Open Fields Doctrine Essay Example for Free

Open Fields Doctrine Essay One of the exceptions to the search and seizure law which enables police officers to conduct warrantless search and seizure proceedings, especially in criminal cases, is the Open Fields Doctrine. Under this doctrine, the owner of any object found out of doors where it could be plainly seen by anybody who is standing on his or her foot, from inside any motor vehicle, or from a low-flying aircraft, could not seek the privacy protection under the Fourth Amendment. In other words, even if a residential unit is protected by a fence, the ground inside the fence is still considered an â€Å"open field† if there are cracks in the fence through which anybody can easily peep and see objects located inside the fence. The same is true when the fence is low enough for people to see clearly inside the fenced-in ground without the need to stand on their toes or on top of any object in order to have a clear line of sight. Considered open fields are streets, sidewalks, any bodies of water, outdoor fields, or even the curtilage of a fenced-in residential building as long as said curtilage could be observed by people outside the fence. This doctrine was established by the United States Supreme Court in Hester v. United States where it ruled that the â€Å"Fourth Amendment did not protect ‘open fields’ and that, therefore, police searches in such areas as pastures, wooded areas, open water, and vacant lots† are legal even without search warrants (Cornell University Law School). A curtilage refers to any area near a residential unit which was enclosed by the owner for the purpose of shielding from public view any or all family activities considered intimate or private. A curtilage, therefore, is also considered a person’s home as far as the Fourth Amendment protection from unwarranted and unreasonable search and seizure proceedings is concerned. In United States v. Dunn, 480 U. S. 294 (1987), the Court ruled that before determining whether an area is actually a curtilage, four factors should be considered: its proximity to the house; if the house is enclosed by a fence, whether, said area was included in the fenced-in area; whether the area is actually used for intimate family activities; and whether the owner of the house exerted enough efforts to shield the activities being conducted in the area from public view. References Cornell University Law School. FOURTH AMENDMENT SEARCH AND SEIZURE. Retrieved June 1, 2010, from http://www. law. cornell. edu/anncon/html/amdt4frag3_user. html USLegal Definitions. Curtilage Law Legal Definition. Retrieved June 1, 2010, from http://definitions. uslegal. com/c/curtilage/

capital punishment Essay -- essays research papers

Australia Changes its Position on the Death Penalty On 16 February 2003 the Australian PM said in a Sunday morning television interview that the Bali bombers â€Å"should be dealt with in accordance with Indonesian law. †¦and if [the death penalty] is what the law of Indonesia provides, well, that is how things should proceed. There won’t be any protest from Australia†.[1] In early March 2003 the PM told US television that he would welcome the death penalty for Osama Bin Laden. â€Å"I think everybody would†, Mr Howard said.[2] In response to these comments: "Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia would not intervene if bin Laden was to be executed. 'I personsally have never supported the death penalty buit int he case of Osama bin Laden, I don't think that too many years would be shed if he was executed, bearing in mind all the people he's responsible for killing." [3] These comments mark a significant change in Australia’s attitude to the death penalty and a further weakening of Australia’s commitment to international human rights standards. Australia’s longstanding position Australia has traditionally taken a strong principled stand against capital punishment. In 1986 diplomatic relations with Malaysia were strained when Australia protested the execution of two Australians, Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers. The then Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, went so far as to describe the death penalty as â€Å"barbaric†. In October 1990 Australia acceded to the Second Opt...

