to own, use, transmit and even destroy,
subject to the right of State and other persons.
However, one cannot have a vested right to a public office, for it is not regarded as
a property. It also hold that mere privileges such as a licence to operate cockpit or a
liquor store are not property rights and therefore revocable at will.
What is Deprivation?
To deprive is to take away forcibly, to prevent from possessing, enjoying our
using something. Deprivation per se is not necessarily unconstitutional. What is
prohibited is deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
What constitute deprivation?
1. Deprivation of life refers not merely to the extinction of human existence. It
includes the loss of any various physical and mental attributes which man
must have to live as a human being.
The right to life is the very foundation of all human rights. Without this right,
all other human rights are meaningless.
Ex: a persons life may be validly claimed by law, as when he is required to
render service in the defense of the State. On other hand, there would be
unlawful deprivation if he were sentenced to death conviction for a petty
offense as the disparity between crime and punishment would make the law
unreasonable.
2. Deprivation of liberty To constitute deprivation of liberty, it is not necessary
that a person be detained or confined. Liberty need not to be lost in its
entirety. To the extent that one is unduly prevented from acting the way he
wishes to do, there is a dimunition of liberty.
Ex. A law which requires every parent to send their children only to public
schools is unconstitutional as an unreasonable restriction to liberty of parents
to send their children under their control. Such law deprives the parents of
their liberty without due process of law.

There is no unlawful deprivation of liberty when a person afflicted with

communicable disease is confined in a hospital or quarantined in his own
home, or where a criminal punished with imprisonment. Conversely, it will
violate due process if a person is imprisoned without trial.
3. Deprivation of property- With reference to property, it is not necessary that it
be physically taken away from one entitled to it. There is deprivation of
property without due process of law, where the owner is constrained to
devote it, wholly or in part, to public use without due compensation.
Ex: Private property may be validly taken where it is offensive to the public
welfare, like a building on verge of collapse may be demolished under the
police power in the interest of public safety. It may also expropriated, after
payment of just compensation devoted to public use. There would be
unlawful deprivation if ones property is destroyed by authorities, even it is
not a threat to public safety or taken from the owner without just
compensation.