USA Law

Search And Seizure

Search and Seizure in the United States

Action of government officials whereby people or places are examined in an effort to locate and confiscate evidence of a crime. Government power to search and seize is part of its greater authority to exercise police power and enforce the law. The power to search is vulnerable to abuse, however, so the Fourth Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution to help ensure that government searches and seizures be reasonable. The principal mechanism in protecting against unreasonable searches is the warrant process. Government agents must be able to show that there is cause to believe that evidence of a crime will be found by a search of a particular person or place. If a judicial officer can be convinced that probable cause exists, a warrant authorizing a search of specified persons or places will be issued. In a wide range of circumstances, it is virtually impossible for officers to obtain a warrant before acting. Items seized without a warrant may still be used so long as the search that produced them was reasonable. Before such evidence can be admitted at trial, a judge must be satisfied that cause to act existed in the absence of a warrant. Searches, particularly those made at the time of arrest, are a principal means of obtaining evidence against those accused of criminal behavior.

See Also

Exclusionary Rule (Criminal Process) Warrant (Criminal Process).

Analysis and Relevance

When government searches and seizes evidence, it has invaded personal privacy. While the government enforcement function is clearly legitimate, it must be balanced against the individual liberty interest in privacy. It is for this reason that the provisions of the Fourth Amendment were added to the Constitution. The framers of the Bill of Rights had direct experience with arbitrary searches conducted under general warrants known as writs of assistance, and they wished to safeguard against the invasions of privacy resulting from them. The reach of the Fourth Amendment was extended substantially in 1949 when the Supreme Court ruled in Wolf v. Colorado (338 U.S. 25) that the reasonable search language applied to the states as well as the federal government. Judicial enforcement of the Fourth Amendment has come largely through a device known as the Exclusionary Rule (U.S.). The rule, based on common law, prohibits the use of evidence obtained by means of an illegal or unreasonable search and seizure. The rule was first applied to federal proceedings by the Court’s ruling in Weeks v. United States (232 U.S. 383: 1914). The rule was later extended to state criminal cases in the landmark decision, Mapp v. Ohio (367 U.S. 643: 1961). Evidence obtained from a suspect search or seizure is challenged by a defendant in a pretrial suppression motion, which asks the judge to disallow the evidence.

Notes and References

  1. Definition of Search and Seizure from the American Law Dictionary, 1991, California

Practical Information

Note: Some of this information was last updated in 1982

The act of probing for information or evidence on a person or a person’s property. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the security of the individual against searches and seizures that are unreasonable and arbitrary. To assure a citizen his or her constitutional rights, the courts will give a police officer a search warrant (in U.S. law) only for a good reason supported by oath and describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

(Revised by Ann De Vries)

What is Search And Seizure?

For a meaning of it, read Search And Seizure in the Legal Dictionary here. Browse and search more U.S. and international free legal definitions and legal terms related to Search And Seizure.

Search and Seizure

United States Constitution

According to the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, about its article titled SEARCH AND SEIZUREThe fourth amendment has the virtue of brevity and the vice of ambiguity. It does not define the probable cause required for warrants or indicate whether a warrantless search or seizure is inevitably “unreasonable” if made without probable cause, so that the factual basis required
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Search and Seizure

United States Constitution

According to the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, about its article titled SEARCH AND SEIZURE The most important development in contemporary search and seizure law has been a fundamental change in the jurisprudential theories used to interpret this area of constitutional law. For most of the twentieth century, rules adopted during the “formalist” Lochner era
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Search and Seizure Explained

