Court Opinion

ID: 9442233
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 18:41:00.330189+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:29:01.486752
License: Public Domain

HOLTZOFF, District Judge
(dissenting).
With genuine respect for the views of my associates, I sincerely regret that I find myself unable to concur in their conclusion. With considerable hesitancy, I feel impelled to record my dissenting views because the case is one of novel impression involving an important principle of Constitutional law and the decision may have wide implications and far-reaching consequences.
The question presented for determination is whether an Act of Congress, or a municipal ordinance or regulation promulgated pursuant to an Act of Congress, that authorizes health officers in the District of Columbia to enter dwellings without a search warrant for the purpose of inspection, is violative of the provisions of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures.1 The same problem may arise in respect to building inspectors, plumbing inspectors, and similar officers.
The personal rights of the individual as safeguarded by the Constitution of the United States form one of the bulwarks of American political institutions. The Bill of Rights is a vital part of the foundation on which our Republic rests. It distinguishes us from countries where the rights of the individual citizen are not protected from encroachment by the Government. Ceaseless vigilance is indispensable in order tp preserve and maintain these rights. There can be no difference of opinion as to these basic principles.
The problem presented in this case, however, is the definition and the delimitation of one of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The meaning of the terms found in the Bill of Rights cannot be ascertained by a mere recourse to the dictionary. The personal rights to which the Constitution relates are basic concepts. Their significance is to be found in the historical background in which they were nurtured and from which they are derived. Every provision of the Constitution of the United States is compact and succinct, and can be properly and correctly understood and construed only in the light of the annals of the past. The Founding Fathers were thoroughly versed in history and political science and used the terminology found in the fundamental document in its traditional and historical sense.
The Fourth Amendment does not ban all searches. It prohibits only those that are unreasonable. In determining what constitutes an “unreasonable search,” we must delve into the antecedents of the Fourth Amendment and ascertain the meaning that was attached to that term by the framers of the Bill of Rights, among whom were some of the Founding Fathers.2
In Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 149, 45 S.Ct. 280, 284, 69 L.Ed. 543, 39 A.L.R. 790, Chief Justice Taft stated: “The Fourth Amendment is to be construed in the light of what was deemed an unreasonable search and seizure when it was adopted, and in a manner which will conserve public interests as well as the interests and rights of individual citizens.” 3
*22In Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 624-625, 6 S.Ct. 524, 529, 29 L.Ed. 746, a case that constitutes a landmark in the law of searches and seizures, Mr. Justice Bradley stated: “In order to ascertain the nature of the proceedings intended by the fourth amendment to the constitution under the terms- ‘unreasonable searches and seizures,’ it is only necessary to recall the contemporary or then recent history of the controversies on the subject, both in this country and in England.”
The historical background of the Fourth Amendment is found in the struggle against the use of obnoxious general warrants and writs of assistance invoked by the English and Colonial governments for the purpose of making exploratory searches of homes with a view to discovery and seizure of incriminating books and papers, and contraband property. The celebrated opinion of Lord Camden, in 1765, in Entick v. Carrington, 19 Howell’s State Trials 1029, emphatically condemned these arbitrary and oppressive measures. This decision is properly regarded as a notable milestone in the progress of human liberty. It must have' been well known to the Founding Fathers, many of whom were profound scholars, and it is reasonable to assume that their thinking was influenced by that case.4
Referring to the Fourth Amendment, Story in his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, Sec. 1902, says: “its introduction into the amendments was doubtless occasioned by the strong sensibility excited, both in England and America, upon the subject of general warrants almost upon the eve of the American revolution.”
The Fourth Amendment was intended and is to be construed to apply only to criminal prosecutions and proceedings of a quasi-criminal nature for the enforcement of penalties. Its purpose is to limit and regulate searches conducted with a view to discovering and seizing books, papers, and objects to be used as evidence in a criminal proceeding or in an action for the enforcement of a penalty; and to protect any person against the use of evidence in a criminal or penal proceeding, if it has been procured from him by an unreasonable search and seizure. It does not affect the administration of law if criminal prosecutions or suits for penalties are not involved. It does not apply to inspections, if no seizure is intended.
Thus, in Murray v. Hoboken Land and Improvement Co., 18 How. 272, 285, 15 L.Ed. 372, the Supreme Court held by a unanimous vote that the limitations of the Fourth Amendment did not apply to distress warrants for the collection of taxes. Mr. Justice Curtis made the following observation on this point: “But this article has no reference to civil proceedings for the recovery of debts, of which a search warrant is not made part.”
Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 634, 6 S.Ct. 524, 534, 29 L.Ed. 746, involved the application of the Fourth Amendment to *23certain customs laws. In that case, the Court made the following observations: “As, therefore, suits for penalties and forfeitures, incurred by the commission of offenses against the law, are of this quasi criminal nature, we think that they are within the reason of criminal proceedings for all the purposes of the fourth amendment of the constitution, and of that portion of the fifth amendment which declares that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; * *
The inference is clear that it was the view of the Supreme Court that the Fourth Amendment referred only to proceedings of a criminal or quasi-criminal nature.
There are a number of district court decisions to the same effect. Thus, in the case of In re Meador, 16 Fed.Cas. page 1293, No. 9,375, it was held that the limitations of the Fourth Amendment on the issuance of warrants do not apply in certain revenue cases. Similarly, in the case of In re Strouse, 23 Fed.Cas. p. 261, No. 13,548, it was stated, “The Fourth Amendment * * * is applicable to criminal cases only”.
Coming to more recent decisions, in United States v. Eighteen Cases of Tuna Fish, 4 Cir., 5 F.2d 979, it was held that the Amendment does not apply to attachments under the Food and Drug Act, 21 U.S.C.A. § 1 et seq. In Camden County Beverage Co. v. Blair, 3 Cir., 46 F.2d 648, the authorities bearing on this point are exhaustively reviewed and the conclusion is reached that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to a proceeding to revoke a beverage permit, because it is civil in its nature and the Fourth Amendment is applicable only to proceedings of a criminal character.
