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ment. The motion to suppress was denied, and petitioner's numerous objections to the evidence at the trial were overruled. The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction. 151 F. 2d 837. Certiorari was granted because of the importance of the questions presented.

Two valid warrants of arrest were issued. One charged that petitioner and one Moffett had violated the Mail Fraud Statute by causing a letter addressed to the Guaranty Trust Company of New York to be placed in the mails for the purpose of cashing a forged check for $25,000.00 drawn on the Mudge Oil Company in pursuance of a scheme to defraud. The second warrant charged that petitioner and Moffett, with intent to defraud certain banks and the Mudge Oil Company, had caused a $25,000.00 forged check to be transported in interstate commerce, in violation of § 3 of the National Stolen Property Act.'

Five agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, acting under the authority of the two warrants, went to the apartment of petitioner in Oklahoma City and there arrested him. The apartment consisted of a living room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. Following the arrest, which took place in the living room, petitioner was handcuffed and a search of the entire apartment was undertaken. The agents stated that the object of the search was to find two $10,000.00 canceled checks of the Mudge Oil Company which had been stolen from that company's office and which were thought to have been used in effecting the forgery. There was evidence connecting petitioner with that theft. In addition, the search was said to be for the purpose of locating "any means that might

3

5 Insofar as pertinent, the Fifth Amendment provides: "No person ... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, . . .”

35 Stat. 1130-1131, 18 U. S. C. § 338.

753 Stat. 1178-1179, 18 U. S. C. § 413 et seq.

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have been used to commit these two crimes, such as burglar tools, pens, or anything that could be used in a confidence game of this type."

One agent was assigned to each room of the apartment and, over petitioner's protest, a careful and thorough search proceeded for approximately five hours. As the search neared its end, one of the agents discovered in a bedroom bureau drawer a sealed envelope marked "George Harris, personal papers." The envelope was torn open and on the inside a smaller envelope was found containing eight Notice of Classification cards and eleven Registration Certificates bearing the stamp of Local Board No. 7 of Oklahoma County. It was this evidence upon which the conviction in the District Court was based and against which the motion to suppress was directed. It is conceded that the evidence is in no way related to the crimes for which petitioner was initially arrested and that the search which led to its discovery was not conducted under the authority of a search warrant."

In denying the motion to suppress, the District Court wrote no opinion. The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed

8 The agents who testified in the proceedings in the trial court clearly stated that the object of the search was the means employed in committing the crimes charged in the warrants of arrest. None of the subsequent statements of the agents, if read in their context, are in conflict with that assertion.

It appears that the checks were never found. Respondent concedes that, in addition to the draft cards, seven pens and a quantity of tissue paper capable of being employed as instruments of forgery were seized. Also taken were twenty-seven pieces of celluloid which at the trial were demonstrated to be useful in picking a lock. It was respondent's theory that petitioner had obtained the canceled checks by theft from the offices of the Mudge Oil Company and that entry into the offices had been achieved in that manner. Petitioner alleged in his motion to suppress that various other items were taken, including sheets of blank paper, expense bills and receipts, personal mail, letters, etc.

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the conviction, finding that the search was carried on in good faith by the federal agents for the purposes expressed, that it was not a general exploratory search for merely evidentiary materials, and that the search and seizure were a reasonable incident to petitioner's arrest.1o

If it is true, as petitioner contends, that the draft cards were seized in violation of petitioner's rights under the Fourth Amendment, the conviction based upon evidence so obtained cannot be sustained. Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616 (1886); Weeks v. United States, 232 U. S. 383 (1914); Agnello v. United States, 269 U. S. 20 (1925); Segurola v. United States, 275 U. S. 106 (1927). This Court has consistently asserted that the rights of privacy and personal security protected by the Fourth Amendment “. . . are to be regarded as of the very essence of constitutional liberty; and that the guaranty of them is as important and as imperative as are the guaranties of the other fundamental rights of the individual citizen . . ." Gouled v. United States, 255 U. S. 298, 304 (1921).

