The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-09-29
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MT. cooiy in his great work on Con stitutional Law. says:

Mir. Cooiy in his great work on Con stitutional Law. says:
 Next In importance to exemption from arbitrary control of the person is that maxim of the common law which secures the citizen against the prying eyes of the Government and protection in person, property and pa- pers against even the process of the law. except in few specified cases The maxim that every mans house Is his castle is made part of our con- stitutional law in the clauses pre- venting unreasonable seizures and searches" He quotes Chatham's speech on general warrants: The poorest man may, in his cottage. bid defiance to all the forces of the crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through 1t; the storm may enter: the rain may enter; but the King of England may not enter; all his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement"
 If in English history we inquire into the original occasion for these constitutional provisions. we shall probably lind it, in the abuse of execu- tive authority; and the unwarrantable intrusion of executive agents into the houses and among the private papers of individuals to obtain evidence of political offenses either designed or committed. The final overthrow of this practice Is so clearly and succinctly stated in 6 recent work on the consti- tutional history of England, that we can not refrain from copying the &C., count in the note below" He ther. gives several pages from Mays Con- stitutional History of England, where he treats of the act of Lord Halifax, one of the Secretaries of State. issuing a warrant, and the searching houses and papers, by which he found that Wilkes was the author of a libel, and committed him to the tower. Wilkes sued the Secretary of State, and the jury returned a verdict in his favor of f4,o00 On appeal Lord Mansfield pro- nounced the arrest illegal. saying 'it Is not fit that the judging of the in formation should be left to the officer the magistrate should judge and give certain direction to the officer" Lord Camden. in another case of search un- der order of the Secretary's warrant held with Lord Mansfield. He referred to the usage as having originated with the star chamber, and denounced it in most vigorous language. We have not space now to copy 1t.
 Mir. Cooley, in concluding, says: "The power of the Legislature to authorize a resort to this process is one which treme cases, and 1t Is better oftentimes that crime should go unpunished than that the citizen should be liable to have his premises invaded =. and all under the direction of a mere ministerial officer, who brings with him such assistanse as he pleases, and who will often select them more with reference to physical strength and courage than to their sensitive regard to the rights and feelings of others"
 Mir. Cooley concludes his remarks on the subject in this emphatic language: ITO incline against the enactment of such laws Is to Incline to the side of safety. aa In principle they are objec-. tionable; in the mode of execution they are necessarily odious and they tend to invite abuse and to cover the commission of crime. We think it would generally be safe for the Legis- laturo to regard all those searches and seizures 'unreasonable,' which have hitherto been unknown to the law, and on that account to abstain from au- thorizing them."