Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/332/581/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 18:26:46+00:00

Document:
Michael Di Re was convicted on a charge of knowingly possessing counterfeit gasoline ration coupons in violation of § 301 of the Second War Powers Act, 1942. 1 The decisive evidence was that obtained by search of his person, after he was arrested without a warrant of any kind. The Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 159 F.2d 818, considered that any question as to the timeliness of his objection to this evidence was eliminated by its disposition on its merits by the District Court, and, one judge dissenting, it held both his search and arrest to have been illegal. The Government was granted certiorari, 2 raising no question other than the correctness of the holding by the Court of Appeals that the evidence was the fruit of an illegal arrest and search.
The belief that an automobile is more vulnerable to search without warrant than is other property has its source in the decision of Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543, 39 A.L.R. 790. That search was made and its validity was upheld under the search and seizure provisions enacted for enforcemen of the National Prohibition Act and of that Act alone. Transportation of liquor in violation of that Act subjected first the liquor, and then the vehicle in which it was found, to seizure and confiscation, and the person 'in charge thereof' to arrest. 4 The Court reviewed the legislative history of enforcement legislation and concluded (267 U.S. at page 147, 45 S.Ct. at page 283), 'The intent of Congress to make a distinction between the necessity for a search warrant in the searching of private dwellings and in that of automobiles and other road vehicles in 5 the enforcement of the Prohibition Act is thus clearly established by the legislative history of the Stanley Amendment. Is such a distinction consistent with the Fourth Amendment? We think that it is. The Fourth Amendment does not denounce all searches or seizures, but only such as are unreasonable.' The progeny of the Carroll case likewise dealt with searches and seizures under this Act. Husty v. United States, 282 U.S. 694, 51 S.Ct. 240, 75 L.Ed. 629, 74 A.L.R. 1407.
Some members of this Court rest their conclusion that the arrest was invalid on § 180 of the New York Code of Criminal Procedure which requires an officer making an arrest without a warrant to inform the suspect of the cause of arrest, except when it is made during commission of the crime or when in pursuit after an escape. 6 This question was first raised from the Bench during argument in this Court. Di Re did not assert this ground of invalidity at the trial. Had he done so the Government might have met it with proof of circumstances which in themselves would show that Di Re had been effectively informed, even if the circumstances fell short of establishing the statutory exception. The proceedings below did not develop the facts concerning Di Re's arrest in connection with this requirement. Inasmuch as the issue would lead to exploration of the law as to waiver when the defense was not raised in either court below, or indeed by the petition here, and as to applicability of he statute if, as the Government contends, lack of express declaration was unnecessary because circumstances supplied the required information, we do not undertake to determine on this record whether Di Re's arrest satisfied this provision of the New York law.
We believe, however, that in absence of an applicable federal statute the law of the state where an arrest without warrant takes place determines its validity. By one of the earliest acts of Congress, the principle of which is still retained, the arrest by judicial process for a federal offense must be 'agreeably to the usual mode of process against offenders in such State.' 8 There is no reason to believe that state law is not an equally appropriate standard by which to test arrests without warrant, except in those cases where Congress has enacted a federal rule. Indeed the enactment of a federal rule in some specific cases seems to imply the absence of any general federal law of arrest.
In denouncing unlawful search by federal officers as a misdemeanor, Congress provided that it should not apply to one 'arresting or attempting to arrest any person committing or attempting to commit an offense in the presence of such officer, agent or employee, or who has committed, or who is suspected on reasonable grounds of having committed, a felony.' 12 Thus the legislative sources, while yielding some common provisions, also contain many inconsistencies. No act of Congress lays down a general federal rule for arrest without warrant for federal offenses. None purports to supersede state law. And none applies to this arrest which, while for a federal offense, was made by a state officer accompanied by federal officers who had no power of arrest. Therefore the New York statute provides the standard by which this arrest must stand or fall.
The Act of September 24, 1789 (Ch. 20, § 33, 1 Stat. 91), concerning arrest with warrant, provided: 'That for any crime or offence against the United States, the offender may, by any justice or judge of the United States, or by any justice of the peace, or other magistrate of any of the United States where he may be found agreeably to the usual mode of process against offenders in such state, and at the expense of the United States, be arrested, and imprisoned or bailed, as the cae may be, for trial before such court of the United States as by this act has cognizance of the offence.' This provision has remained substantially similar to this day. 18 U.S.C. 591, 18 U.S.C.A. § 591. See also 1 Ops.Atty.Gen. 85, 86.
48 Stat. 1008, 49 Stat. 77, 5 U.S.C. 300a, 5 U.S.C.A. § 300a.
49 Stat. 378, 28 U.S.C. 504a, 28 U.S.C.A. § 504a.
1 Stat. 425, 12 Stat. 282, 28 U.S.C. 504, 28 U.S.C.A. § 504.
49 Stat. 877, 18 U.S.C. 53a, 18 U.S.C.A. § 53a.
18 U.S.C. 88, 18 U.S.C.A. § 88.
18 U.S.C. 72, 18 U.S.C.A. § 72.

References: § 301
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 § 180
 § 33
 § 591
 § 300
 § 504
 § 504
 § 53
 § 88
 § 72