- Entick v. Carrington
"Entick v. Carrington" (
1765 ) 19 "Howell's State Trials " 1030 is a leading case inEnglish law establishing thecivil liberties of individuals and limiting the scope of executive power.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, in theparish of St Dunstan, Stepney, "with force and arms" and seized Entick's private papers. Entick was arrested. Also arrested that day was a lawyer, Arthur Beardmore. The King's messengers were acting on the orders of Lord Halifax, newly appointedSecretary of State for the Northern Department , "to make strict and diligent search for . . . the author, or one concerned in the writing of several weekly very seditious papers intitled, 'The Monitor or British Freeholder, No 357, 358, 360, 373, 376, 378, and 380'".Entick sought judgment against Carrington and his colleagues—who argued that they acted upon Halifax's warrant.
Judgment
The trial took place in
Westminster Hall presided over by Lord Camden, theChief Justice of the Common Pleas . Camden held that Halifax had no right understatute or underprecedent to issue such a warrant. In the most famous passage he stated:So the individual may do anything but that which is forbidden by law, and the state may do nothing but that which is expressly authorised by law.
Consequences
The judgment established the limits of executive power in English law, that an officer of the state could only act lawfully in a manner prescribed by statute or
common law .ee also
*
The North Briton
*Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution Further reading
*cite journal |last=Cuddihy |first=William |authorlink= |coauthors=Hardy, B. Carmon |year=1980 |month= |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 |url= |accessdate= |quote=
External links
* [http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/KB/1765/J98.html Full Text of Decision]
* [http://www.constitution.org/trials/entick/entick_v_carrington.htm Howell's Law Report]
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