Cite as: 524 U. S. 498 (1998)
Breyer, J., dissenting
And the Due Process Clause can offer protection against legislation that is unfairly retroactive at least as readily as the Takings Clause might, for as courts have sometimes suggested, a law that is fundamentally unfair because of its retroactivity is a law that is basically arbitrary. See, e. g., Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation v. R. A. Gray & Co., 467 U. S. 717, 728-730 (1984); id., at 730 ("[R]etroactive aspects of legislation [imposing withdrawal liability on employers participating in pension plan] must meet the test of due process"); id., at 733 ("[R]etrospective civil legislation may offend due process if it is particularly harsh and oppressive" (internal quotation marks omitted)); Usery v. Turner Elkhorn Mining Co., 428 U. S. 1, 17 (1976). Cf. United States v. Carlton, 512 U. S. 26, 30 (1994) (retroactive tax provision); Welch v. Henry, 305 U. S. 134, 147 (1938) (same); National Labor Relations Board v. Guy F. Atkinson Co., 195 F. 2d 141, 149, 151 (CA9 1952) (invalidating administrative order as "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion," see 5 U. S. C. § 706(2)(A), because "[t]he inequity of . . . retroactive policy making . . . is the sort of thing our system of law abhors").
Nor does application of the Due Process Clause automatically trigger the Takings Clause, just because the word "property" appears in both. That word appears in the midst of different phrases with somewhat different objectives, thereby permitting differences in the way in which the term is interpreted. Compare, e. g., United States v. Martin Linen Supply Co., 430 U. S. 564 (1977) ("person" includes corporations for purposes of Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy Clause), with Doe v. United States, 487 U. S. 201, 206 (1988) ("person" does not include a corporation for purposes of Fifth Amendment Self-Incrimination Clause).
Insofar as the plurality avoids reliance upon the Due Process Clause for fear of resurrecting Lochner v. New York, 198 U. S. 45 (1905), and related doctrines of "substantive due process," that fear is misplaced. Cf. id., at 75-76 (Holmes, J., dissenting); Lincoln Fed. Union v. Northwestern
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