Warrant (law)
Encyclopedia
Most often, the term warrant refers to a specific type of authorization
; a writ
issued by a competent officer, usually a judge
or magistrate
, which permits an otherwise illegal act that would violate individual rights
and affords the person executing the writ protection from damages
if the act is performed.
A warrant is usually issued by a court
and is directed to a sheriff
, constable
or a police
officer. Warrants normally issued by a court include search warrant
s, arrest warrant
s, and execution warrant
s. A typical arrest warrant in the United States
will take the approximate form of: "This Court orders the Sheriff
or Constable to find the named person, wherever he may be found, and deliver said person to the custody of the Court."
Warrants are also issued by other government
entities, particularly legislature
s, since most have the power
to compel the attendance of their members. This is called a call of the house
.
In the United Kingdom
, senior public appointments are made by warrant under the Royal sign-manual
, the personal signature
of the monarch
, on the recommendation of the government. In an interesting survival from medieval times, these warrants abate (lose their force) on the death of the sovereign if they have not already been executed. This particularly applied to death warrants in the days when England
authorized capital punishment
. Perhaps the most celebrated example of this occurred on 17 November 1558 when several Protestant heretics
were tied to their stakes in Smithfield
, and the firewood bundles were about to be lit when a royal messenger rode up to announce that Queen Mary
had died and that the warrants had lost their force. The first formal act of Mary's successor, Elizabeth I
, was to decline to re-issue the warrants, and the heretics were released a few weeks later.
For many years, the English government had used a "general warrant" to enforce its laws. These warrants were broad in nature and did not have specifics as to why they were issued or what the arrest was being made for. A general warrant placed almost no limitations on the search or arresting authority of a soldier or sheriff. This concept had become a serious problem when those in power issued general warrants to have their enemies arrested when no wrongdoing had been done. During the mid-18th century, the English government outlawed all general warrants. This study of the history of England made the American
Founding Fathers ensure that general warrants would be illegal in the United States as well when the Fourth Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1791.
Authorization
Authorization is the function of specifying access rights to resources, which is related to information security and computer security in general and to access control in particular. More formally, "to authorize" is to define access policy...
; a writ
Writ
In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court...
issued by a competent officer, usually a judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
or magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
, which permits an otherwise illegal act that would violate individual rights
Individual rights
Group rights are rights held by a group rather than by its members separately, or rights held only by individuals within the specified group; in contrast, individual rights are rights held by individual people regardless of their group membership or lack thereof...
and affords the person executing the writ protection from damages
Damages
In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
if the act is performed.
A warrant is usually issued by a court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
and is directed to a sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
, constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
or a police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
officer. Warrants normally issued by a court include search warrant
Search warrant
A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....
s, arrest warrant
Arrest warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....
s, and execution warrant
Execution warrant
An execution warrant is a writ which authorizes the execution of a judgment of death on an individual...
s. A typical arrest warrant in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
will take the approximate form of: "This Court orders the Sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
or Constable to find the named person, wherever he may be found, and deliver said person to the custody of the Court."
Warrants are also issued by other government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
entities, particularly legislature
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
s, since most have the power
Political power
Political power is a type of power held by a group in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labour, and wealth. There are many ways to obtain possession of such power. At the nation-state level political legitimacy for political power is held by the...
to compel the attendance of their members. This is called a call of the house
Call of the house
A call of the house is a motion which can be adopted by a deliberative assembly that has the authority to compel the attendance of its members in the absence of a quorum...
.
In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, senior public appointments are made by warrant under the Royal sign-manual
Royal sign-manual
The royal sign manual is the formal name given in the Commonwealth realms to the autograph signature of the sovereign, by the affixing of which the monarch expresses his or her pleasure either by order, commission, or warrant. A sign-manual warrant may be either an executive actfor example, an...
, the personal signature
Signature
A signature is a handwritten depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a signature is a signatory. Similar to a handwritten signature, a signature work describes the work as readily identifying...
of the monarch
British monarchy
The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...
