Law Commons^™

Search And Seizure - Suppression Of Evidence - Judicial Attitude Toward Enforcement, John B. Waite

Michigan Law Review

The "numbers game" is today the most profitable of the wide-spread gambling rackets. And like all organized gambling it is a focal source and the financial support of far more serious crimes. At the same time it is one of the most difficult forms of crime for the police to control. It needs no costly installations which the police can confiscate or destroy. Unlike "house" gambling it cannot practically be harassed out of business. It can be operated by one man alone, if he survives failure to pay off for lack of capital; or by a syndicate with capital enough …

Constitutional Law - Search And Seizure - Admissibility In A Federal Court Of Evidence Illegally Obtained By State Officers, Robert J. Paley

Michigan Law Review

In response to a call from a citizen whose suspicions had been aroused by the actions of the defendant and a companion, Maryland police unlawfully arrested the companion and searched the premises occupied by him and the defendant. & a result of this search, money was found which had been stolen in the District of Columbia. Although the search was illegal under Maryland law and in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, this money was used as evidence to convict the defendant of housebreaking and larceny in the District of Columbia federal court. On appeal, held, conviction reversed and remanded …

Criminal Law - Evidence - Wiretapping, James A. Park

Michigan Law Review

Suspecting that petitioner and others were violating state narcotics laws, New York police tapped petitioner's telephone pursuant to a warrant obtained in accordance with New York law. Acting upon information thus gained the police apprehended petitioner's brother. In his possession was found, not the narcotics as suspected, but alcohol without the tax stamps required by federal law. This evidence was turned over to federal authorities. Prosecution for possessing and transporting distilled spirits without tax stamps thereon followed, during which petitioner's motion to suppress the evidence obtained through the wiretap was denied. The Second Circuit affirmed the conviction, holding that although …

Evidence - Search And Seizure - Standing To Suppress Evidence Obtained By Unconstitutional Search And Seizure, Robert C. Casad S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The most radical departure of the new California doctrine from federal precedents, however, lies in the rejection of the requirement of "standing" which the federal courts have always imposed. In People v. Martin the California court announced its willingness to permit any criminal defendant to move for the exclusion of evidence obtained by unreasonable search and seizure -regardless of whether it was his premises that were searched or his property that was seized.

Rejection of the requirement of standing by this outstanding court calls for a re-evaluation of the requirement as it is imposed in every other jurisdiction that observes …

Criminal Procedure - Searches And Seizures - Admissibility Of Evidence Obtained Through Unlawful Search And Seizure, Neil Flanagin S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendants were prosecuted and convicted of conspiring to engage in horserace bookmaking and related offenses. The police had secured evidence of defendants' activities by concealing a listening device in premises occupied by them and also by unauthorized and forcible searches. The trial court admitted the evidence so obtained, notwithstanding the fact that the police action in securing it was clearly in violation of both federal and state constitutions and statutes. After conviction, the trial court denied defendants' motion for a new trial. On appeal, held, reversed, three justices dissenting. Evidence obtained in violation of the defendants' constitutional rights is …

Criminal Procedure - Availablity Of Federal Court Injunction To Prevent Federal Officer From Testifying In State Court As To Illegally-Obtained Evidence, Edward C. Hanpeter

Michigan Law Review

Prosecution of petitioner in federal court for the unlawful acquisition of marihuana failed when the court granted petitioner's motion to suppress the marihuana as evidence because it was obtained by a search based on an invalid search warrant. The federal officer who had seized the marihuana then swore to a complaint before a state judge, and a warrant for petitioner's arrest for violation of state law issued. While awaiting trial, petitioner filed a motion in federal district court to enjoin the federal officer from testifying in the state court. The district court denied the injunction, and the court of appeals …

Criminal Law - Scope Of Lawful Search And Seizure Without Warrant When Incident To Arrest, Richard M. Adams S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Acting on information that defendants were engaged in the "numbers racket" in violation of the Michigan gambling laws, police officers picked up three of the defendants in an automobile, took them to the police station, and proceeded to the home of their accomplice, Abbey Clay. On being admitted to the residence, the officers placed Abbey Clay under arrest and, despite her objections, promptly searched the L-shaped room in which they were standing when the arrest was made. Although the officers did not have a search warrant, they looked through defendant's pocketbook, magazine rack, and a cardboard box which was in …

Legislation - Witness Immunity Act Of 1954 - Constitutional And Interpretative Problem, George S. Flint S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The passage in August, 1954 of a federal statute granting immunity under specified conditions to witnesses before congressional committees and in the federal courts marks a third legislative experiment designed to soften the effect of the Fifth Amendment as a limitation on the investigatory power of Congress. The first two attempts were less than successful. This comment will discuss the historical background of immunity legislation, and some possible constitutional pitfalls and problems of construction created by the statutory language.