This Court has also pointed out that it is only unreasonable searches and seizures which come within the constitutional interdict. The test of reasonableness cannot be stated in rigid and absolute terms. "Each case is to be decided on its own facts and circumstances." Go-Bart Importing Company v. United States, 282 U. S. 344, 357 (1931).

The Fourth Amendment has never been held to require that every valid search and seizure be effected under the authority of a search warrant. Search and seizure incident to lawful arrest is a practice of ancient origin" and has long been an integral part of the law-enforcement

10 151 F.2d 837.

11 See opinion of Cardozo, J., in People v. Chiagles, 237 N. Y. 193, 142 N. E. 583 (1923); Trial of Henry and John Sheares, 27 How. St. Tr. 255, 321 (1798).

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procedures of the United States 12 and of the individual states.13

The opinions of this Court have clearly recognized that the search incident to arrest may, under appropriate circumstances, extend beyond the person of the one arrested to include the premises under his immediate control. Thus in Agnello v. United States, supra, at 30, it was said: "The right without a search warrant contemporaneously to search persons lawfully arrested while committing crime and to search the place where the arrest is made in order to find and seize things connected with the crime as its fruits or as the means by which it was committed, as well as weapons and other things to effect an escape from custody, is not to be doubted."" It is equally clear that a search incident to arrest, which is otherwise reasonable, is not automatically rendered invalid by the fact that a dwelling place, as contrasted to a business premises, is subjected to search.15

12

Examples of the practice are to be found in numerous cases in this Court and in the lower federal courts. Weeks v. United States, supra; Agnello v. United States, supra; Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132 (1925); United States v. Lee, 274 U. S. 559 (1927); Marron v. United States, 275 U. S. 192 (1927); Go-Bart Importing Company v. United States, supra; United States v. Lefkowitz, 285 U. S. 452 (1932); Parks v. United States, 76 F. 2d 709 (1935); United States v. 71.41 Ounces Gold, 94 F. 2d 17 (1938); Matthews v. Correa, 135 F. 2d 534 (1943).

13 Argetakis v. State, 24 Ariz. 599, 212 Pac. 372 (1923); Commonwealth v. Phillips, 224 Ky. 117, 5 S. W. 2d 887 (1928); Banks v. Farwell, 21 Pick. (Mass.) 156 (1839). And see cases cited in 32 A. L. R. 697; 51 A. L. R. 434.

14 Similar expressions may be found in the cases cited in notes 12 and 13. There is nothing in the Go-Bart and Lefkowitz cases, supra, which casts doubt on this proposition.

15 Stricter requirements of reasonableness may apply where a dwelling is being searched. Davis v. United States, 328 U. S. 582 (1946); Matthews v. Correa, supra, at 537.

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Nor can support be found for the suggestion that the search could not validly extend beyond the room in which petitioner was arrested.18 Petitioner was in exclusive possession of a four-room apartment. His control extended quite as much to the bedroom in which the draft cards were found as to the living room in which he was arrested. The canceled checks and other instrumentalities of the crimes charged in the warrants could easily have been concealed in any of the four rooms of the apartment. Other situations may arise in which the nature and size of the object sought or the lack of effective control over the premises on the part of the persons arrested may require that the searches be less extensive. But the area which reasonably may be subjected to search is not to be determined by the fortuitous circumstance that the arrest took place in the living room as contrasted to some other room of the apartment.

Similar considerations are applicable in evaluating petitioner's contention that the search was, in any event, too intensive. Here again we must look to the particular circumstances of the particular case. As was observed by the Circuit Court of Appeals: "It is not likely that the checks would be visibly accessible. By their very nature they would have been kept in some secluded spot The same meticulous investigation which would be appropriate in a search for two small canceled checks could not be considered reasonable where agents are seeking a stolen automobile or an illegal still. We do not believe that

16 Searches going beyond the room of arrest were upheld in the Agnello and Marron cases, supra. The searches found to be invalid in the Go-Bart and Lefkowitz cases were so held for reasons other than the areas covered by the searches. It has not been the understanding of the lower federal courts that the search in every case must be so confined. See, for example: United States v. Lindenfeld, 142 F. 2d 829 (1944); Matthews v. Correa, supra; United States v. 71.41 Ounces Gold, supra.