''Entick v Carrington'' EWHC KB J98
is a leading case in English law">765
EWHC KB J98
is a leading case in English law and UK constitutional law establishing the civil liberties of individuals and limiting the scope of executive (government), executive power. The case has also been influential in other

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

jurisdictions and was an important motivation for the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It is famous for the dictum of Lord Camden: "If it is law, it will be found in our books."

Facts

On 11 November 1762, the King's Chief Messenger, Nathan Carrington, and three other King's messengers, James Watson, Thomas Ardran, and Robert Blackmore, broke into the home of the Grub Street writer John Entick (c. 1703 – 1773) in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of St Dunstan, Stepney "with force and arms". Over the course of four hours, they broke open locks and doors and searched all of the rooms before taking away 100 charts and 100 pamphlets, causing £2,000 of damage (). The King's messengers were acting on the orders of Lord Halifax, newly appointed

Secretary of State for the Northern Department The secretary of state for the Northern Department was a position in the Cabinet (government), Cabinet of the government of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain up to 1782. Following this, the Northern Department became the Foreign Office, a ...

, "to make strict and diligent search for ... the author, or one concerned in the writing of several weekly very seditious papers entitled, '' The Monitor, or British Freeholder''". Entick sued the messengers for trespassing on his land.

Judgment

The trial took place in

Westminster Hall Westminster Hall is a medieval great hall which is part of the Palace of Westminster in London, England. It was erected in 1097 for William II (William Rufus), at which point it was the largest hall in Europe. The building has had various functio ...

presided over by Lord Camden, the

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas The chief justice of the common pleas was the head of the Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench, which was the second-highest common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body ...

. Carrington and his colleagues claimed that they acted on Halifax's warrant, which gave them legal authority to search Entick's home; they therefore could not be liable for the

tort A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with cri ...

. However, Camden held that Halifax had no right under

statute A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

or under

precedent Precedent is a judicial decision that serves as an authority for courts when deciding subsequent identical or similar cases. Fundamental to common law legal systems, precedent operates under the principle of ''stare decisis'' ("to stand by thin ...

to issue such a warrant and therefore found in Entick's favour. In the most famous passage Camden stated: Hence Lord Camden ruled, as later became viewed as a general principle, that the state may do nothing but that which is expressly authorised by law, while the individual may do anything but that which is forbidden by law.

Significance

The judgment established the limits of executive power in English law: the state may act lawfully only in a manner prescribed by statute or

. It was also part of the background to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and was described by the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

as "a 'great judgment', 'one of the landmarks of English liberty', 'one of the permanent monuments of the British Constitution', and a guide to an understanding of what the Framers meant in writing the Fourth Amendment".'' Boyd v. United States'' 116 U.S. 616, 626 (1886)

Notes

References

*{{cite journal , last=Cuddihy , first=William , author2=Hardy, B. Carmon , year=1980 , title=A Man's House Was Not His Castle: Origins of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution , journal=William and Mary Quarterly , volume=37 , issue=3 , pages=372–400 , doi=10.2307/1923809, publisher=Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture , jstor=1923809

Facts

Judgment

Significance

Notes

References

See also