Evidence - Wiretapping And The Congress, Richard W. Pogue S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The familiar cry that "there ought to be a law" is frequently raised concerning the practice which Justice Holmes long ago characterized as "dirty business" - the tapping of telephone wires. Although existing legislation on both federal and state levels deals with interception of telephone messages, the almost universal conclusion of commentators on the subject has been that many of the present day statutes are inadequate. It is particularly apparent that the famous section 605 of the Federal Communications Act of 1934 has long been in need of replacement or thorough revision. The purpose of this comment is to examine …

Constitutional Law-Fourth Amendment-Exclusion Of Contraband Evidence Obtained By An Illegal Search On Premises Not Owned By Defendant, Edgar A. Strause

Michigan Law Review

The defendant was in the unlawful possession of narcotics. Having been given a key by his two aunts to their hotel room with authority to use the room at will, defendant stored the narcotics there without the knowledge of the occupants. A federal officer entered the hotel room, searched the room, and seized the narcotics during the absence of the occupants, without a search warrant. The defendant was arrested the following day and claimed ownership of the seized narcotics. He was convicted in the District Court of the District of Columbia for violation of federal law, the court refusing to …

Administrative Law-Federal Trade Commission-Constitutional And Statutory Authority To Order Additional Compliance Reports, Charles Myneder S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Proceeding under section 5 of its organic act, the Federal Trade Commission issued an order requiring defendants to cease and desist from engaging in certain trade practices. The court of appeals, in its decree affirming the order, directed compliance reports to be filed with the commission within a specified time, reserving jurisdiction to enter further orders. Four years after the compliance reports were filed, the commission, on its own motion, ordered additional reports to show continued compliance. Defendants refused to report, challenging the authority of the commission to issue the order. The district court dismissed suit by the commission for …

Constitutional Law-Search And Seizure -Inspection Of Private Dwelling By Health Officer Without A Warrant, Robert P. Griffin S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A health officer sought to enter and inspect respondent's private home without a search warrant after a neighbor complained that the premises were not "clean and wholesome" as required by a District of Columbia ordinance. Respondent denied the officer permission to enter and refused to unlock the door, maintaining that his entry would violate her constitutional rights. As a result, respondent was convicted in municipal court of violating an ordinance making it a misdemeanor to interfere with or prevent an authorized sanitation inspection. On appeal, reversal of the conviction by the Municipal Court of Appeals was affirmed by the Court …

Constitutional Law-Fourth Amendment-Search Without A Warrant Incident To Arrest, G. B. Myers S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Respondent was convicted of selling and of possessing and concealing forged and altered stamps of the United States with intent to defraud. The primary evidence of "possessing and concealing" consisted of numerous forged and altered stamps taken from respondent's one room office by Federal officers immediately after his arrest. The stamps were the product of a one and one-half hour search of the desk, safe and file cabinets in the office. The officers, though without a search warrant for the premises, made the arrest pursuant to a valid warrant. Respondent protested the search, and this protest was renewed by motions …

Acquisition Of Evidence By Search And Seizure, Mary Louise Ramsey

Michigan Law Review

What protection do the Fourth and Fifth Amendments afford against acquisition of evidence by search and seizure, actual or constructive? Does an individual have a constitutional privilege against the disclosure of records he is required by law to keep? May police officers search premises on which an arrest is made and seize contraband which they find there? A series of cases recently decided by a closely divided Supreme Court has enveloped this field in the same deep fog of uncertainty which now hangs over so many other areas of constitutional law. The unstable quality of these precedents is attested by …

Constitutional Law-Search And Seizure As An Incident To Lawful Arrest, Zolman Cavitch

Michigan Law Review

Petitioners, suspected of carrying on an illegal lottery, had been under police observation for several months, during which time one of the petitioners maintained a room in a rooming house in the District of Columbia. On the day of the arrest, a police officer, without a warrant, but believing the unlawful lottery to be in operation, climbed through a window of the landlady's room, and admitted two other officers. They proceeded to the petitioner's room, where one of the officers looked through the transom. Seeing the petitioners working on an illegal lottery, the officers entered the room, arrested the petitioners …

