Due Process

The guarantee of fair legal procedure against arbitrary government action

Overview

Descended from Magna Carta's law of the land clause, due process entered the American Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and spread through modern constitutions and human rights treaties. Procedural due process demands notice, a fair hearing before an impartial tribunal, and a chance to respond before government takes life, liberty, or property. Substantive due process, more contested, protects fundamental rights from certain regulation entirely. The phrase is now the universal shorthand for the rule of law in action. The phrase entered the American Constitution through the law of the land formula of Magna Carta.