LIBERTY OF ABODE

AND TO TRAVEL
Section 6, Article III, 1987 Constitution
 SEC. 6. The liberty of abode and of changing the same within
the limits prescribed by law shall not be impaired except upon
lawful order of the court. Neither shall the right to travel be
impaired except in the interest of national security, public safety,
of public health, as may be provided by law.
Meaning of liberty of abode and travel

The liberty of abode and to travel is the right of a person to have his home
or residence in whatever place chosen by him and thereafter to change it at
will, and to go where he pleases, without interference from any source.
This is qualified, however, by the clauses “except upon lawful order of the
court” and “except in the interest of national security, public safety, or
public health, as may be provided by law.”
Limitations on the right.
• That the liberty of abode and travel is subject to the dominant police power of the State.
• Upon lawful order of a court
• In the interest of national security, public safety, or public health – Thus, the
lawmaking body may, by law, provide for the observance of curfew hours in time of war
or national emergency, the commitment of mentally deranged persons to a mental
institution, the confinement of those with communicable diseases to a hospital, etc.
REMEDY

A person whose liberty of abode is violated may petition

for a writ of habeas corpus against another holding him
in detention or in any manner depriving him of the
freedom of locomotion or movement.
IS THE RIGHT TO RETURN TO ONE’S
COUNTRY AMONG THE RIGHTS
SPECIFICALLY GUARANTEED IN THE
BILL OF RIGHTS?
The right to return to one’s country is a totally distinct right
under international law, independent from although related to
the right to travel. Thus, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights treat the right to freedom of movement and abode within
the territory of a state, the right to leave a country, and the right to
enter one’s country as separate and distinct rights.
“The right to return to one’s country is not among the rights specifically
guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, which treats only of the liberty of above
and the right to travel, but it is our well-considered view that the right to
return may be considered, as a generally accepted principle of international
law and, under our Constitution, as part of the law of the land. However, it
is distinct and separate from the right to travel and enjoys a different
protection under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights,
i.e., against being ‘arbitrarily deprived thereof.”