Constitutional Law-Search And Seizure, Howard A. Jacobs S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The most important step in the development of this constitutional provision came in 1886 in the famous case of Boyd v. United States. There the Court gave life to the Fourth Amendment by recognizing its intimate relation to the Fifth Amendment; thus laying the foundation for the federal rule that the Fifth Amendment protects every person from incrimination by the use of evidence obtained through search or seizure made in violation of his rights under the Fourth Amendment. With the exception of a temporary setback in 1903, this rule, as restated in the Weeks case, has effectively weathered a …

Searches And Seizures-The Criterion Of Reasonableness

Michigan Law Review

Epithetical jurisprudence is an easy way out of difficulty. Find some term to the use of which established law has commonly attached a consequence; apply that term to the fact situation at hand; the legal consequence is automatically determined. If it happens that the new fact situation is not quite like those to which the term has previously been applied, the term has unobtrusively acquired a new significance; but the forms of logical decision have been followed. One perennial illustration of that epithetical process is the judicial determination that a particular search or seizure is "reasonable" or "unreasonable" epithets whose …

Administrative Law - Compulsory Process To Obtain Evidence - Unreasonable Search And Seizure, William C. Wetherbee, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

That the issuance of a subpoena duces tecum must comply with the provisions of the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures was first established in the case of Boyd v. United States. The writ was there obtained for the purpose of extracting from a person evidence which was to be used against him in a criminal proceeding or forfeiture. This compulsory process which gave the state possession of a man's personal papers to incriminate him was considered a violation of not only the Fifth, but also the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court could have reached the same result …

Arrest - Searches And Seizures - Reasonable Ground For Arrest Without Warrant, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The defendant was indicted for receiving and concealing seventy grains of heroin unlawfully imported into the United States. The government proposed to introduce the seized drug in evidence at the trial of the defendant. It appeared that the federal narcotic agent who had made the arrest without a warrant had seen the defendant enter and leave a grocery store. in which narcotic transactions were known to have taken place, He knew the defendant to be an addict, and immediately preceding the arrest, in accordance with a prearranged code, he had been informed by a companion of the defendant, known to …

Administrative Law - Investigating Powers Of Federal Commissioners - Securities And Exchange Commission, Brackley Shaw

Michigan Law Review

A recent decision in the Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the constitutionality of the powers of search granted to the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Securities Act of 1933 brings to the fore again the question of the extent to which the Federal Government may validly investigate and demand the production of the books and records of private businesses.

Constitutional Law - Search And Seizure - Investigative Power Of Federal Trade Commission, Virginia M. Renz

Michigan Law Review

The Federal Trade Commission, acting pursuant to the joint resolution of Congress and the Federal Trade Commission Act, sought a writ of mandamus compelling the corporation to answer questionnaires relating to its total volume of business, net sales, net cost of materials, annual cash salary paid to each officer, etc. This information was demanded as part of a general investigation of the financial condition of agricultural products. The purpose of the investigation was to enable Congress to determine whether new legislation should be enacted or existing legislation amended. Held, the writ of mandamus should be granted. The Fourth Amendment …

Taxation-Proceeding Before United States Board Of Tax Appeals -Validity Of Subpoena Duces Tecum - Unreasonable Search And Seizure, Royal E. Thompson

Michigan Law Review

In a proceeding for judicial process to compel defendant to obey a subpoena duces tecum issued by the United States Board of Tax Appeals, defendant asserted that the documents called for were irrelevant to the issue involved, and that the subpoena was a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Held, a witness is not entitled to resist a subpoena for mere incompetency or irrelevancy. To question admissibility, the papers must be so manifestly irrelevant as to make it plain that it is a mere "fishing expedition." One paragraph of the subpoena was declared invalid, as lacking …

Constitutional Law-Searches And Seisures-Distraction Between Searching A Building And An Automobile Without Warrant

Michigan Law Review

An officer observed the odor of boiling mash and fermentation issuing from the dwelling of the defendant. The officer, without warrant, entered the basement and there found the defendant operating two stills. Considerable whiskey was found stored within the room. Defendant was arrested and convicted. On appeal he contended that the search was unlawful. Held, the search without warrant was unreasonable and in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Schroeder v. United States, 14 F. (2d) 500.

Note And Comment, Joseph H. Drake, Edson R. Sunderland, Edson R. Sunderland, Reuben H. Hunt, L. L. D.

Michigan Law Review

The Federal Courts and Local Law in Porto Rico; The Investigation of Corporate Monopolies; Compelling the Production of Corporation Books and Papers; Goods Damages by Act of God Because of a Carrier's Negligent Delay; The Effect of Dogmatic Changes Upon the Legal Status of a Church; Bays and Gulfs as Territory of the Adjoining Nation;