Warrant

“ When the indictment is found, or the information is filed, a warrant is issued for the arrest of the accused, to be brought before the court, unless he is at the time in custody, in which case an order for that purpose is made, to the end, in either case, that he may be arraigned, and plead to the indictment or information. ”

“ The materials to be seized are instead described with sufficient particularity if the warrant readily permits their identification both by those entrusted with the warrant's execution and by the court in any subsequent judicial proceeding. "It is," the Court has said with reference to the particularity of the place to be searched, "enough if the description is such that the officer * * * can, with reasonable effort ascertain and identify" the warrant's objects. ”

“ Properly construed, it is by no means certain that the warrant professes to confer any greater power than that conferred by the statute; as the express direction of the warrant is, that the jury shall proceed to value the damages in accordance with law ”

“ The requirement that warrants shall particularly describe the things to be seized makes general searches under them impossible and prevents the seizure of one thing under a warrant describing another. As to what is to be taken, nothing is left to the discretion of the officer executing the warrant. ”

“ Every warrant ought to specify the offence charged, the authority under which the arrest is to be made, the person who is to execute it and the person who is to be arrested. A warrant remains in force till executed or discharged by order of a court. An officer may break open doors in order to execute a warrant in cases of treason, felony or indictable offences, provided that, on demand, admittance cannot otherwise be obtained. ”

“ Unless these circumstances are identified and applied, any warrant authorizing a search for a particular document might, in conjunction with the plain view exception, permit "a government official to use a seemingly precise and legal warrant only as a ticket to get into a man's home, and, once inside, to launch forth upon unconfined searches and indiscriminate seizures as if armed with all the unbridled and illegal power of a general warrant." ”

“ A simple procedure is provided for what are called summons cases, as distinguished from warrant cases—the first being offences for which a police officer may arrest without warrant, the second being offences where he must have a warrant, or, in other words, minor offences and important offences. In summons cases no formal charge need be framed. The magistrate tells the accused the particulars of the offence charged; if he admits his guilt, he is convicted; if he does not, evidence is taken, and a finding is given in accordance with the facts as proved. ”

“ The warrant was produced before me, together with a copy of the information or affidavit upon which said warrant was issued, said copy being certified according to the act of Congress, by the justice of the peace, who issued the warrant, and attested by the oath of the witness to be a true copy. ”

“ As a general rule no one can be arrested without warrant. To this rule there are certain exceptions either at common law or by statute. At common law a justice of the peace, a sheriff, a coroner, a constable and even a private person, may arrest any one without warrant for a treason, felony or breach of the peace committed, or attempted to be committed, in his presence. ”

“ Where an authorised officer has entered premises in the execution of a warrant issued under section 34, he may seize and retain any thing that is specified in the warrant, other than items subject to legal privilege. ”

“ The requirement of 'probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation' literally applicable in the case of a warrant is satisfied, in that of an order for production, by the court's determination that the investigation is authorized by Congress, is for a purpose Congress can order, and the documents sought are relevant to the inquiry. ”

“ I stand here on the summit of the mountain. I lift my head and I spread my arms. This, my body and spirit, this is the end of the quest. I wished to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning. I wished to find a warrant for being. I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction. ”

“ To the extent dangers to arresting officers may be implicated in a particular way in a particular case, they are better addressed through consideration of case-specific exceptions to the warrant requirement, such as the one for exigent circumstances. ”

“ The only exceptions to the safeguard of a warrant issued by a magistrate are those which the common law recognized as inherent limitations of the policy which found expression in the Fourth Amendment-where circumstances preclude the obtaining of a warrant (as in the case of movable vehicles) , and where the warrant for the arrest of a person carries with it authority to seize all that is on the person, or is in such open and immediate physical relation to him as to be, in a fair sense, a projection of his person. ”

“ The assertion is that the warrant is void for failure to observe the statutory requirement that it state the 'particular grounds or probable cause' for issuance, and for the further reason that it is based on affidavits which do not 'set forth the facts tending to establish the grounds of the application or probable cause for believing that they exist.' [3] We need not consider the alleged defect of the warrant, as we think the objection to the affidavits well taken, and the warrant consequently without lawful foundation. ”

“ The arrest warrant procedure serves to insure that the deliberate, impartial judgment of a judicial officer will be interposed between the citizen and the police, to assess the weight and credibility of the information which the complaining officer adduces as probable cause. ”

“ For these reasons, although a warrant should be interpreted practically, it must be sufficiently definite and clear so that the magistrate, police, and search subjects can objectively ascertain its scope. Groh, 540 U.S. at , 157 L. Ed. 2d at 1080.
As the officers correctly observe, it is perfectly appropriate to construe a warrant in light of an accompanying affidavit or other document that is incorporated within the warrant. But to take advantage of this principle of interpretation, the warrant must expressly incorporate the affidavit. ”

“ The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 allows the issue of search warrants where it is suspected that a female is unlawfully detained for immoral purposes. Execution of the decisions of a court of summary jurisdiction is secured by warrants, part of the process of the court, such as warrants of distress or commitment. A warrant may also issue for the apprehension of a witness whose attendance cannot be otherwise assured. ”

