LANDMARK CASE

Entick v. Carrington

(1765) 19 State Tr 1029 · Court of Common Pleas (UK) · Constitutional law

At a glance

Citation: (1765) 19 State Tr 1029
Court: Court of Common Pleas (UK)
Area of law: Constitutional law
In one line: No. Officials can only do what the law permits, and the search was trespass.

1 Facts

Government agents broke into a writer's house and seized his papers under a general warrant.

2 Issue

Can the executive act without legal authority?

3 What the court decided

No. Officials can only do what the law permits, and the search was trespass.

4 Why it matters

A cornerstone of the rule of law.

5 Think about it

How does this case support privacy rights?

6 Analyse it yourself

Read the full judgment from an official source or a law database, then brief it in seven steps: facts, issues, arguments, decision, ratio, obiter and significance. Always check the citation before you rely on it.

7 More cases on Constitutional law

A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras AIR 1950 SC 27
ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla (1976) 2 SCC 521
Air India v. Nergesh Meerza (1981) 4 SCC 335
Ajay Hasia v. Khalid Mujib Sehravardi (1981) 1 SCC 722
Anuj Garg v. Hotel Association of India (2008) 3 SCC 1
Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020) 3 SCC 637

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