During what scholar William Cuddihy called the "colonial epidemic of general searches", the authorities possessed almost unlimited power to search for anything at any time, with very little oversight.
在这段被学者威廉·卡迪希（William Cuddihy）称为“通用搜捕状的殖民地瘟疫”时期里，殖民当局拥有几乎无限的权力，来在任何时间对任何地点进行极少受到监督的搜查。