Recent Judicial Decisions
| Published date | 01 April 1968 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X6804100409 |
| Author | J. C. Wood |
| Date | 01 April 1968 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
PROFESSOR
J.
C.
WOOD,
LL.M.
The University of Sheffield
Legal Correspondent of
THE
POLICE JOURNAL
SEARCH WARRANTS
Chic Fashions (West Wales), Ltd. v. Jones
[1968] 1 All E.R. 229 Court of Appeal
The appellant company brought an action for damages against
the chief constable of Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire.
It
arose from the actions of police officers who having obtained
search warrants entered shops belonging to the company. The
warrants specified various ladies' clothes of the
"Ian
Peters"
make.
The
police found in the shops clothing without labels
which they suspected were
"Mornessa",
"Mansfield"
and
" Blanes " all of which might have been stolen. They seized 65
such items but subsequently were satisfied and returned them.
The plaintiff company claimed damages for trespass and the
county court Judge found in favour of the company. The police
appealed.
For
the purposes of the appeal these facts were accepted: none
of the clothes seized fell within the description in the search war-
rant; none of them was stolen; none was used in evidence on the
prosecution of a criminal charge; the plaintiffs lawfully acquired
the clothes seized
and
the police in taking and retaining them be-
lieved on reasonable grounds that they were stolen and would
form evidence on a criminal charge. The legal question arising
from these facts which the Court of Appeal had to decide was
whether the police were entitled to seize goods not mentioned on
the warrant by reason of their reasonable belief that they were
stolen.
The
Court of Appeal found little authority to help it. Lord
Denning, M.R., reviewed the law starting with Coke's dictum that
" every man's house is his castle ". Exceptions have been made to
this rule inoluding that a home may not be used to hide stolen
property. Where there is reasonable grounds for suspecting that
this may be being done a search warrant can be obtained from a
magistrate on a sworn information. This is the only exception
allowed by the common law and it has been strictly construed.
A~W~
In
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