On the Writs of Assistance | JAMES OTIS (1761)
Channel: The Rhetorician
Date: 2023-03-12

James Otis was a Massachusetts lawyer who rose to provincial fame in the 1760s as one of the most able defenders of colonial American rights, beginning with his argument in what became known as the Writs of Assistance case in 1761. Writs of assistance were general search warrants that British American courts began issuing to empower customs officials to combat smuggling. Agents would no longer need to obtain individual search warrants each time they sought to conduct a search, but instead could freely search vessels and homes without probable cause or express permission. Otis was enlisted to challenge the writs in courts and his fiery arguments were recorded by a young John Adams. Otis lost the case but galvanized colonial resistance. Later in life, Adams would proclaim that “then and there the Child Independence was born.”