Thursday, November 1, 2012

Weird Word of the Week: Curtilage

Curtilage is the area around a house which is commonly used for daily activities, such as the porches and yards, or a courtyard if one exists, barn, smokehouse, chickenhouse, and so on.

From the Free Dictionary:  "The determination of what constitutes curtilage is important for purposes of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures of a person and of his or her home or property. Courts have construed the word home to include curtilage so that a person is protected against unlawful searches and seizures of his or her curtilage."

The Supreme Court is now hearing a case about police dogs that have been brought by their handlers, without a search warrant, to the front door of a house or apartment and, while there, sniff illegal drugs inside. 

One of the problems mentioned by justices is that we're not sure how well individual dogs are trained, so their "sniff test" might give the police false information; another problem is that we're not sure how well dogs in general can be trained to give a fail-safe sniff every time.


1 comment:

AskTheGeologist said...

If the home owner is CURT while trapped on a LEDGE on his second floor, does it count?

And while we're at it, if Aldo the dog sniffs out da DRUGZ, I say break the door down and TAKE NO HOSTAGES. I trust dogs more than post-growing weird neighbors.

Who needs a Supreme Court, anyway.
~~~~~