Probable cause / reasonable grounds
Definition
The standard of suspicion required before a warrant may issue or a warrantless search may occur. In US law, probable cause requires a reasonable belief, based on articulable facts, that evidence of a crime will be found. The equivalent in England and Wales is 'reasonable grounds to believe'; in India the BNSS uses 'reason to believe'.
Related terms
- Chain of custody
- The documented chronological record of who collected, handled, transferred, and examined a piece of evidence. For digital evidence, chain of custody includes...
- Exclusionary rule
- A rule that evidence obtained in violation of constitutional or statutory search-and-seizure requirements cannot be used at trial. Applied strictly and automatically...
- Fruit of the poisonous tree
- A US doctrine extending the exclusionary rule: not only is unlawfully obtained evidence itself excluded, but any further evidence discovered as a...
- Plain-view doctrine
- A rule permitting an officer who is lawfully present in a location to seize evidence whose incriminating character is immediately apparent, without...
- Search warrant
- A judicial order authorising officers to enter and search a specified place and seize specified items. In most systems it must describe...
Explained in
- Search, Seizure and the Forensic ExhibitThe standard of suspicion required before a warrant may issue or a warrantless search may occur. In US law, probable cause requires a reasonable belief, based...