In United States v. 62 Packages, Etc., D.C., 48 F.Supp. 878, 884, affirmed, 7 Cir., 142 F.2d 107, it was stated, that “the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution does not apply to a seizure process in civil actions.” On the basis of this reasoning the conclusion was reached that proceedings under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C.A. § 301 et seq., were not subject to the limitations of the Fourth Amendment.
No reported case has been found that extends the scope of the Fourth Amendment to fields other than criminal law or the enforcement of penalties. All the decisions cited in the opinion of the court in support of its conclusion involved criminal prosecutions.
The conclusion that the prohibitions of the Fourth Amendment are limited to proceedings of a criminal or penal nature, is supported by the fact that apparently the Congress has never enacted any statutes providing for the issuance of search warrants for any purpose other than the enforcement of the criminal law. The inference is clear that the legislative branch of the Government has continuously construed the Fourth Amendment in the manner here indicated. While this consideration is not conclusive, it is nevertheless entitled to great weight in interpreting the Constitution.5 Specifically, there is no existing statute under which a health inspector, a plumbing inspector, or a building inspector may obtain a warrant authorizing him to enter a building for the purpose of a routine inspection. It has always been assumed that no search warrant is necessary. On the basis of the conclusion of the Court in this case, these officers may have to suspend their function of inspection until and unless the Congress passes an Act authorizing the issue of search warrants for this purpose. In the interim the District of Columbia may be confronted with a serious situation. Moreover, even if an Act providing for such search warrants should be placed upon the statute books, how can an inspector make a showing of probable cause as a basis for the issuance of a warrant for the purpose of an ordinary, routine examination ? Regular periodic inspections are conducted for the purpose of making certain that laws relating to sanitation and safety are being observed. Such examina*24fions are not confined to situations in which there is a suspicion that the law is being violated. It is necessary that periodic inspections be regularly made for the purpose of securing observance of the laws and regulations relating to the safety and health of the community. If a search warrant were necessary for such recurring inspections, the requirement would amount to turning over the supervision of administration from the executive to the judicial branch of the Government, which, as the Supreme Court has observed in the past, would be a source of mischief and is contrary to the philosophy of our form of Government. The Constitution contemplates a tripartite division of Government into three coordinate branches. It was not intended that the judicial branch should have supervisory control over the executive.
Quarantine measures are enforced in large part by inspections. Their validity has been invariably accepted as inherent in. the police power of the States and in the Federal power to regulate interstate commerce. For example, in recent years the Federal Government has had occasion to establish quarantines against certain insects. One of the means of enforcement has -been to stop every vehicle crossing the quarantine line and examine its interior in order to ascertain whether it carried any plants that might in turn bear some of the insects. The inspection was purely exploratory and preventive, since it could not be said as to any particular vehicle there was reasonable cause to believe that it was transporting any plants. Nevertheless, although the right to search a vehicle arises only if there is reasonable ground to believe that it is carrying contraband,6 such inspections have never been held repugnant to the Fourth Amendment. In fact, as a practical matter, regular and continuous inspections are indispensable in administering a quarantine.
Warrants issued by the courts are of two' kinds: warrants of arrest and search warrants. The latter constitute authority to look for specified chattels and to seize them if found. There is no judicial document known to the law that would confer authority merely to inspect premises for the purpose of ascertaining whether certain laws, such as those relating to public health and public safety, are being observed. Such scrutiny has always been conducted by properly authorized officers without the requirement of judicial sanction. In effect, the opinion of the court proposes to create a new type of process, unknown to the common law or to any statute, and to confer power on the judiciary, that it has never possessed, to supervise the performance of routine administrative duties.
It is urged that inspections such as that in the instant case are an infringement of the sanctity of the home guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment. There is no doubt that the sanctity of the home is one of the fundamental private rights protected by the Constitution and must be safeguarded by the courts. The personal rights accorded to the individual by the first Ten Amendments are not, however, absolute or unqualified. For example,' the right of freedom of speech is limited by the prohibition against publication of obscene material, against incitement to crime, and against the creation of public disorder. Mr. Justice Holmes, in his inimitable manner, observed that in the exercise of the right of freedom of speech, no one may rise in a crowded theater and yell “Fire \” 7 Similarly, the right of freedom of religion does not permit, in the name of worship, acts that are regarded as illegal, immoral, or offensive.8 In the same way, the sanctity of the home is not absolute. For example, it is not disputed that representatives of the local government may enter a home if one of its inhabitants is afflicted with a *25serious contagious disease that constitutes a menace to the community. Representatives of the Fire Department require no search warrant to enter a house in order to extinguish a blaze, even if the owner objects to their presence. In many instances, it is proper for public authorities to enter a building to suppress a nuisance, such as a noisy gathering disturbing the peace of the neighborhood. A law enforcement officer may enter a house without a warrant in order to arrest a person who he has reasonable grounds to believe has committed a felony.9 The law has always recognized that the sanctity of the home is not absolute, but is subject to certain limitations.
The right of inspection in the interest of public safety and public health is one of these qualifications. As was stated in Hubbell v. Higgins, 148 Iowa 36, 46, 126 N.W. 914, 918, Ann.Cas.1912B, 822:
“The power of the Legislature to provide for inspection of premises in the interest of public safety and the public health is so well established that we will not enter upon a discussion of it. The right of inspection is incidental to the police power, and counsel cite no case wherein it was ever held that the exercise of such power violates any constitutional right of the citizen.”
In conclusion, I am of the opinion that the Fourth Amendment relates only to searches and seizures in connection with criminal prosecutions or enforcement of penalties, and does not affect inspections conducted in the course of the administration of statutes and regulations intended to promote public health or public safety. Consequently the statutes and regulations involved in this case are valid; the health inspectors of the District of Columbia had the right to enter respondent’s home without a warrant for the purpose of inspection; and, accordingly, the judgment of the Municipal Court of Appeals should be reversed.