References

See Also

  • Criminal Law
  • Criminal Procedure

Search and Seizure

Resources

Further Reading

  • A Call For Alternatives To The Exclusionary Rule: Let Congress And The Trial Courts Speak, Wilkey, Malcolm Richard, 62: 351-356 (Feb. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • A Clarification From Professor Canon (letter), Canon, Bradley C., 62: 464 (May '79, AJS Judicature)
  • A Compromise of Judicial Integrity (letter), Burkoff, John M., 66: 4 (Jun.-Jul. '82, AJS Judicature)
  • The Costs of the Fourth Amendment (letter), Burkoff, John M., 62: 420 (Apr. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • Damages for Criminals? (letter), Chamberlain, Park, 63: 56 (Aug. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • Damages for Illegal Searches? (letter), Heller, Harold, 63: 152 (Oct. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • Discretion in Admitting Evidence (letter), Shroff, Kersi B., 63: 4 (Jun.-Jul. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • Distorting The Rules (letter), Bow
    nes, Hugh H., 62: 464 (May '79, AJS Judicature)
  • A Distortion of Justice (letter), Scott, George M., 62: 316-317 (Feb. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • The Exclusionary Rule In Historical Perspective: The Struggle To Make The Fourth Amendment More Than 'An Empty Blessing', Kamisar, Yale, 62: 337-350 (Feb. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • The Exclusionary Rule's Social Context (letter), Wasson, Greg, 68: 90-91 (Aug.-Sep. '84, AJS Judicature)
  • The Exclusionary Rule: Have Critics Proven That It Doesn't Deter Police?, Canon, Bradley C., 62: 398-403 (Mar. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • The Exclusionary Rule: Have Proponents Proven That It Is A Deterrent To Police?, Schlesinger, Steven R., 62: 404-409 (Mar. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • The Exclusionary Rule: Why Suppress Valid Evidence?, Wilkey, Malcolm Richard, 62: 214-232 (Nov. '78, AJS Judicature)
  • A Follow-Up On The Debate Over The Exclusionary Rule (news), Author, No, 63: 44 (Jun.-Jul. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • The Fourth Amendment Past and Future (letter), Harris, Daniel M., 68: 37-41 (Jun.-Jul. '84, AJS Judicature)
  • Is The Exclusionary Rule An 'Illogical' Or 'Unnatural' Interpretation Of The Fourth Amendment?, Kamisar, Yale, 62: 66-84 (Aug. '78, AJS Judicature)
  • Justice in the Eighties: The Exclusionary Rule and the Principle of Judicial Integrity, Henderson, Henry Lueders, 65: 354-361 (Feb. '82, AJS Judicature)
  • Justice In The U.S. (letter), Brookens, John W., 62: 414 (Mar. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • Making Judges Hypocrites (letter), Staples, Fred R., 62: 316 (Feb. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • Mr. Harris Replies (letter), Harris, Daniel M., 68: 56-57 (Aug.-Sep. '84, AJS Judicature)
  • No Satisfactory Alternatives (letter), Lee, David L., 62: 454 (Apr. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • Obeying and Enforcing the Law (letter), Goldstein, Gerald H., 68: 4 (Jun.-Jul. '84, AJS Judicature)
  • Of Limited Applicability? (letter), Howard, Samuel F., Jr., 68: 56 (Aug.-Sep. '84, AJS Judicature)
  • A Persuasive Review (letter), Patterson, Hugh M., 62: 317 (Feb. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • A Postscript On Empirical Studies And The Exclusionary Rule, Canon, Bradley C., 62: 455-457 (Apr. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • A Postscript On Empirical Studies And The Exclusionary Rule: A Reply To Professor Canon, Schlesinger, Steven R., 62: 457-458 (Apr. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • Retain the Exclusionary Rule (letter), Ostensoe, Frederick M., 63: 4-5 (Jun.-Jul. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • The Rule and Judicial Integrity (letter), Lederman, Dr. Eliezer, 63: 5 (Jun.-Jul. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • Search First, Pay Later? (letter), Hartz, Harris L., 62: 316 (Feb. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • A Stimulating Debate (letter), Portley, Maurice, 62: 464 (May '79, AJS Judicature)
  • A Too Liberal Construction of the Law (letter), Johnston, A. Eric, 63: 101 (Sep. '79, AJS Judicature)
  • What Can We Learn from the English Approach to the Problem of Illegally Seized Evidence?, Hirschel, J. David, 67: 424-435 (Apr. '84, AJS Judicature)

  • Resources

    See Also

  • Legal Topics.

    • Criminal Procedure: Constitutional Aspects; Criminal Procedure: Comparative Aspects; Exclusionary Rule; Police: Criminal Investigations; Police: Police Officer Behavior; Wiretapping and Eavesdropping.

    Alcohol; Automobiles; Criminal Law; Criminal Procedure; Drugs and Narcotics; Due Process of Law; Mapp v. Ohio; Miranda v. Arizona; Olmstead v. United States; Plain View Doctrine; Search Warrant; Terry v. Ohio; Wiretapping.

    Related Case Law

    Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160 (1949).

    Chicago v. Morales, 119 S.Ct. 1849 (1999).

    Entick v. Carrington, 19 Howell’s State Trials 1029 (C.P. 1765).

    Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213 (1983).

    Indianapolis v. Edmond, 121 S.Ct. 447 (2000).

    Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961).

    Michigan Highway Department v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444 (1990).

    Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1 (1985).

    Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968).

    Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 314 (1914).

    Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806 (1996).

    Wilkes v. Wood, 19 Howell’s State Trials 1153 (C.P. 1763).

    Wolf v. Colorado, 338 U.S. 25 (1949).

    Writs of Assistance

    Further Reading (Books)

    Amar, Akhil Reed. “Fourth Amendment First Principles.” Harvard Law Review 107 (February 1994): 757_819.

    Amsterdam, Anthony G. “Perspectives on the Fourth Amendment.” Minnesota Law Review 58 (1974): 349_477.

    Dickerson, O. M. “Writs of Assistance as a Cause of the Revolution.” The Era of the American Revolution. Edited by Richard B. Morris. New York: Columbia University Press, 1939. Pages 40_75.

    Kennedy, Randall. Race, Crime, and the Law. New York: Pantheon Books, 1997.

    LaFave, Wayne R. Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment. 5 vols. St. Paul, Minn.: West, 1995.

    Livingston, Debra. “Police Discretion and the Quality of Life in Public Places: Courts, Communities, and the New Policing.” Columbia Law Review 97 (April 1997): 551_672.

