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I Swear: The History And Implications Of The Fourth Amendment’S “Oath Or Affirmation” Requirement, David S. Muraskin

David S Muraskin

This article seeks to reinvigorate the Fourth Amendment’s “Oath or affirmation” requirement. Fourth Amendment scholarship and jurisprudence typically dismiss the requirement as a mere procedural formality. However, reviewing pre-Revolution law and commentaries, early legal developments in the States, and the American justice manuals—treatises published by legal scholars to inform and influence judges and practitioners within the new nation—this article argues that the oath requirement is key to understanding and effectuating the Amendment’s purpose. The article demonstrates that the Amendment was partly motivated by a fear of how the Crown used its search and seizure power, as a primary investigatory tool …