Mr. Justice Rutledge and the Fourth Amendment

Abstract

To the men who founded this nation the idea that "a man's house is his castle" was no mere figure of speech. One of the many just causes of complaint by the colonists and one largely responsible for the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, was the practice of British courts to issue the notorious "writs of assistance." These writs enabled the Kings' customs officers to go ransacking at large through homes and warehouses on fishing expeditions for contraband. Smuggling during colonial days was costing the royal treasury large sums and the ruthless writ was a catchall device to meet it.