430
Opinion of the Court
V
Oregon's abrogation of a well-established common-law protection against arbitrary deprivations of property raises a presumption that its procedures violate the Due Process Clause. As this Court has stated from its first due process cases, traditional practice provides a touchstone for constitutional analysis. Murray's Lessee v. Hoboken Land & Improvement Co., 18 How. 272 (1856); Tumey v. Ohio, 273 U. S. 510 (1927); Brown v. Mississippi, 297 U. S. 278 (1936); In re Winship, 397 U. S. 358, 361 (1970); Burnham v. Superior Court of Cal., County of Marin, 495 U. S. 604 (1990); Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, 499 U. S. 1 (1991). Because the basic procedural protections of the common law have been regarded as so fundamental, very few cases have arisen in which a party has complained of their denial. In fact, most of our due process decisions involve arguments that traditional procedures provide too little protection and that additional safeguards are necessary to ensure compliance with the Constitution. Ownbey v. Morgan, 256 U. S. 94 (1921); Burnham v. Superior Court of Cal., County of Marin, 495 U. S. 604 (1990); Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, 499 U. S. 1 (1991).
Nevertheless, there are a handful of cases in which a party has been deprived of liberty or property without the safeguards of common-law procedure. Hurtado v. California, 110 U. S. 516 (1884); Tumey v. Ohio, 273 U. S. 510 (1927); Brown v. Mississippi, 297 U. S. 278 (1936); In re Oliver, 333 U. S. 257 (1948); In re Winship, 397 U. S., at 361. When the absent procedures would have provided protection against arbitrary and inaccurate adjudication, this Court has not hesitated to find the proceedings violative of due process. Tumey v. Ohio, 273 U. S. 510 (1927); Brown v. Mississippi, 297 U. S. 278 (1936); In re Oliver, 333 U. S. 257 (1948); In re Winship, 397 U. S., at 361. Of course, not all deviations from established procedures result in constitutional infirmity. As the Court noted in Hurtado, to hold all procedural
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