Warrant (law)

Most often, the term warrant refers to a specific type of authorization; a writ issued by a competent officer, usually a judge or magistrate, which permits an otherwise illegal act that would violate individual rights and affords the person executing the writ protection from damages if the act is performed.

A warrant is usually issued by a court and is directed to a sheriff, constable or a police officer. Warrants normally issued by a court include search warrants, arrest warrants, and execution warrants. A typical arrest warrant in the United States will take the approximate form of: "This Court orders the Sheriff or Constable to find the named person, wherever he may be found, and deliver said person to the custody of the Court."

Warrants are also issued by other government entities, particularly legislatures, since most have the power to compel the attendance of their members. This is called a call of the house.

In the United Kingdom, senior public appointments are made by warrant under the Royal sign-manual, the personal signature of the monarch, on the recommendation of the government. In an interesting survival from medieval times, these warrants abate (lose their force) on the death of the sovereign if they have not already been executed. This particularly applied to death warrants in the days when England authorized capital punishment. Perhaps the most celebrated example of this occurred on 17 November 1558 when several Protestant heretics were tied to their stakes in Smithfield, and the firewood bundles were about to be lit when a royal messenger rode up to announce that Queen Mary had died and that the warrants had lost their force. The first formal act of Mary's successor, Elizabeth I, was to decline to re-issue the warrants, and the heretics were released a few weeks later.

For many years, the English government had used a "general warrant" to enforce its laws. These warrants were broad in nature and did not have specifics as to why they were issued or what the arrest was being made for. A general warrant placed almost no limitations on the search or arresting authority of a soldier or sheriff. This concept had become a serious problem when those in power issued general warrants to have their enemies arrested when no wrongdoing had been done. During the mid-18th century, the English government outlawed all general warrants. This study of the history of England made the American Founding Fathers ensure that general warrants would be illegal in the United States as well when the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1791.

Types of warrant

• Arrest warrant, issued by a judge to detain someone
• Warrant of committal, issued by a judge ordering enforcement of a previous order against a uncooperative person or corporation
• Warrant of delivery, civil writ issued by a judge ordering property delivered to a named person
• Warrant of execution, writ issued by a judge allowing law enforcement officers to seize property
• Execution warrant, writ issued by a judge authorizing the death of someone
• Warrant of possession, Australian judge order to terminate a residential real estate tenancy
• Possessory warrant, civil writ issued by a judge ordering property delivered to a named person
• Search warrant, writ issued by a judge allowing law enforcement officers to look inside a property

See also

• Warrant
• Case Concerning the Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Belgium)
• Warrant canary, a method used by Internet service providers to inform their customers that the provider has not been served with a secret government subpoena
• Quo warranto, a writ requiring the person to whom it is directed to show what authority they have for exercising some right or power (or "franchise") they claim to hold

External links

• UK appointments made by warrant under the Royal sign manual—from the London Gazette