Constitutional Law 2

Question 1

Can the Bill of Rights be invoked against private acts?

Answer 1

No. The Bill of Rights governs the relationship between the individual and the State. Its Concern is not the relation between private individuals. What id does is to declare some forbidden zones in the private sphere inaccessible to any power holder.

Question 2

What are the two aspects of due process?

Answer 2

a. Substantive due process refers to the intrinsic validity of a law that interferes with the rights of a person to his property.

b. Procedural due process, on the other hand, means compliance with the procedures or steps, even periods, prescribed by the statute, in conformity with the standard of fair play and without arbitrariness on the part of those who are called upon to administer it.

Question 3

Compare and contrast “overbreadth doctrine” from “void-for-vagueness” doctrine”?

Answer 3

While overbreadth doctrine applies when a statute needlessly restrains even constitutionally guaranteed rights,

A statute is void for vagueness when it forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence cannot necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application.

Question 4

What are the minimum requirements of procedural due process in judicial proceedings? (Requisites)

Answer 4

a. There must be a court or tribunal clothed with judicial power to hear and determine the matter before it
b. Jurisdiction must be lawfully acquired over the person of the defendant or over the property which is the subject of the proceeding
c. the defendant must be given an opportunity to be heard
d. judgment must be rendered upon lawful hearing

Question 5

What are the Cardinal Rights in Administrative Proceedings? Requisites

Answer 5

RESS-BAK
1. RIGHT to hearing- it includes the right to present one’s case and submit evidence to support thereof,
2. The tribunal must consider the EVIDENCE presented
3. Evidence presented must be SUBSTANTIAL, which means relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion
4. The decision must have something to SUPPORT itself
5. The decision must be BASED on evidence presented during hearing or at least contained in the record and disclosed by the parties
6. The tribunal or body or any of its judges must ACT on its own independent consideration of the law and facts of the controversy
7. The decision must be rendered in a manner that the parties can KNOW the various issues involved and the reason for the decision rendered.

Question 6

What are the requisites of Substantive Due process?

Answer 6

1. There must be a valid LAW upon which it is based
2. The law must have been passed or approved to accomplish a valid GOVERNMENTAL objective
3. The objective must be pursued in a lawful MANNER
4. The law as well as the MEANS to accomplish the objective must be valid and not oppressive

Question 7

What are the requisites for valid classification?

Answer 7

1. The classification rests on SUBSTANTIAL distinctions
2. It is germane to the purpose of the law
3. It is not limited to existing conditions only, and
4. It applies equally to all members of the same class

Question 8

What are the three levels of test that are applied in equal protection cases?

Answer 8

Strict Scrutiny Test- which is applied when the legislative classification disadvantages a suspect class or impinges upon a fundamental right, the statute must fall unless the government can show that the classification serves a compelling governmental interest.

Intermediate Scrutiny Test- when the classification, while not facially invidious, gives rise to recurring constitutional difficulties or disadvantages a qausi-suspect class. To survive intermediate scrutiny, the law must not only further an important government interest and be related to that interest, but the justification must be genuine and must not depend on broad generalizations.

Rationality Test, if neither the strict nor the intermediate scrutiny is appropriate, the statute will be tested for mere rationality. The presumption is in favor of the classification, of the reasonableness and fairness of state action, and of legitimate grounds of distinction, if any such grounds exist, on which the State acted.

Question 9

What are the requisites of a valid warrant?

Answer 9

1. It must be issued upon probable cause
2. Probable cause must be determined personally by the judge
3. Such judge must examine under oath or affirmation the complainant and the witnesses he may produce
4. The warrant must particularly describe the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

Question 10

Explain the probable cause needed to be proven for the issuance of an arrest warrant.

Answer 10

The standard for determining “probable cause” for the judge issuing a warrant of arrest is the existence of such facts and circumstances that would lead a reasonably discreet and prudent person to believe that an offense has been committed by the person sought to be arrested or held for trial, as the case may be.

Question 11

What are the valid warrantless arrests?

Answer 11

1. When caught in flagrante delicto
2. Hot pursuit
3. If a person lawfully arrested escapes or is rescued
4. In case of continuing offense
5. If the accused released on bail attempts to depart from the Philippines without permission of the court
6. Doctrine of Exigent Circumstance

Question 12

What are the valid warrantless searches?

Answer 12

1. Warrantless search incidental to a lawful arrest recognized under Sec. 12, Rule 126 of the Rules of Court and by prevailing jurisprudence
2. Seizure of evidence in “plain view”
3. Search of a moving vehicle
4. Consented warrantless search
5. Customs search
6. Stop and Frisk
7. Exigent and Emergency Circumstances

Question 13

What are the elements of a seizure in plain view?

Answer 13

1. A prior valid intrusion based on the valid warrantless arrest in which the police are legally present in the pursuit of their official duties
2. The evidence was inadvertently discovered by the police who had the right to be where they are
3. The evidence must be immediately apparent
4. Plain view justified mere seizure of evidence without search

Question 14

What are the requisites for the existence of the right to privacy?

Answer 14

The existence of privacy right involves a two-fold requirement:
a. that a person has exhibited an actual (subjected) expectation of privacy, and
b. the expectation be one that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable

Question 15

When is an intrusion of a person’s privacy of communication and correspondence valid?

Answer 15

A valid intrusion into a person’s communications and correspondence may be allowed
a. upon lawful order of the court, or
b. the expectation be one that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable

Question 16

What is the exclusionary rule in relation to right to privacy of communication?

Answer 16

Any evidence obtained in violation of the right to privacy of communication and correspondence shall be inadmissible for any purpose in any proceeding.

Question 17

Define Informational, Decisional and Locational Privacy

Answer 17

Locational privacy, also known as situational privacy, pertains to privacy that is felt in a physical space. It may be violated through an act of trespass or through an unlawful search

Informational privacy refers to one’s right to control “the processing- i.e., acquisition, disclosure and use- of personal information”

Decisional privacy, regarded as the most controversial among the three, refers to one’s right “to make certain kinds of fundamental choices with respect to their personal and reproductive autonomy.