“ A warrant issued by a metropolitan police magistrate may be executed, without backing, by a metropolitan police officer anywhere, and there are certain other exceptions, but as a rule a warrant cannot be executed without being backed by a local magistrate. ”

“ So long as the warrant for committal remains unsigned, the supposed criminal is regarded as merely under suspicion, inculpe of the crime or felony; when the warrant has been issued, he becomes "the accused" (prevenu) , and is regarded as such so long as the inquiry is proceeding ”

“ Because the case fell within the exigent-circumstances exception to the warrant requirement, no warrant was necessary. Ibid. The search was not more intrusive than reasonably necessary to accomplish its goals. ”

“ And be it further enacted, That in case any person, committed by the commissioners’ warrant, shall obtain a habeas corpus, in order to be discharged, and there shall appear any insufficiency in the form of the warrant, it shall be lawful for the court or judge before whom such party shall be brought by habeas corpus, by rule or warrant, to commit such persons to the same prison, there to remain until he shall conform as aforesaid, unless it shall be made to appear that he had fully answered all lawful questions put to him by the commissioners ”

“ The magistrate, if the complaint be made to him, shall issue his warrant to summon the owner before him, and compel him to give bond and security to suffer the complainant to appear at the next court to petition the court to be admitted to sue in forma pauperis. If the owner refuse, the magistrate shall order the complainant into the custody of the officer serving the warrant, at the expence of the master, who shall keep him until the sitting of the court, and then produce him before it. ”

“ A warrant under the foregoing subsection shall, if any obscene articles are seized under the warrant, also empower the seizure and removal of any documents found in the premises or, as the case may be, on the stall or vehicle which relate to a trade or business carried on at the premises or from the stall or vehicle. ”

“ Section 5: 'That any officer of said prison or any federal officer authorized to serve criminal process within the United States, to whom such warrant shall be delivered, is authorized and required to execute such warrant by taking such prisoner and returning him to said prison within the time specified in said warrant therefor. ”

“ If any attorney shall procure a blank warrant from any sheriff, with intent to arrest, before a writ is delivered, he shall be expelled and punished.
“Every attorney must enter and file a warrant of attorney in the suit he is employed to prosecute, under the penalty of 10l. ”

“ If a supplementary document like an affidavit is essential to properly understand the limitations of the warrant, see text at 1244 supra, then its contents must be examined, or else communicated to the agents by their supervisors. [FN39] Minimization designed to control the proper scope of the search cannot occur without such knowledge.
FN35. Only when the agents are aware of the warrant, through personal knowledge or instruction, can they properly exercise the discretion vested in them to carry out its terms. ”

“ Get and read a warrant of arrest. A search warrant. Has a warrant always been needed as authority for arrest? Are arbitrary arrests, searches and seizures permitted in any civilized countries today?
What is a capital crime? An infamous crime? A presentment? An indictment? A grand jury? How do the proceedings of a grand jury compare with those of a petit jury? Why the differences? Why the exception in the first clause of the amendment? Can a convicted and sentenced person ask for a new trial? Under what other circumstances can persons be tried again? ”

“ Any peace officer seizing such item or items as hereinbefore described shall leave a copy of such warrant with any manager, servant, employee or other person appearing or acting in the capacity of exercising any control over the premises where such item or items are found or, if no person is there found, such warrant may be posted by said peace officer in a conspicuous place upon the premises where found and said warrant shall serve as notice to all interested persons of a hearing to be had at a time not less than ten (10) days after such seizure. ”

“ Any assumption that evidence sufficient to support a magistrate's disinterested determination to issue a search warrant will justify the officers in making a search without a warrant would reduce the Amendment to a nullity and leave the people's homes secure only in the discretion of police officers.' Pp. ”

“ A justice might issue a warrant for the arrest, conduct the search himself, effect the capture, examine the accused with and without witnesses, extract a confession by alternately cajoling him as a friend and bullying him as a magistrate, commit him, and finally give damning evidence against him at his trial. ”

“ See note 11, supra.↑ Section 5 also provided that, 'should any marshal or deputy marshal refuse to receive such warrant or other process when tendered, or to use all proper means diligently to execute the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of one thousand dollars, to the use of the person upon whom the accused is alleged to have committed the offence.' 14 Stat. ”

“ A people's court, people's procuratorate and public security organ may, according to the circumstances of a case, issue a warrant to compel the appearance of the criminal suspect or defendant, release him awaiting trial on bail or a guarantor, or subject him to residential surveillance. ”

“ Recent scholarship has suggested that in emphasizing the warrant requirement over the reasonableness of the search the Court has 'stood the fourth amendment on its head' from a historical standpoint. T. Taylor, Two Studies in Constitutional Interpretation 23-24 (1969) . This issue is perhaps most clearly presented in the case of a warrantless entry into a man's home to arrest him on probable cause. ”

“ If the officer acts with probable cause, he is protected even though it turns out that the citizen is innocent. * * * And while a search without a warrant is, within limits, permissible if incident to a lawful arrest, if an arrest without a warrant is to support an incidental search, it must be made with probable cause. ”