THE OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL, ON THE LEGALITY OF THE CONDUCT OF ROBERT H. MORRIS, RECORDER OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, IN GOING TO THE HOUSE OF ONE PIERCE IN THE NIGHT TIME, AND SEIZING CERTAIN PRIVATE PAPERS. GIVEN ON THE REQUISITION OF HIS EXCELLENCY GOV. SEWARD.
Albany: Hoffman, White and Visscher, 1841. 12pp, disbound, lightly foxed and lightly worn. Printed in double columns. Good+.
Attorney General Hall excoriates Morris for entering the house of one Pierce-- without a warrant -- and seizing private papers "having apparent on their face no connection with the offence" which Morris was hearing in his capacity as magistrate.
"The magistrate has no more right to make the search, than the constable has to make the warrant," says Hall. Tracing the history of the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, he states, "For such a cause, Kings have been dragged from their thrones to a scaffold, amidst the plaudits and devout thanksgiving of freemen."
FIRST EDITION. AI 41-3789 [3- NN, NjR, NSmb]. Sabin 29864. OCLC 559853358 [2 at the British Library] as of January 2020. Not in Cohen. Item #26942
Price: $450.00