75 Md. App. 22 - Brown v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

20 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “People commonly have different expectations, whether considered or not, for the access areas of their premises than they do for more secluded areas. Thus, we do not place things of a private nature on our front porches that we may very well entrust to the seclusion of a backyard, patio or deck. In the course of urban life, we have come to expect various members of the public to enter upon such a driveway, e.g., brush salesmen, newspaper boys, postmen, Girl Scout cookie sellers, distressed motorists, neighbors, friends. Any one of them may be reasonably expected to report observations of criminal activity to the police. If one has a reasonable expectation that various members of society may enter the property in their personal or business pursuits, he should find it equally likely that police will do so. Thus, when the police come on to private property to conduct an investigation or for some other legitimate purpose and restrict their movements to places visitors could be expected to go (e.g. walkways, driveways, porches), observations made from such vantage points are not covered by the Fourth Amendment. But other portions of the lands adjoining the residence are protected, and thus if the police go upon these other portions and make observations there, this amounts to a Fourth Amendment search. (Footnotes omitted).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 201 Md. App. 23 - McGurk v. State

2. “Abandonment is primarily a question of intent, and intent may be inferred from words spoken, acts done, and other objective facts ... All relevant circumstances existing at the time of the alleged abandonment should be considered ... police pursuit or the existence of a police investigation does not of itself render abandonment involuntary ... The issue is not abandonment in the strict property-right sense, but whether the person prejudiced by the search had voluntarily discarded, left behind, or otherwise relinquished his interest in the property in question so that he could no longer retain a reasonable expectation of privacy with regard to it at the time of the search.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Sampson v. State

3. “The curtilage is as much to be protected against unlawful searches and seizures without a warrant as the dwelling itself.... "Houses," as within the protection of the Fourth Amendment, include the curtilage.... A yard or lawn is considered within the protection of the curtilage and the mere absence of a physical barrier such as a fence, gate or hedge is not conclusive.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Sampson