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Due Process As Choice Of Law: A Study In The History Of A Judicial Doctrine, Matthew J. Steilen

Journal Articles

This Article argues that procedural due process can be understood as a choice-of-law doctrine. Many procedural due process cases require courts to choose between a procedural regime characteristic of the common law - personal notice, oral hearing, neutral judge, and jury trial - and summary procedures employed in administrative agencies.

This way of thinking about procedural due process is at odds with the current balancing test associated with the Supreme Court’s opinion in Mathews v. Eldridge. This Article aims to show, however, that it is consistent with case law over a much longer period, indeed, most of American history. It …