Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

M.D.N.C.: ?Curtilage? in a search warrant is not vague

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

“Curtilage” in a search warrant is not vague. United States v. Thomas, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120653 (M.D. N.C. December 28, 2009): . . . Thomas argues that the phrase "curtilage" is conclusory and imbued with legal, not factual, meaning. Thus, he concludes, the magistrate was unable to exercise his or her independent judgment in determining whether to grant the application for the warrant. Thomas's argument is unpersuasive. While having legal meaning, the term "curtilage" also has a common, factual definition. Webster's Third New International Dictionary defines curtilage as "a yard, courtyard, or other place of ground included within a fence surrounding a dwelling house." Webster's Third New Int'l Dictionary at 558 (1986 Ed.) Further, Black's Law Dictionary defines it as "[t]he land or yard adjoining a house, usu...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 01, 2010 (boomark / email).