Open Fields Doctrine

The open fields doctrine is a U.S. legal doctrine created judicially for purposes of evaluating claims of an unreasonable search by the government in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states:

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, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Read more about Open Fields Doctrine:  History, Distinguishing Open Fields From Curtilage

Famous quotes containing the words open, fields and/or doctrine:

    The gates of Hell are open night and day;
    Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
    But, to return, and view the cheerful skies;
    In this, the task and mighty labour lies.
    Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro] (70–19 B.C.)

    As the fields fear drought in autumn, so people fear poverty in old age.
    Chinese proverb.

    But the doctrine of the Farm is merely this, that every man ought to stand in primary relations to the work of the world, ought to do it himself, and not to suffer the accident of his having a purse in his pocket, or his having been bred to some dishonorable and injurious craft, to sever him from those duties.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)