The writ enabled custom officials to search any vessel or building that they suspected was carrying smuggled goods. The colonists were concerned and openly opposed the writs of assistance because they believed that the instrument infringed on their rights.

Sugar Act. Parliament, desiring revenue from its North American colonies, passed the first law specifically aimed at raising colonial money for the Crown. The act increased duties on non-British goods shipped to the colonies.

Writs of assistance were court orders that authorized customs officers to conduct general (non-specific) searches of premises for contraband. The writs were first introduced in Massachusetts in 1751 to strictly enforce the Acts of Trade, the governing rules for commerce in the British Empire.

The British government used the colonists to raise revenue by taxing them and putting a tax of sugar. They created the writs of assistance which allowed officers to enter any location to search for smuggled goods. This angered the colonists because it was violating the rights of their homes and privacy.

Colonists and Many British observers were outraged at the blatant neglect of what had been traditionally considered British liberties. Most notably, the writs allowed officials to enter and ransack private homes without proving probable cause for suspicion, a traditional prerequisite to a search.

WRITS OF ASSISTANCE. Otis made the most important argument against the writs, on constitutional grounds. If the writs were made legal by act of Parliament, then the act of Parliament was wrong because Parliament could not make any act that violated a citizen’s natural rights.

In order to enforce the revenue laws, English authorities made use of writs of assistance, which were general warrants authorizing the bearer to enter any house or other place to search for and seize “prohibited and uncustomed” goods, and commanding all subjects to assist in these endeavors.

The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides, “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor …

Program Highlights. Most of us know the Fifth Amendment for its famous right to remain silent, but the Constitution also guarantees property owners fair payment for land the government takes to build highways, protect natural resources, and even to renew urban areas.