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SEARCH
AND SEIZURE
History
and Scope of the Amendment
History.--Few
provisions of the Bill of Rights grew so directly out of the
experience of the colonials as the Fourth Amendment, embodying
as it did the protection against the utilization of the ``writs
of assistance.'' But while the insistence on freedom from unreasonable
searches and seizures as a fundamental right gained expression
in the Colonies late and as a result of experience,\1\ there
was also a rich English experience to draw on. ``Every man's
house is his castle'' was a maxim much celebrated in England,
as was demonstrated in Semayne's Case, decided in 1603.\2\ A
civil case of execution of process, Semayne's Case nonetheless
recognized the right of the homeowner to defend his house against
unlawful entry even by the King's agents, but at the same time
recognized the authority of the appropriate officers to break
and enter upon notice in order to arrest or to execute the King's
process. Most famous of the English cases was Entick v. Carrington,\3\
one of a series of civil actions against state officers who,
pursuant to general warrants, had raided many homes and other
places in search of materials.
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