Seizure (law)

“ Without entering minutely into a question that does not seem to require it, it may be remarked that reprisal is a seizure of foreign persons or property, with a view to obtain that justice for injuries done by one state, or its members, to another state, or its members, for which a refusal of the aggressors requires such a resort to force, under the law of nations. It must be considered as an abuse of words, to call the removal of persons from a country a seizure, or a reprisal on them ”

“ Why should the law be different if, under color of the same process, he take the goods of a third person? If the exemption of the goods from the execution in the one case makes their seizure official misconduct, why should it not have the like effect in the other? ”

“ But if the said judge shall be satisfied that the seizure was justified under the provisions of this act, and issue his warrant accordingly, then the same shall be detained by the officer so seizing said property, until the President shall order it restored to the owner or claimant, or until it shall be discharged in due course of law, on the petition of the claimant, as hereinafter provided.
The owner of property seized may file his petition in the circuit or dist. court U. S. in the dist. where the seizure was made. ”

“ If the action be commenced after a decree of condemnation, or after an acquittal, and there be a certificate of reasonable cause of seizure, then in the former case by the general law, and in the latter case by the special enactment of the statute of the 25th of April, 1810, ch. 64. s. 1. the decree and certificate are each good bars to the action. But if there be a decree of acquittal and a denial of such certificate, then the seizure is established conclusively to be tortious, and the party is entitled to his full damages for the injury. ”

“ On reason and authority the true rule is that if the search and seizure without a warrant are made upon probable cause, that is, upon a belief, reasonably arising out of circumstaces known to the seizing officer, that an automobile or other vehicle contains that which by law is subject to seizure and destruction, the search and seizure are valid. The Fourth Amendment is to be construed in the light of what was deemed an unreasonable search and seizure when it was adopted, and in a manner which will conserve public interests as well as the interests and rights of individual citizens. ”

“ A lawful cause of seizure. 3. Loss by this cause. The question is, whether lawful adjudication is the only proof. No instance has occurred in which there has been a decision that a loss was within the exception, without such an adjudication. Church v. Hubbard, 2 Cranch 187, 1 Cond Rep. 390, requires it.
It is the duty of the captors to proceed to a regular adjudication. The question is, whether the seizure legally affects the property, or what is the operation of law upon the thing taken? How is this proved? Force is not a title which the world respects, without the aid of law to sanction it. ”

“ The seizure in a suit in rem only brings the property seized within the custody of the court, and informs the owner of that fact. The theory of the law is, that all property is in the possession of its owner, in person or by agent, and that its seizure will, therefore, operate to impart notice to him. Where notice is thus given, the owner has the right to appear and be heard respecting the charges for which the forfeiture is claimed. That right must be recognized and its exercise allowed before the court can proceed beyond the seizure to judgment. ”

“ Seizure of something of sufficient value to cover the fine assessed might sometimes be made, except in the cases of adultery and manslaughter. To practice seizure in the case of adultery—except when a kinsman were the offender—would have the aspect of anxiety to profit by the pollution of the wife’s body and might give rise to suspicion of conspiracy on the part of husband and wife to bring about the crime in order to profit financially. ”

“ To bring a case, then, within the exception, the seizure or detention must be bona fide, and upon a reasonable ground. If there has not been an actual illicit or contraband trade, there must at least be a well founded suspicion of it, a probable cause to impute guilt, and justify further proceedings and inquiries; and this is what the law deems a legal and justifiable cause for the seizure or detention. The general words of the policy cover the risks of retraints and detainments of all kings, princes and people. ”

“ Circumstances under which kidnapping may occur.—If performed to cover a debt for which payment had been repeatedly demanded, or to cover an injury for which a proper fine had been repeatedly demanded in due form, kidnapping was a legal seizure, although the victim and his kindred might not consider it so. ”

“ The narrow question before us is whether, with respect to a show of authority as with respect to application of physical force, a seizure occurs even though the subject does not yield. We hold that it does not.
The language of the Fourth Amendment, of course, cannot sustain respondent's contention. The word "seizure" readily bears the meaning of a laying on of hands or application of physical force to restrain movement, even when it is ultimately unsuccessful. ”

“ Probable cause has never been supposed to excuse any seizure, except where some statute creates and defines the exemption from damages. The party who seizes seizes at his peril; if condemnation follows, he is justified; if an acquittal, then he must refund in damages for the marine tort, unless he can shelter himself behind the protection of some statute. The very act under which the present seizure is sought to be justified, contains an express provision on the subject, and shows the clear opinion of the Legislature. ”

“ If an officer effects an arrest by touching a citizen, apparently the Court would accept the fact that a seizure occurred, even if the arrestee should thereafter break loose and flee. In such a case, the constitutionality of the seizure would be evaluated as of the time the officer acted. That category of seizures would then be analyzed in the same way as searches, namely, was the police action justified when it took place? It is anomalous, at best, to fashion a different rule for the subcategory of "show of force" arrests. ”

“ Only rarely can it be said that evidence seized incident to an arrest is truly unexpected or inadvertent. Indeed, if the police officer had no expectation of discovering weapons, contraband, or other evidence, he would make no search. It appears to me that the rule adopted by the Court today, for all practical purposes, abolishes seizure incident to arrest. The majority rejects the test of reasonableness provided in the Fourth Amendment and substitutes a per se rule-if the police could have obtained a warrant and did not, the seizure, no matter how reasonable, is void. ”

