Showing posts with label Legal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Legal. Show all posts

Monday, November 28, 2011

due process

Due process clause comes from the Fifth Amendment that “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” The first clause is called due process clause, and the second taking clause. The Fourteenth Amendment essentially repeats the same clause, but applies to the states and their creatures -- local governments.
According to Land Use Planning and Development Regulation Law by Julian Conrad Juergensmeyer and Thomas E. Roberts, there are two types of due process: substantive due process and procedural duo process. “Substantive due process limits the exercise of the police power by requiring that a land use regulation promote the health, safety, morals, or general welfare by a rational means. It protects against arbitrary or capricious actions.” However, compared to substantive due process which deals with “why a deprivation occurred,” procedural due process “asks how the deprivation came to be.” Procedural due process attaches to administrative and quasi-judicial decisionmaking, rather than legislation which substantive due process attached to. An example of procedural due process is a proper notice on public hearing during the rezoning process. 

Ultra Vires

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, ultra vires, originally Latin, means “beyond the scope or in excess of legal power or authority.” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ultra%20vires) Usually than not, the power/authority here refers to the Constitution. Ultra vires is a statutory claim; once the court finds a law exceeds the power granted by the Constitution, it will declare the law to be ultra vires. Two conditions can lead to ultra vires: either substantive (the law is beyond the power), or procedural (the process is not proper). Under the circumstance of zoning, the Board of Zoning Appeals (ZBA) plays the quasi-judicial role to hear the appeals on the administrative decisions. It is ZBA who judges whether a law (such as a rezoning) is ultra vires or not.