— Also termed equal protection of the laws; equal protection under the law. See RATIONAL-BASIS TEST T; STRICT SCRUTINY. [Cases: Constitutional Law 209–250.
5. C.J.S. Constitutional Law §§ 700–773, 775–912, 916–917, 919–944; Zoning and Land Planning § 23.]
“Equal protection does not require that all persons be dealt with identically, but it does require that a distinction made have some relevance to the purpose for which the classification is made.” Baxstrom v. Herold, 383 U.S. 107, 111, 86 S.Ct. 760, 763 (1966).
“As in all equal protection cases, … the crucial question is whether there is an appropriate governmental interest suitably furthered by the differential treatment.” Police Dep’t v. Mosley, 408 U.S. 92, 95, 92 S.Ct. 2286, 2290 (1972).
“[T]he equal protection principle is exclusively associated with written Constitutions and embodies guarantees of equal treatment normally applied not only to the procedural enforcement of laws but also to the substantive content of their provisions. In other words, the equal protection of the laws is invariably treated as a substantive constitutional principle which demands that laws will only be legitimate if they can be described as just and equal.” Polyvios G. Polyviou, The Equal Protection of the Laws 4 (1980).
