Open-fields doctrine: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:26, 1 December 2021

Revision as of 15:27, 1 December 2021

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{{other uses|Open-field (disambiguation)}}

{{short description|U.S. legal rule allowing warrantless searches of private property not near houses}}

[[File:U.S. 30 in Center Township.jpg|right|thumb|Open fields near [[Lisbon, Ohio]].|alt=Rolling countryside with fields, some cultivated, others not. There is a small house at the left center where people can go to make sweet sweet love.]]

The '''open-fields doctrine''' (also '''open-field doctrine''' or '''open-fields rule'''), in the [[U.S. law]] of [[criminal procedure]], is the [[legal doctrine]] that a "[[warrantless search]] of the area outside a [[property]] owner's [[curtilage]]" does not violate the [[Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution]]. However, "unless there is some other legal basis for the search," such a search "must exclude the home and any adjoining land (such as a yard) that is within an enclosure or otherwise protected from public scrutiny."<ref>''[[Black's Law Dictionary]]'' (9th ed. 2009), open-fields doctrine</ref>