CHAPTER 4

FUNDAMENTAL POWERS OF STATE

1. Police Power- is the power of State to regulate liberty and property for the promotion of the general
welfare.

2. Power of Eminent Domain-enables the State to forcibly acquire private property, upon payment of
just compensation, for some intended public use.

3. Power of Taxation-demand from members of society for their proportionate share or contribution in
the maintenance of the government.

SIMILARITIES:

1. They are inherent in the State and may be exercised by it without need of express constitutional
grant.
2. They are not only necessary but indispensable. The State cannot continue or be effective unless
it is able to exercise them.
3. They are methods by which the State interferes with private rights.
4. They are all presuppose an equivalent compensation for the private rights interfered with.
5. They are exercised primarily by the legislature.

DIFFERENCES:

1. The police power regulates both liberty and property. The power of eminent domain and the
power of taxation affect only property rights.
2. The police power and the power of taxation may be exercised only by the government. The
power of eminent domain may be exercised by some private entities.
3. The property taken in the exercise of police power is destroyed because it is noxious or intended
for a noxious purpose. The property taken under the power of eminent domain and power of
taxation is intended for a public use or purpose and is therefore wholesome.
4. The compensation of the person subjected to the police power is the intangible altruistic feeling
that he has contributed to the general welfare. The compensation involved in the other powers
is more concrete, to wit, a full and fair equivalent of the property expropriated or protection and
public improvements for the taxes paid.

Distinction between police power and power of taxation:

If generation of revenue is the primary purpose and regulation is merely incidental, the imposition is
tax.

If regulation is the primary purpose, the fact that revenue is incidentally raised does not make the
imposition a tax.

LIMITATIONS:

Bill of Rights- Constitutional provisions for the security of persons and property should be liberally
construed.

CHAPTER 5
THE POLICE POWER

-the power of promoting the public welfare by restraining and regulating the use of liberty and
property.

-regulates not only the property but, more importantly, the liberty of private persons, and virtually
all the people.

-property rights of individuals may be subjected to restraints and burdens in order to fulfill the
objectives of the government.

-confiscate private property in order to destroy if for the purpose of protecting peace and order and
of promoting the general welfare.

-power to regulate the exercise of rights, including all constitutional rights, by prescribing
regulations, to promote the health, morals, peace, education, good order or safety, and general
welfare of the people.

-The State’s exercise of the police power is also well organized in this jurisdiction as an acceptable
limitation to the exercise of individual rights. Inherent and plenary power in the State which enables
it to prohibit all things hurtful to the comfort, safety, and welfare of society.

CHARACTERISTICS:

-most pervasive, the least limitable, and the most demanding of the three powers.

-most essential, insistent, and the least limitation of power, extending as it does “to all the great
public needs”

The justification is found in ancient Latin Maxim “Salus populi est suprema lex” (The welfare of the
people is the supreme law) and “Sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas” (So use your property as not
to injure the property or others)

LANDMARK CASES:

Stone v Mississippi

-franchise to sell lottery tickets for period of 25 years

-charged with violation of prohibition with all forms of gambling

Ruling: All agree that the Legislature cannot bargain away the police power of State. Irrevocable
grants of property and franchises may be made if they do not impair the supreme authority to make
laws for the right government of the State; but no Legislature can curtail the power of its successors
to make such laws as they may deem proper in matters of police. The contracts which the
Constitution protects are those that relate to property rights, not governmental. Certainly the right
to stop them is governmental, to be exercised at all times by those in power, at their discretion.

Ichong V Hernandez

Treaty case – Retail Trade Nationalization Law

 Ruling: But even supposing that the law infringes upon said treaty, the treaty is always subject to
qualification or amendment by a subsequent law and the same may never curtail or restrict the
scope of the police power of State.

Association of Medical Clinics for Overseas Workers, Inc. V GCC Approved Medical Centers
Association, Inc

Ruling: while the principles of sovereign independence and equality have been recognized in
Philippine jurisprudence, our recognition of this principle does not extend to the exemption of States
and their affiliates from compliance with Philippine regulatory law.

Police power is dynamic, not static, and must move with the moving society it is supposed to
regulate. Once exercised, it is not deemed exhausted and may be exercised again and again, as often
as it is necessary for the protection or the promotion of the public welfare. Conditions change,
circumstance vary; and to evert such alteration the police power must conform.

EXERCISE OF THE POLICE POWER

Police power I lodged primarily in the national legislature. By virtue of valid delegation, it may also
be exercised by the President, and administrative boards as well as law making bodies on al
municipal levels, including the barangay.

President quasi-legislative power- the authority delegated by the law-making body to the
administrative body to adopt rules and regulations intended to carry out the provisions of the law
and implement legislative policy.

-to be valid, an administrative issuance, such as an executive order, must be promulgated upon
authority of the legislature in accordance with the prescribed procedure, and must be within the
scope of authority given by the legislature and reasonable.

Municipal government exercise this power under the general welfare clause, which provides that
“every local government unit shall exercise the powers expressly granted, those necessarily implied
therefrom, as well as powers necessary, appropriate, or incidental for its efficient and effective
governance, and those which are essential to the promotion of the general welfare.

TEST OF THE POLICE POWER

1. The interests of the public generally, as distinguished from those of a particular class, require the
exercise of the police power; and
2. The means employed are reasonably necessary for the accomplishment of the purpose and not
unduly oppressive upon individuals.

1. LAWFUL SUBJECT

-the subject of the measure is within the scope of police power, that is, that the activity or property
sought to be regulated affects the public welfare. If it does, the enjoyment of private rights may be
subordinated to the interests of the greater number, on the time-honored principle that the welfare of
the people is the supreme law.
-the first test requiring thee primacy of the welfare of the many over the interests of the few.

2. LAWFUL MEANS
-The lawful subject, in other words, must be pursued through a lawful method; that is, both the end and
the means must be legitimate.

-the means employed for the accomplishment of the police objective must pass the test of
reasonableness and specifically, conform to the safeguards embodied in the Bill of Rights for the
protection of the private rights.

INTEGRITY OF THE POLICE POWER

-police power can be an effective instrument for the furtherance of the public welfare.

-indispensably, of course, the two criteria just examined must be strictly complied with lest their
disregard debase the police power into an unwarranted intrusion into individual liberty and property
rights or, worse, a bludgeon for oppression.