, on the recommendation of the government. In an interesting survival from medieval times, these warrants abate (lose their force) on the death of the sovereign if they have not already been executed. This particularly applied to death warrants in the days when England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
authorized capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
. Perhaps the most celebrated example of this occurred on 17 November 1558 when several Protestant heretics
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
were tied to their stakes in Smithfield
Smithfield, London
Smithfield is an area of the City of London, in the ward of Farringdon Without. It is located in the north-west part of the City, and is mostly known for its centuries-old meat market, today the last surviving historical wholesale market in Central London...
, and the firewood bundles were about to be lit when a royal messenger rode up to announce that Queen Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
had died and that the warrants had lost their force. The first formal act of Mary's successor, Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
, was to decline to re-issue the warrants, and the heretics were released a few weeks later.
For many years, the English government had used a "general warrant" to enforce its laws. These warrants were broad in nature and did not have specifics as to why they were issued or what the arrest was being made for. A general warrant placed almost no limitations on the search or arresting authority of a soldier or sheriff. This concept had become a serious problem when those in power issued general warrants to have their enemies arrested when no wrongdoing had been done. During the mid-18th century, the English government outlawed all general warrants. This study of the history of England made the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Founding Fathers ensure that general warrants would be illegal in the United States as well when the Fourth Amendment
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause...
to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1791.
Types of warrant
- Arrest warrantArrest warrantAn arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....
, issued by a judge to detain someone - Warrant of committalWarrant of committalWarrant of Committal is a legal term used by the law systems of Canada and the United Kingdom, which allows a magistrate or judge to enforce a judgment or order against a person or corporation that has refused or neglected to comply with a known court judgment or order within a known fixed period...
, issued by a judge ordering enforcement of a previous order against a uncooperative person or corporation - Warrant of deliveryWarrant of deliveryWarrant of delivery is a method of enforcing court judgments used in the legal systems of the United Kingdom and Canada.If someone has an item or goods belonging to another, who wishes these things to be returned, a warrant of delivery is the method to use to force return of items to their lawful...
, civil writ issued by a judge ordering property delivered to a named person - Warrant of executionWarrant of executionA Warrant of Execution is a form of writ of execution used in British courts. It is a method of enforcing judgments and empowers a County Court bailiff to attend a judgment debtor’s address to take goods for sale.-Procedure:...
, writ issued by a judge allowing law enforcement officers to seize property - Execution warrantExecution warrantAn execution warrant is a writ which authorizes the execution of a judgment of death on an individual...
, writ issued by a judge authorizing the death of someone - Warrant of possessionWarrant of possessionA Warrant of Possession under Australian law can be issued after a lessor or agent has applied for, and received, a termination order to end a residential tenancy. The lessor or agent should therefore apply for this warrant when applying for a termination order.A Warrant of Possession has to be...
, Australian judge order to terminate a residential real estate tenancy - Possessory warrantPossessory warrantIn United States legal usage, a possessory warrant is a process resembling a search warrant used in criminal proceedings, but differing in that it is a civil process under which the property is to be delivered to the person from whom it was violently or fraudulently taken or enticed away or in...
, civil writ issued by a judge ordering property delivered to a named person - Search warrantSearch warrantA search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....
, writ issued by a judge allowing law enforcement officers to look inside a property
See also
- Warrant
- Case Concerning the Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Belgium)
- Warrant canaryWarrant canaryA warrant canary is a method used by an Internet service provider to inform their customers that the provider has not been served with a secret government subpoena. Such subpoenas, including those covered under the USA Patriot Act, provide criminal penalties for revealing the warrant to a third...
, a method used by Internet service providers to inform their customers that the provider has not been served with a secret government subpoena - Quo warrantoQuo warrantoQuo warranto is a prerogative writ requiring the person to whom it is directed to show what authority they have for exercising some right or power they claim to hold.-History:...
, a writ requiring the person to whom it is directed to show what authority they have for exercising some right or power (or "franchise") they claim to hold
External links
- UK appointments made by warrant under the Royal sign manual—from the London GazetteLondon GazetteThe London Gazette is one of the official journals of record of the British government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published...