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Full-Text Articles in Law
A Unified Theory For Seizures Of The Person, Ronald J. Bacigal
A Unified Theory For Seizures Of The Person, Ronald J. Bacigal
Law Faculty Publications
Perhaps there is something about the final stages of their careers that causes people to resolve conflicts by reconciling the seemingly irreconcilable. Albert Einstein spent the last days of his career searching for a unified field theory that would eliminate the contradictory laws governing relativity and quantum mechanics. Stephen Hawking has taken up this quest which has been renamed a search for the Theory of Everything. On a “slightly” more modest level, I find the later stages of my career drawing me toward formulating a unified theory governing seizures of the person. The challenge is to blend three different tests …
Making The Right Gamble: The Odds On Probable Cause, Ronald J. Bacigal
Making The Right Gamble: The Odds On Probable Cause, Ronald J. Bacigal
Law Faculty Publications
Again, is there probable cause to detain, arrest or search each passenger? Is there probable cause to search each passenger's luggage, their autos parked at the airport and their residences? This article seeks the answer to the hypotheticals in sources ranging from the judiciary's own pronouncements on probable cause to linguistics, history mathematics and cognitive psychology.
Choosing Perspectives In Criminal Procedure, Ronald J. Bacigal
Choosing Perspectives In Criminal Procedure, Ronald J. Bacigal
Law Faculty Publications
In this Article, Professor Bacigal examines the Supreme Court's use of various perspectives in examining the reasonableness of searches and seizures. Although the Supreme Court purports to rely on a consistent method of constitutional analysis when rendering decisions on Fourth Amendment issues, the case law in this area indicates that the Court is influenced sometimes by the citizen's perspective, sometimes by the police officers' perspective, and sometimes by the perspective of the hypothesized reasonable person. After identifying the role of perspectives in a number of seminal Court decisions, Professor Bacigal discusses the benefits and limitations of the Court's reliance on …
Putting The People Back Into The Fourth Amendment, Ronald J. Bacigal
Putting The People Back Into The Fourth Amendment, Ronald J. Bacigal
Law Faculty Publications
This Article attempts to answer such questions by examining the evolution of search-and-seizure law in America. Although the structural nature of decision making embodied in the Bill of Rights has far-ranging implications for that entire document, I limit my consideration to the unique aspects of the Fourth Amendment. In doing so I have followed the suggestion that constitutional interpretation considers a threefold question: "Does the Constitution mean what it was meant to mean, or what it has come to mean, or what it ought to mean?" Part I examines the historical involvement of juries in search-and-seizure cases; Part II considers …
The Right Of The People To Be Secure, Ronald J. Bacigal
The Right Of The People To Be Secure, Ronald J. Bacigal
Law Faculty Publications
Part I of this Article defines searches and seizures of property and person, discussing the Supreme Court's initially broad interpretation of the Fourth Amendment and its subsequent narrowing in later decisions. Part II discusses several police "chase cases" leading up to the elimination of accidental and attempted seizures from Fourth Amendment protection in Brower v. County of Inyo and California v. Hodari D. Part Ill analyzes the Brower decision and its effect on accidental seizures, concluding that the analysis set forth therein should be abolished and advocating an alternate test. Part IV confronts the Court's elimination of attempted seizures from …
In Pursuit Of The Elusive Fourth Amendment: The Police Chase Cases, Ronald J. Bacigal
In Pursuit Of The Elusive Fourth Amendment: The Police Chase Cases, Ronald J. Bacigal
Law Faculty Publications
The first section of this article considers whether the police officer's intent is an indispensable component of fourth amendment seizures. The second section of the article addresses the Court's efforts to define a seizure· by focusing upon the objective causal link between an officer's efforts to apprehend a suspect and the suspect's attempt to avoid apprehension.
Criminal Procedure, Ronald J. Bacigal
Criminal Procedure, Ronald J. Bacigal
Law Faculty Publications
This article summarizes significant legislative changes, decisions of the United States and Virginia Supreme Courts, and decisions of the Virginia Court of Appeals. A more extensive consideration of this material as well as recent decisions of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and federal district courts is contained in R. Bacigal, Virginia Criminal Procedure (Supp. 1987).
Dodging A Bullet, But Opening Old Wounds In Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence, Ronald J. Bacigal
Dodging A Bullet, But Opening Old Wounds In Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence, Ronald J. Bacigal
Law Faculty Publications
The Court began its opinion in Winston by "putting to one side the procedural protections of the warrant requirement. " The parties agreed that the defendant had received "a full measure of procedural protections"and that the state had met the "ordinary" standard of probable cause for a search. "Notwithstanding the existence of probable cause" and the state's full compliance with the procedures required by the warrant clause, the Court found that the reasonableness clause of the fourth amendment demands "a more substantial justification" than probable cause. The Court viewed this higher level of justification as a substantive requirement of the …
Warrantless Searches And Seizures In Virginia, Ronald J. Bacigal
Warrantless Searches And Seizures In Virginia, Ronald J. Bacigal
Law Faculty Publications
There is a well-recognized lack of consistency and clarity in fourth amendment decisions. At times, each search and seizure case seen is unique and the decisions appear to rest on factual determinations rather than on legal principles. Nonetheless, it is desirable to have some understanding of the basic principles of the fourth amendment, and the way in which these principles affect individual cases.
A Case For Jury Determination Of Search And Seizure Law, Ronald J. Bacigal
A Case For Jury Determination Of Search And Seizure Law, Ronald J. Bacigal
Law Faculty Publications
In a criminal case the option to return a general verdict of acquittal invests the jury with the raw power to nullify many legal determinations, including the trial judge's ruling that a search is constitutional. While courts grudingly acknowledge the existence of an extra-legal jury nullification power, courts do not recognize any jury prerogative to determine the lawfulness of a search. The United States Supreme Court's discussion of the jury's role in interpreting and applying the fourth amendment consists of one terse statement that the legality of a search "is a question of fact and law for the court and …
The Jury As A Source Of Reasonable Search And Seizure Law, Ronald J. Bacigal
The Jury As A Source Of Reasonable Search And Seizure Law, Ronald J. Bacigal
Law Faculty Publications
The definition of a reasonable search has bedeviled the United States Supreme Court for some ninety years. Formal logic or legal reasoning assists the Court in tracing premise to conclusion, but does not alone suggest the initial premise. The Court's difficulty in fourth amendment cases, in general, lies in identifying the premise-the fundamental value which is embodied in this constitutional guarantee. The Court has recognized that this fundamental value, whatever it is, has an origin outside the language of the amendment, and the Court has considered sources such as history, popular consensus, natural law, and utilitarian balancing to find this …
The Fourth Amendment In Flux: The Rise And Fall Of Probable Cause, Ronald J. Bacigal
The Fourth Amendment In Flux: The Rise And Fall Of Probable Cause, Ronald J. Bacigal
Law Faculty Publications
This article will demonstrate the Supreme Court's inability to develop an objective methodology to derive and apply fourth amendment principles under either the traditional probable cause approach or the balancing approach. A detailed analysis of traditional probable cause will reveal that its premises are ultimately subjectively derived? This examination will also show that returning to traditional probable cause would necessitate resurrecting the unrealistic premise that an individual's privacy interest is always outweighed by the government's interest in searching if the authorities meet a static standard of probable cause. The article will then discuss the advent of the balancing approach and …