Opinion ID: 1494037
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: As to Unlawful Searches and Seizures.

Text: The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States provides, The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,  . The right so protected is a fundamental civil right and in our opinion is a privilege of Federal citizenship. As such it is secured against abridgment by the states by the privileges or immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as well as by the due process clause of that Amendment. We shall consider this question further when dealing with the jurisdiction of the court below. Constitutional provisions granting freedom from unlawful searches and seizures are of the very essence of constitutional liberty. Gouled v. United States, 255 U.S. 298, 304, 41 S.Ct. 261, 263, 65 L.Ed. 647; Go-Bart Importing Co. v. United States, 282 U.S. 344, 357, 51 S.Ct. 153, 75 L.Ed. 374. Searches and seizures are unreasonable if they are carried out without probable cause. Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543, 39 A.L.R. 790; United States v. O'Connell, D.C., 43 F.2d 1005. As was so succinctly stated by Judge Woods of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Elrod v. Moss, 278 F. 123, 130,    to justify search and seizure    without warrant, the officer must have direct personal knowledge, through his hearing, sight, or other sense, of the commission of the crime by the accused. In the case at bar the searches and seizures were made without probable cause, without personal knowledge upon the part of the searching officer and in fact without any crime or crimes having been committed. It is apparent therefore that the injunctive relief from unreasonable searches and seizures given to the appellees by the court below was granted providently.