Cuddihy's Definitive Analysis of the Fourth Amendment

The Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure provides the bulwark for police regulation and many other government functions in the United States. One of the most controversial rights in the Bill of Rights, this amendment is also among the most frequently adjudicated provisions of constitutional law. Yet its meaning has remained deeply contested, and the story of its origins is largely unknown. William J. Cuddihy now provides the definitive analysis in his just released The Fourth Amendment: Origins and Original Meaning 602 - 1791 (Oxford UP, January 2009). Daniel J. Solove (George Washington University Law School) writes, "it's an absolutely essential volume for any scholar of constitutional history, criminal procedure, or the Fourth Amendment" and adds in an email, "it’s truly an outstanding book, one I believe should be in every law school library. There’s nothing else out there on Fourth Amendment history that comes close to its comprehensiveness.

A required addition to every constitutional law collection. [JH]