The Due Process of U.S Constitution

Search

The Due Process of U.S Constitution

" Corwin said "the belief in a law superior to the will of humans" stretched back to antiquity, to Aristotle's concept of "natural justice" and Cicero's belief that human affairs should be governed by the principles of "right reason." Many of the patriots of the American Revolution, such as John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Otis, were steeped in classical learning and in the thinking of 17th and 18th century political thinkers such as James Harrington, who espoused an "empire of laws, and not of men," John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu. Williams said the Founding Fathers inherited a concept of due process which was "a [common law] principle of change and adaptations . . . long before it was written into the United States Constitution."

Due Process Clause in the First Hundred Years

The Due Process Clause in the Fifth Amendment and the later version thereof which appears in the Fourteenth Amendment, "nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property" have in different eras been interpreted narrowly or more broadly. Under the narrower interpretation, which prevailed during the first 100 years of the Republic, "the original significance of the clause was purely procedural--nobody should be punished without trial by jury" and other fair and impartial procedures.

VIEW THE REST OF THIS ESSAY!

Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath, 341 U.S. 123 (1951).

The first half of the 20th century saw the first steps taken by the Court to apply the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to strike down state laws which restricted freedom of speech, Gitlow v. People of State of New York, 268 U.S. 652 (1925), freedom of the press, Near v. State of Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697 (1931), free exercise of religion, cases involving flag salutes and limits on religious solicitations by Jehovah's Witnesses, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943) and Cantwell v. State of Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296 (1940), respectively, the right to marry and to procreate, Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923), and a number of cases dealing with state laws abridging the right to vote.

James Harrington, The Commonwealth of Nations. In ALPHEUS T.

Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., 348 U.S. 483 (1955).

Dennis v. United States, 341 U.S. 494 (1951).

Lochner v. New York, 198 U.S. 45 (1905).

Substantive Due Process: Frontier Areas Today

4778

VIEW THIS ESSAY

SAVE PAPER


		Some topics in this essay

		Process Clause \| Process Clauses \| Fourteenth Amendment \| due process \| Social Services \| Committee McGrath \| Evans Hughes \| Due Process \| Bill Rights \| Justice Rehnquist \| Federalist Paper \| process clause \| due process clause \| substantive due \| substantive due process \| fourteenth amendment \| fifth amendment \| due process clauses \| process clauses \| const amend \| board education \| chief justice \| supreme court \| clause fourteenth amendment \| process clause fourteenth \|