I did some research into the 4th admendment.
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Constitution of the United States, Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
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Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Warrantless searches are permitted when they are of a kind that the courts have found to be reasonable (as by being limited) or when they are prompted by a level of suspicion or belief (as reasonable suspicion or probable cause) that is consistent with the level of intrusion of the search. Some searches have been found to be so intrusive that a court hearing is required before the search is permitted.
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What does the "unreasonable" mean? I think it clearly means under what conditions a warrant may be issued. As I have found in the predecessors of amendment IV, listed below, I have come to the conclusion that any search or seizure without a warrant is unreasonable as well as general or illegal warrants.
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New York Ratification of Constitution
26 July 1788 Elliot 1:327--31
That every freeman has a right to be secure from all unreasonable searches and seizures of his person, his papers, or his property; and therefore, that all warrants to search suspected places, or seize any freeman, his papers, or property, without information, upon oath or affirmation, of sufficient cause, are grievous and oppressive; and that all general warrants (or such in which the place or person suspected are not particularly designated) are dangerous, and ought not to be granted.
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Maryland Constitution of 1776, Declaration of Rights, art. 23
Thorpe 3:1688
That all warrants, without oath or affirmation, to search suspected places, or to seize any person or property, are grievous and oppressive; and all general warrants--to search suspected places, or to apprehend suspected persons, without naming or describing the place, or the person in special--are illegal, and ought not to be granted.
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Virginia Declaration of Rights, sec. 10 12 June 1776
X That general warrants, whereby any officer or messenger may be commanded to search suspected places without evidence of a fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, or whose offense is not particularly described and supported by evidence, are grievous and oppressive and ought not to be granted.
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Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, PT. 1, ART. 14
Thorpe 3:1891
XIV. Every subject has a right to be secure from all unreasonable searches, and seizures of his person, his houses, his papers, and all his possessions. All warrants, therefore, are contrary to this right, if the cause or foundation of them be not previously supported by oath or affirmation; and if the order in the warrant to a civil officer, to make search in suspected places, or to arrest one or more suspected persons, or to seize their property, be not accompanied with a special designation of the persons or objects of search, arrest, or seizure: and no warrant ought to be issued but in cases, and with the formalities, prescribed by the laws.
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Federal Farmer, no. 16
20 Jan. 1788 Storing 2.8.196--203
...that all persons shall have a right to be secure from all unreasonable searches and seizures of their persons, houses, papers, or possessions; and that all warrants shall be deemed contrary to this right, if the foundation of them be not previously supported by oath, and there be not in them a special designation of persons or objects of search, arrest, or seizure: and that no person shall be exiled or molested in his person or effects, otherwise than by the judgment of his peers, or according to the law of the land.
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What do you think? Go research it for yourself.
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/found...s/amendIV.html
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/constpap.htm