Question

Eloise plans to build an addition on her house that she will operate as a bed and breakfast. The town rejects her plans on the grounds that she must first purchase from the town an expensive commercial building permit. Eloise argues that she is just modifying her own residence and that she owned the residence before the commercial permit legislation was passed. She argues she that, therefore, does not need the expensive permit. At the court hearing on her case, the town mayor serves as judge. This is:

Answer 1

Answer:

a violation of procedural due process requirements

Explanation:

Hearing a case involving legal matters should be done fairly and impartially. For this reason, these hearings should be made by a professional, a judge, who will act impartially between the two parties, assessing and interpreting the case based on legislation and not with secondary interests. In the case set out in the question above, if the mayor of the city acts as a judge at the hearing, this will violate the procedural requirements of due process of law. This is because even if the mayor is a judge, there is no guarantee that he will act impartially, in which case we can say that if the mayor is the judge, the process will not be concluded fairly.