    Sklansky, David A. “Traffic Stops, Minority Motorists, and the Future of the Fourth Amendment.” Supreme Court Review (1997): 271_329.

    Steiker, Carol S. “Second Thoughts About First Principles.” Harvard Law Review 107 (February 1994): 820_857.

    Stuntz, William J. “Warrants and Fourth Amendment Remedies.” Virginia Law Review 77 (August 1991): 881_942.

    “The Substantive Origins of Criminal Procedure.” Yale Law Journal 105 (November, 1995): 393_447.

    Taylor, Telford. Two Studies in Constitutional Interpretation. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1969.

    Van Duizend, Richard, et al. The Search Warrant Process: Preconceptions, Perceptions, Practices. National Center for State Courts, Williamsburg, Va., 1985.

    Wasserstrom, Silas J., and Seidman, Louis Michael. “The Fourth Amendment as Constitutional Theory.” Georgetown Law Journal 77 (October 1988): 19_112.

    Further Reading (Articles)

    CONNECTICUT STATE POLICE NEW HAVEN INITIATIVE TASK FORCE EXECUTES SEARCH SEIZURES WARRANTS, SEVERAL ARRESTS MADE, US Fed News Service, Including US State News; May 23, 2007

    Alarm Call Prompts Search & Seizure. (Insider).(court finds search of trunk inside of house after police responded to burglar alarm was not legal)(Brief Article), Security Distributing & Marketing; September 1, 2001; Gold, Lessing E.

    sars: SEARCH & SEIZURES, Accountancy SA; September 1, 2007; Croome, Beric J

    REASONABLE SEARCH AND SEIZURE IS TOPIC OF MARCH 24 FOURTH AMENDMENT SYMPOSIUM, US Fed News Service, Including US State News; March 21, 2006

    Insecure from Unreasonable Searches & Seizures, Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review; May 4, 2014; McNickle, Colin

    UT STUDENT AMONG FIRST WOMEN ON NON-COMPLIANT SEARCH-SEIZURE TEAM., States News Service; November 11, 2011

    HARTFORD POLICE INTEL/VIOLENT CRIME IMPACT TEAM EXECUTES TWO SEARCH, SEIZURE WARRANTS; MAKES THREE ARRESTS, SEIZES THREE FIREARMS, US Fed News Service, Including US State News; September 21, 2007

    Search, Seizure and O. J. Simpson, The Washington Post; July 8, 1994

    SUPREME COURT REFINES LAW ON SEARCH, SEIZURE, The Record (Bergen County, NJ); April 25, 2002; WENDY RUDERMAN, TRENTON BUREAU

    FREDERICK POLICE DEPARTMENT ISSUED SEARCH, SEIZURE WARRANT, US Fed News Service, Including US State News; May 31, 2009

    AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION URGES SUPREME COURT TO REAFFIRM LEGAL LIMITS OF POLICE SEARCH, SEIZURE POWERS, US Fed News Service, Including US State News; February 22, 2006

    Court rules unanimously to uphold limits on police search and seizures.(Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers), Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service; April 28, 1997; Epstein, Aaron
    FREDERICK POLICE DEPARTMENT ISSUES SEARCH, SEIZURE WARRANT, US Fed News Service, Including US State News; May 31, 2009

    SEARCH, SEIZURE OF CRACK COCAINE OK — JUSTICES, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (Cheyenne, WY); September 14, 2005; Juliette Rule

    Search, seizure end cyclist’s honeymoon, Winnipeg Free Press; September 16, 2006

    RULING EXTENDS RIGHTS AGAINST SEARCH, SEIZURE, The Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY); December 8, 1992; Associated Press

    United Kingdom Statutory Instruments on The Armed Forces (Powers of Stop and Search, Search, Seizure and Retention) Order 2009, US Fed News Service, Including US State News; December 30, 2009

    Times Sues Homeland Security over Reporter’s Notes; Accuses Feds of Illegal Search, Seizure, The Washington Times (Washington, DC); November 22, 201

    St. George Man Accused of Stealing from Fishermen’s Cooperative Seeks Info Leading to Search, Seizure, Bangor Daily News (Bangor, ME); December 5, 2012; Betts, Stephen

    Law Court to ponder legality of ATV stops Search-seizure protection at center of case, Bangor Daily News (Bangor, ME); January 13, 2009; JUDY HARRISON OF THE NEWS STAFF

    Search and seizure

    Find more information on Search and seizure in relation to the Customs Trade Law in the legal Encyclopedias.

    Search and seizure and the International Trade Law

    Search and Seizure Explained

    References

    See Also

    • Criminal Law
    • Criminal Procedure

    Resources

    See Also

    Further Reading

    • Search and seizure entry in the Dictionary of International Trade Law (Raj Bhala)
    • Search and seizure entry in the Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History (Thomas Carson; Mary Bonk)
    • Search and seizure entry in the Dictionary of International Trade
    • Search and seizure entry in the Dictionary of International Trade: Handbook of the Global Trade Community (Edward G. Hinkelman)

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