automobile exception
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 399 U.S. 42 - Chambers v. Maroney · 1970Most cited · 9,073 citing opinions
Carroll, supra, holds a search warrant unnecessary where there is probable cause to search an automobile stopped on the highway; the car is movable, the occupants are alerted, and the car's contents may never be found again if a warrant must be obtained. Hence an immediate search is constitutionally permissible.
How often courts cite the cases defining “automobile exception”
Court decisions citing the 2 opinions that defined “automobile exception” — 9,955 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 2 definitions, chronological · 1968–1970
- ORIGINAL
Automobile, because of their mobility, may be searched without a warrant upon facts not justifying a warrantless search of a residence or office