United States Constitution, Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Editorial note. Each clause has a distinct lineage. Grand jury and double jeopardy trace to the common law and to English institutional practice; the privilege against self-incrimination emerged from opposition to Star Chamber and High Commission procedure; due process descends from Magna Carta ch. 39 (1215) and the six statutes of Edward III construing per legem terrae as due process of law; the Takings Clause codifies a natural-rights principle articulated by Grotius, Pufendorf, and Blackstone.

Editorial note. The Amendment bundles procedural and substantive limits on federal power over persons and property. It restrains federal criminal process (grand jury, double jeopardy, self-incrimination), guarantees adjudicatory regularity (due process), and imposes a compensation duty on the federal government's exercise of eminent domain.

Editorial note. Five distinct clauses operate independently: the Grand Jury Clause, the Double Jeopardy Clause, the Self-Incrimination Clause, the Due Process Clause, and the Takings Clause. Each clause has generated its own body of doctrine and its own analytic framework.

Editorial note. The Amendment reaches federal governmental action. Its Self-Incrimination, Double Jeopardy, and Takings Clauses apply to the States through Fourteenth Amendment incorporation. The Grand Jury Clause does not bind the States.

Editorial note. Leading decisions include Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) (self-incrimination; custodial interrogation warnings); Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299 (1932) (double jeopardy same-elements test); Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441 (1972) (use and derivative-use immunity); Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005) (public-use construction); Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 104 (1978) (regulatory-takings framework); Loretto v. Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corp., 458 U.S. 419 (1982) (per se physical takings); Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, 594 U.S. 139 (2021) (temporary physical invasions).

Editorial note. The Amendment structures federal criminal practice from investigation through post-conviction proceedings and governs every federal exercise of eminent domain, whether by direct condemnation, physical occupation, or regulatory action that deprives property of all economically beneficial use (Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003 (1992)).

Editorial note. Read together with U.S. Const. amend. IV (searches and seizures), U.S. Const. amend. VI (procedural rights of the accused), and U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1 (due process; incorporation).

Editorial note. The Fifth Amendment governs charging, plea, trial, immunity, and sentencing in federal criminal practice, and supplies the constitutional standard for compensation in every federal taking of private property.