“ In replevin the same result would have happened; and it is stated by the court to be no more than an indemnification. Rowley vs. Gibbs, 14 Johns. 385.
But this seizure has been decided to be illegal and groundless. It was made upon a claim of right which has been disaffirmed. It is essentially a seizure without probable cause. ”

“ It is actually within its possession when it is submitted to the process of the court; it is constructively so when by a seizure it is held to ascertain and enforce a right or forfeiture which can alone be decided by a judicial decree in rem. . . . Before judicial cognizance can attach upon a forfeiture in rem under the statute there must be a seizure, for until seizure it is impossible to ascertain what is the competent forum. And if so, it must be a good subsisting seizure at the time when the libel or information is filed or allowed. ”

“ The majority opinion creates the impression that the Court generally engages in a balancing test in order to determine the constitutionality of all seizures, or at least those "dealing with police stops of motorists on public highways." Ante, at 450. This is not the case. In most cases, the police must possess probable cause for a seizure to be judged reasonable. ”

“ Since the entry of petitioner's home was lawful, the officers had a right to seize the contraband property. The only test is the lawfulness of the officers' activity when they come upon the offending property. If the seizure follows a lawful entry to effect an arrest, as here, then it is valid. See Harris v. United States, 1947, 331 U.S. 145, 67 S.Ct. 1098, 91 L.Ed. 1399, seizure during lawful search incident to arrest for another crime; Steele v. United States, 1925, 267 U.S. 498, 45 S.Ct. 414, 69 L.Ed. 757, seizure during execution of warrant for different property. ”

“ Each of the first two objections depends principally upon a problem of definition: the meaning in this context of the constitutional distinction between "search" and "seizure." If listening alone completes a "seizure," it would be virtually impossible for state authorities at a probable cause hearing to describe with particularity the seizures which would later be made during extended eavesdropping ”

“ It is not permitted to parties to lie by, and allow other persons to incur all the hazards and responsibility of being held to damages in case the seizure turns out to be wrongful, and then to come in, after the peril is over, and claim the whole reward. ”

“ It has been truly stated as the settled doctrine of this Court, that in cases of seizures under mere municipal laws, probable cause, unless so made by statute, constitutes no ground for denying damages, or justifying the seizure. But it is supposed, that probable cause is not an excuse or justification of any seizure or capture, except in cases jure belli; and the case of The Apollon, in this Court, (9 Wheat. Rep. 362.) is relied on to establish this position. ”

“ The remarks just made constitute an answer to the argument upon the demurrers to the two first pleas of the claimant; for, as has been already suggested, if a seizure has been actually made, and is a continuing seizure, it is no bar to proceedings thereon, that the cause of forfeiture relied on is not the same upon which the seizure was originally made. It is sufficient for the United States, that it adopts the seizure and now proceeds for a good cause of forfeiture, although utterly unknown to the original seizors. ”

“ It is not meant to assert that a tortious ouster of possession, or fraudulent rescue, for relinquishment after seizure, will divest the jurisdiction. The case put (and it is precisely the present case) is a vountary abandonment and release of the property seized, the legal effect of which must, as we think, be to purge away all the prior rights acquired by the seizure.
On the whole, it is the opinion of the majority of the Court that the decree of the Circuit Court ought to be affirmed. ”

“ In a suit by the United States, could a court obtain jurisdiction in personam by an executive mandate, without any process from the court directing the defendant to appear?
Again, the object of process, either in personam or in rem, is to give notice of a pending case. Did this seizure, under the act of July 17th, 1862, give such notice? The President may seize for the purpose of using, and if he chooses he may take proceedings to condemn. Under the revenue acts, the person making the seizure is required to proceed at once. Under this act the President may never proceed. ”

“ To justify a seizure there must be probable cause of seizure; and if an officer of the customs seize without probable cause, no indictment lies for resisting him in the seizure, for he is not in the execution of his office. ”

“ The certificate of probable cause is all there is of it. The residue of the sentence is out of the case. The unusual form of the certificate should work on prejudice to the rights of the defendant.
The act we have cited provides that, when such certificate shall be made, neither the party making the seizure nor the prosecutor shall be liable to action on account of such seizure or prosecution. The collector who made the seizure has been certified not to be liable, and the present defendant, the party directing the seizure,-that is, the prosecutor,-is equally entitled to exemption. ”

“ The police had good reason to believe that the identification would be an important element of the case against the petitioner. Preservation of the automobile itself as evidence was a reasonable motivation for its seizure. Considered in light of the information in the hands of the New Hampshire police at the time of the seizure, I conclude that the seizure and search were constitutional, even had there been no search warrant, for the following among other reasons. ”

“ If a seizure is made and condemnation is passed without the allegation of any specific cause of forfeiture or offence, and without any public notice of the proceedings, so that the parties in interest have no opportunity of appearing and making a defence, the sentence is not so much a judicial sentence as an arbitrary sovereign edict. ”

“ Where the initial intrusion that brings the police within plain view of such an article is supported, not by a warrant, but by one of the recognized exceptions to the warrant requirement, the seizure is also legitimate. Thus the police may inadvertently come across evidence while in 'hot pursuit' of a fleeing suspect. ”

“ The Fourth Amendment proscribes, to be sure, unreasonable 'seizures' as well as 'searches.' However, in the circumstances in which this problem is likely to occur, the lesser intrusion will almost always be the simple seizure of the car for the period perhaps a day-necessary to enable the officers to obtain a search warrant. In the first place, as this case shows, the very facts establishing probable cause to search will often also justify arrest of the occupants of the vehicle. ”