LAW AND EQUALITY

BR. IROL TORRES, SVD

 KINDS OF EQUALITY (ARISTOTLE)
(SOURCE: STANFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHILOSOPHY)

• 1. Numerical Equality – treating all persons as indistinguishable, thus

treating them identically or granting them the same quantity of a good
per capita.
• May not always be just.

• 2. Proportional Equality – treating all relevant persons in relation to

their due.
• The more precise and comprehensive formulation of formal equality.
 LEGAL EQUALITY

• Legal or Formal Equality = on the basis of the same standard, provisions will
not be equal if the circumstances are not equal, but must be equal if the
circumstances are the same;
• the law is applied equally to all persons without fear or favor.
• “treat like cases as likes.” (Aristotle)
• does not mean the same treatment, but proportionate treatment
 BILL OF RIGHTS (ART. III, CONSTI.)

• Section 1. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property

without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied equal
protection of the laws.
• All persons subject to legislation should be treated alike, under like
circumstances and conditions both in the privileges conferred and
liabilities imposed.
• Does not require that persons or things different in fact be treated in
law as though they were the same.
 BILL OF RIGHTS (ART. III, CONSTI.)

• Reasonable Classification
• No violation as long as the classification is reasonable, not arbitrary
or capricious and all within the same class are treated alike
• Where there are reasonable grounds for the classification, persons
or properties may be grouped into classes to each of which special
legal rights or liabilities may be attached
 LEGAL EQUALITY

•Doctrine of reasonable classification – everyone classified as

belonging to the same category is to be treated the same
way; things that are fundamentally different cannot be treated
the same.
•Discriminatory classification - if there is no reasonable
standard for classification
 BILL OF RIGHTS (ART. III, CONSTI.)

• Reasonable Classification, Examples:

• 1. Different professions are taxed differently;
• 2. certain privileges for leaves extended to women (by reason of
physical structure and maternal functions of women) are not
extended to men;
• 3. foreign corporations are made to pay higher amount of taxes
than that paid by domestic corporations.
 OTHER CONCEPTS OF EQUALITY

• Egalitarianism - a school of thought that espouses equality for everyone in

terms of fundamental worth or status or simply the removal of economic
inequalities.
• Not only are we equal as human beings, our human conditions should
also be fairly equal.
• Communists stretch this further into “equal” needs, “equal” labor and
returns, “equal” living standards, resulting unfortunately in everyone
becoming “equally poor” for being hostile to capital and wealth.