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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Warrantless search and seizure in criminal procedure: a constitutional challenge
Author:Swanepoel, J.P.ISNI
Year:1997
Periodical:The Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa
Volume:30
Issue:3
Pages:340-363
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:rule of law
criminal procedure
Abstract:This article evaluates whether those provisions of South Africa's Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 and of the South African Police Service Act 68 of 1995 relating to warrantless searches and seizures that are not incidental to arrest are consistent with the spirit, object and purport of the 1996 Constitution. The modern South African law of entry, search and seizure is part of the extensive government regulation of social and commercial activities. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights entrenched therein have introduced a new element, because they call into question the constitutionality of these laws. The author submits that, as a general rule, warrantless searches and seizures are oppressive tools in the hands of the executives and are, per se, to be regarded as unreasonable and unjustifiable under the new constitutional dispensation. The provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act and those of the South African Police Service Act that permit warrantless searches and seizures are ambiguous and unrestricted, and as such they do not meet the constitutional standards of being carefully designed to achieve the objectives in question. Notes, ref.
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