Concept of the Bill of Rights

“There is no Constitution worthy of the name without a bill or declaration of rights.”
-Justice Jose P. Laurel

BACKGROUND

Last year, I began my bar review with Political and International Law, starting with its most lengthy item/section in the Supreme Court syllabus: The Bill of Rights.

But before we get to the good stuff, I’ll offer just a brief clarification on this subject. The whole subject in the bar exam is called Political and International Law. But this encompasses more specific subjects like Constitutional law, Administrative Law, Election Law, International Law, Local Government, and Law on Public Officers. But since most of this is under Constitutional Law (the study of our 1987 Constitution), most law students (including me) would refer to Political Law as Consti or Poli.

Subsection A is entitled Concept of Bill of Rights (although I think there should be a “the” before Bill of Rights). I personally think this is a decoy coverage. What does that mean? It means that I don’t think bar questions will come from this, except maybe if it’s some unlikely question like “explain the concept of the bill of rights.” Nevertheless, I think this is still valuable similar to our Constitution’s preamble.

How?

Even if “the Preamble is not a source of rights or of obligations” (Jacobson v.
Massachussetts, 1905), it still sets down the origin, scope, and purpose of the Constitution, it is useful as an aid in ascertaining the meaning of ambiguous provisions in the body of the Constitution. It is thus a source of light.

Similarly, even if the Concept of the Bill of Rights will not be a source of questions in the bar, it will help the bar candidates in interpreting the Bill of Rights provisions and help us answer the specific questions.

So let’s get to it.

CONCEPT OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS

I found this very nice explanation of the Bill of Right’s concept, but I can’t pinpoint its exact source. It may be from a book with no internet presence.

“It is a declaration and enumeration of a person’s rights and privileges which the Constitution is designed to protect against violation by the government, or by individual or groups of individuals. It is a charter of liberties for the individual and a limitation upon the power of the State.”
-unknown

Thus, the Bill of Rights is practically an ordinary person’s defense against the almighty State.

Here is an excerpt from a Philippine case:

“The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to protect the people against arbitrary and discriminatory use of political power. This bundle of rights guarantees the preservation of our natural rights which include personal liberty and security against invasion by the government or any of its branches or instrumentalities.”
–Allado v. Diokno, 1994 (Note: This Diokno is not related to JWD)

So the concept of the Bill of Rights is quite clear now. If the bar exam asks me to explain the concept of the Bill of Rights, I’ll probably answer with:

“According to the Supreme Court in Allado v. Diokno, The Bill of Rights is a bundle of rights that guarantees the preservation of our natural rights which include personal liberty and security against invasion by the government or any of its branches or instrumentalities.”

Privacy and Autonomy

I’m guessing that privacy and autonomy (or free will) are highlighted in the syllabus under the concept of the Bill of Rights because they are what the BoR protects. Because without the BoR, the State/government can simply commit acts that invade our privacy and autonomy.

For example, the state can wiretap you, they can monitor your mail, they can put cameras around and inside your house, they can FORCE you to wear uniforms, they can even FORBID you from having children. We will look into the specific sections of the BoR later on.

Simply put, without the BoR, the State will take away the things that make life fun: your free will and privacy.

Fun fact: Privacy is what Justice Brandeis considered as “the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.” Justice Brandeis is a famous US Supreme Court Justice who helped develop the right to privacy.

For the sake of definition, I’ll leave this here:

The Right to Privacy is the
“right to be let alone” and “a part of the more general right to the immunity of a person — the right to one’s personality.”
-Warren and Brandeis, 1890

We’ll elaborate on this right when we get to the topic of unreasonable searches and seizures later on.

Autonomy is
“The decisional aspect of privacy stems from respect for a person as an autonomous being with the right to decide for him or herself how to live life and conduct activities.”
–The Right to Privacy in Philippine Jurisprudence, 2018, by Emmanuel Fernando, Professor of the Department of Philosophy, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines, as well as Professorial Lecturer, UP College of Law and San Beda Graduate School of Law

Relation to Human Rights

At this point, you would easily deduce the BoR’s relation to human rights. Simply put, all of the natural rights the BoR protects are under Human Rights.

The right to privacy, freedom of religion, liberty of abode, freedom of expression, freedom from torture, etc., are all human rights. But note that the BoR does not cover all human rights. It only covers civil and political rights.

How Can the Concept of the Bill of Rights be Useful in the Bar?

Just like the preamble, the concept of the BoR is a source of light. Knowing that the BoR is meant to protect ordinary citizens from the State means that it is afforded greater weight (most of the time) to counterbalance the unlimited power of the State. It also means that the BoR can only be used against the act of the State (most of the time) and not against the acts of other ordinary citizens.

Thinking about it now, I still think we can ace the bar without bothering with the Concept of the Bill of Rights. But hey, a little extra knowledge wouldn’t hurt.

Don’t believe the myth that the brain can only store limited information. Don’t be afraid to digest info that you think may be useless later on. After all, The amount of information the brain can store is large enough that the amount we can learn is not limited by the brain’s storage capacity.

Learn baby, learn.