Private Acts and Bill of Rights Flashcards
What is the Bill of Rights?
It is a declaration and enumeration of a person’s fundamental civil and political rights. It also imposes safeguards against violations by the government, by individuals, or by groups of individuals
The Bill of Rights governs the relationship between the individual and the state. Its concern is not the relation between individuals, between a private individual and other individuals. What the Bill of Rights does is to declare some forbidden zones in the private sphere inaccessible to any power holder [People v. Marti, G.R. No. 81561 (1991)].
Is the Bill of Rights self-executing?
YES.
The Bill of Rights is self-executing [Gamboa v. Teves, supra].
What are Civil Rights?
Rights that belong to an individual by virtue of his citizenship in a state or community (e.g. rights to property, marriage, freedom to contract, equal protection, etc.).
What are Political Rights?
Rights that pertain to an individual’s citizenship vis-àvis the management of the government (e.g. right of suffrage, right to petition government for redress, right to hold public office, etc.).
What are Social and Economic Rights?
Rights which are intended to insure the well-being and economic security of the individual.
What are ‘Rights of the Accused’?
Civil rights intended for the protection of a person accused of any crime.
What is the ‘Doctrine of hierarchy of rights or Doctrine of preferred freedoms’?
While the Bill of Rights also protects property rights, the primacy of human rights over property rights is recognized. In the hierarchy of civil liberties, the rights of free expression and of assembly occupy a preferred position as they are essential to the preservation and vitality of civil institutions
[Philippine Blooming Mills Employment Organization v. Philippine Blooming Mills, Co., G.R. No. L-31195 (1973)].
What is the basis of the Bill of Rights?
- Importance accorded to the dignity and worth of the individual.
- Protection against arbitrary actions of government and other members of society.
What is the general purpose of the Bill of Rights?
The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to withdraw “certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials, and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s rights to life, liberty and property, to free speech, or free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to a vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections”
[West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 638 (1943)].
What are the specific purposes of the Bill of Rights?
- To preserve democratic ideals
- To safeguard fundamental rights
- To promote the happiness of an individual
The Bill of Rights is designed to preserve the ideals of liberty, equality and security “against the assaults of opportunism, the expediency of the passing hour, the erosion of small encroachments, and the scorn and derision of those who have no patience with general principles”
[Philippine Blooming Mills Employees Organization v. Philippine Blooming Mills Co., Inc., supra].
Can the Bill of Rights be invoked against the acts of private individuals?
NO.
The Bill of Rights cannot be invoked against acts of private individuals. The equal protection erects no shield against private conduct, however discriminatory or wrongful
[Yrasuegui v. PAL, G.R. No. 168081 (2008)].
Constitutional protection applies to government action and is meant as a restraint against sovereign authority. The Bill of Rights is not meant to be invoked against private individuals, and governs relations between individuals and the state
[People v. Marti, supra].
