Due Process Law

Due Process Law & Legal Definition

The due process guarantees under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution Clause provide that the government shall not take a person's life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

The due process clause of the 5th Amendment applies to the federal government and the 14th Amendment applies to the states. 

Due process involves both procedual and substantive aspects. 

Procedural due process requires fairness in the methods used to deprive a person of life, liberty or property, while substantive due process requires valid governmental justification for taking a person's life' liberty or property. 

Due process requirements apply to both criminal and civil law.



The universal guarantee of due process is in the Fifth Amendment to the U. S. The American Constitution which provides "No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law," and applied to all states by the 14th Amendment. 

From this basic principle flow many legal decisions determining both procedural and substantive rights.