. Amendment IV. Searches and Seizures. “The right of 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, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

. In Knowlton v. Moore, 178 U.S. 41, 95, 20 S.Ct. 747, 768, 44 L.Ed. 969, Mr. Justice White stated:
“The necessities which gave birth to the Constitution, the controversies which preceded its formation, and the conflicts of opinion which were settled by its adoption, may properly be taken into view for the purpose of tracing to its source any particular provision of the Constitution in order thereby to be enabled to correctly interpret its meaning.”

. In Harris v. United States, 10 Cir., 151 F.2d 837, 839, 169 A.L.R. 1413, affirmed 331 U.S. 145, 67 S.Ct. 1098, 91 L.Ed. 1399, Murrah, J., expressed the same thought as follows:
*22“The rights of one to be secure in his person, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search and seizure, and not to be compelled in a criminal case to be a witness against himself are fundamental rights under the 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution ‘[which] affect the very essence of constitutional liberty and security.’ * * * The true meaning of these rights are to be derived from what was deemed an unreasonable search and seizure at the time of the adoption of the Amendments to the Constitution, and are to be construed in a manner which will serve the public interest on the one hand, while protecting and safeguarding the personal rights of individuals on the other.”

. That Lord Camden’s strictures were di- . rected against the use of general searches solely in connection with criminal prosecutions appears from the following statement in his opinion in Entick v. Carrington, 19 Howell’s State Trials at 1073:
“It is very certain, that the law obligeth no man to accuse himself; because the necessary means of compelling self-accusation, falling upon the innocent as well as the guilty, would be both cruel and unjust; and it should seem, that search for evidence is disallowed upon the same principle. There too the innocent would be confounded with the guilty.”
Entick v. Carrington is recognized in Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 626, 6 S.Ct. 524, 29 L.Ed. 746, as the precursor of the Fourth Amendment

. Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 16 Pets. 538, 621, 10 L.Ed. 1080; The Laura, 114 U.S. 411, 5 S.Ct. 881, 29 L.Ed. 147; Springer v. United States, 102 U.S. 586, 599, 26 L.Ed. 253; Field v. Clark, 143 U.S. 649, 691, 12 S.Ct. 495, 36 L.Ed. 294.

. Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543, 39 A.L.R. 790.

, Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47, 52, 39 S.Ct. 247, 63 L.Ed. 470. See also Debs v. United States, 249 U.S. 211, 39 S.Ct. 252, 63 L.Ed. 566; Frohwerk v. United States, 249 U.S. 204, 39 S.Ct. 249, 63 L.Ed. 561; Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568, 62 S.Ct. 766, 86 L.Ed. 1031.

. Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 161 et seq., 25 L.Ed. 244.

. An obiter dictum contained in the opinion of the court, unwittingly perhaps, summarizes the power of the police to enter a building move narrowly than is justified by existing law. A law enforcement officer may enter a building and arrest without a warrant a person found therein, if the officer has reasonable ground to believe that this person has committed a felony. Morton v. United States, 79 U.S.App.D.C. 329, 147 F.2d 28; U.S.C.A. Title 18 (new) sec. 3053.