search warrant

The presence of a search warrant serves a high function. Absent some grave emergency, the Fourth Amendment has interposed a magistrate between the citizen and the police. This was done not to shield criminals nor to make the home a safe haven for illegal activities. It was done so that an objective mind might weigh the need to invade that privacy in order to enforce the law.

In practice. A warrant requiring the officer to whom it is addressed to search a house, or other place, therein specified, for stolen, contraband or illicit property therein, and, if the same shall be found upon such search, to bring the goods so found, together with the body of the person occupying the same, who is named, before the justice or other officer granting the warrant, or some other justice of the peace, or other lawfully authorized officer.

crim. law, practice, is a warrant (q. v.) requiring the officer to whom it is addressed, to search a house or other place therein specified, for property alleged to have been stolen; and if the same shall be found upon such search, to bring the goods so found, together with the body of the person occupying the same, who is named, before the justice or other officer granting the warrant, or some other justice of the peace, or other lawthe justice, and dated. The constitution of the United States, amendments, art. 4, declares that ‘ the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized.” Lord Hale, 2 P. C. 149, 150, recommends great caution in granting such warrants. 1. That they be not granted without oath made before a justice of a felony committed, and that the complainant has probable cause to suspect they are in such a house or place, and his reasons for such suspicion. 2. That such warrants express that the search shall be made in daytime. 3. That they ought to be directed to a constable or other proper ofhcer, and not toa private person. 4. A search warrant ought to command the officer to bring the stolen goods and the person in whose custody they are, before some justice of the peace. Vide 1 Chit. Cr. Law, 57, 64; 4 Inst.176; Hawk. B. 2, c. 13, s. 17, n. 6; 11 St. Tr. 321; 2 Wils. 149, 291; Burn’s Just. h. t.; Williams’s Just. h. t.