Due process of law as a tool for protecting social benefits within the framework of the official constitutional doctrine of Ukraine

The paper provides an analysis of the concept of due process of law and its contemporary significance for constitutional law. It originates from the English Magna Carta of 1215 and is still a valid part of the constitutional law of the United Kingdom, and is also part of the constitutional law of the United States in the form of the constitutional provision “no one shall be deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of law.” The idea of judicial constitutional review was originated from due process of law, the concept itself has a double meaning: substantive and procedural. The substantive requirements of due process are the basis of the activities of modern constitutional courts to protect the constitution and fundamental rights and freedoms: laws must have a legitimate purpose, be fair, reasonable and justified both in terms of content and in terms of their application, that is, a person cannot be arbitrarily “deprived of life, liberty and property”, that is, it protects the fundamental rights of a person from arbitrary actions of the state. The paper presents the historical origin of this concept as an institution of English law and the practice of the US Supreme Court on the application of relevant constitutional provisions on due process in terms of checking the constitutionality of the state’s social policy. The latest practice and official doctrine of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on the protection of socio-economic rights are analyzed, which traces the influence of the concept of due process on the substantive assessment of legislative restrictions on socio-economic human rights. Relevant conclusions are drawn regarding the stability and consistency of this influence in order to move away from post-Soviet conservative positivist notions of constitutional law.

Magna Carta, rule of law, due process, judicial activism, right to be heard, property rights, socio-economic rights.