Methods of Government, explained by Mr. Lao Tzu

Mr. Lao Tzu,  I am glad to write this letter to you and I wish you to stay in good health. Being myself interested in the art of state governance I could not fail to be moved by your outstanding writings. Philosophers with such profound views as you have are rare, so, desiring to further dispute certain ideas about government and administration I have found nothing better than to write this letter to you and thusly invite you to discussion. Please accept this letter calmly as it is due to a philosopher, for I have not wished to contest your wisdom, but only to share some views which I have obtained via long years of struggles and dangers. My most sincere desire is to have an advice with you because truth is sprout in discussion. Thereto let me pass to my argument.In your famous Tao Te Ching you write:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"If you want to be a great leader, you must learn to follow the Tao. Stop trying to control. Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself[1].†Ã‚  I admire this argument but I put it in a little other way for I think that it is better to be adventurous than cautious, because fortune is a woman, and she needs to be beaten and dominated[2]. That what you call â€Å"Tao† I use to call Fortune. Fortune is something what we can not control, but we can benefit from it. Every ruler has a Fortune, but not all of them are fortunate, because some of them are able to benefit from fortune and others are not. And to benefit from Fortune one has to feel it and take effort to obtain every possible necessary result from lucky events. That’s why I say that Fortune loves young. The young can better feel it and they are faster in using it. Using your terms I can say, that Tao flows by itself outside of our will. The one who feels the flow of Tao and moves with it will win[3]. But in order to win he has to move in the direction he needs only using Tao because in case he moves with Tao he will lose his aim of sight and will be a pr isoner of circumstances.Another piece of your writing which attracted my attention is:â€Å"If a country is governed with tolerance, the people are comfortable and honest. If a country is governed with repression, the people are depressed and crafty. When the will to power is in charge, the higher the ideals, the lower the results. Try to make people happy, and you lay the groundwork for misery. Try to make people moral, and you lay the groundwork for vice.[4]†I agree with you entirely that a ruler is always an example for his subjects, however, I would like to notice, that ruling only by example is a much too vague basis for power. There are always people who do not accept any virtues and who are willing to overthrow even the most perfect ruler, at least to take his place. So I think that except for example a ruler is to inspire love and fear to the people, and at that fear is more important than love, because love is changeful and does not depend on ruler’s will, and fear is an instrument which is always available for a ruler[5].   Moreover, I believe that a ruler is to incur evil and forget about virtues in some cases. I mean those vices without which he might hardly save the state; because, if one considers everything well, one will find that something that appears a virtue, if followed, would be his ruin, and that some other thing that appears a vice, if followed, results in his security and well-being[6].You speak about love and fear not as of methods of ruling, but as of ruler’s qualities when you write that â€Å"When the Master governs, the people are hardly aware that he exists. Next best is a leader who is loved. Next, one who is feared. The worst is one who is despised.†[7]As I have already mentioned, I believe, that fear is a better foundation for power than love, but now I would like to speak exactly of the ruler’s qualities. To my opinion a ruler is not to be good or bad, he is to be reasonable. What works go od once can be not so good next time. Fortune, or Tao as you call it, may change, so the best ruler is the one who skillfully adapts to the situation and never freezes in his qualities. The ruler has to deal with different people who have different desires and so it is hardly possible for him to be same for all. A ruler has not to follow an ideal, but he is to be realistic[8].You call upon princes to let things happen as they happen when you say:â€Å"Center your country in the Tao and evil will have no power. Not that it isn't there, but you'll be able to step out of its way.[9]†Let me used a term which I am used to and call Fortune that what you call Tao. I believe that this argument is weak, because it assumes that the country is ideal. And what about the countries which are not ideal and which are not in conformity with fortune? I would compare her to one of those raging rivers, which when in flood overflows the plains, sweeping away trees and buildings, bearing away the soil from place to place; everything flies before it, all yield to its violence, without being able in any way to withstand it; and yet, though its nature be such, it does not follow therefore that men, when the weather becomes fair, shall not make provision, both with defenses and barriers, in such a manner that, rising again, the waters may pass away by canal, and their force be neither so unrestrained nor so dangerous. So it happens with Fortune, who shows her power where valour has not prepared to resist her, and thither she turns her forces where she knows that barriers and defences have not been raised to constrain her[10]. So a ruler does have to act in order to bring his principality to perfectness and make it protected even from Fortune itself.Let me conclude my modest letter by this. Hope you were not bored while reading it and you will find it possible to answer my most humble writing.Cordially yours humble servant,Niccolà ² di Bernardo dei MachiavelliWorks Cited:1. Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 25th-Anniversary Edition, Vintage, 19972. Machiavelli.   The Prince. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 19983. Mary G. Dietz, Trapping The Prince: Machiavelli and the Politics of Deception, The American Political Science Review, Vol. 80, No. 3 (Sep., 1986), pp. 777-7994. David Hall, Commentary on the Lao Tzu by Wang Pi by Ariane Rump, Wing-tsit Chan, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Jan., 1981), pp. 97-98[1] Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, 25th-Anniversary Edition, Vintage, 1997. Verse 57 [2] Niccolo Machiavelli.   The Prince. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, p.- 83 [3] Lao Tzu dows not speak so directly, but it is usually mentioned by commentators. For example see: David Hall, Commentary on the Lao Tzu by Wang Pi by Ariane Rump, Wing-tsit Chan, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Jan., 1981), pp. 97-98 [4] Lao Tzu, 58 [5]   See: Niccolo Machiavelli, chap. XVII [6] Lao Tzu, 58 [7] Lao Tzu, 17 [8] For this Machiavelli’s argument see: Mary G. Dietz, Trapping The Prince: Machiavelli and the Politics of Deception, The American Political Science Review, Vol. 80, No. 3 (Sep., 1986), pp. 777-799 [9] Lao Tzu, 60 [10] Niccolo Machiavelli, p.- 119

Understanding Place Value, Basic Math Concepts

Place value is an extremely important concept that is taught as early as kindergarten. As students learn about larger numbers, the concept of place value continues throughout the middle grades. Place value refers to the value of the digit based on its position and can be a difficult  concept for young learners to  grasp, but understanding this idea is essential for learning math. What Is Place Value? Place value refers to the value of each digit in a number. For example, the number  753 has three places—or columns—each with a specific value. In this three-digit number, the  3  is in the ones place, the  5  is in the tens place, and the 7  is in the hundreds place.   In other words, the  3  represents three single units, so the value of this number is  three. The  5  is in the tens place, where values increase by multiples of 10. So, the  5  is worth five units of 10, or  5 x 10, which equals 50. The  7  is in the hundreds place, so it represents seven units of 100, or 700. Young learners grapple with this idea because the value of each number is different depending on the column, or place, in which it resides. Lisa Shumate, writing for the website of Demme Learning, an educational publishing company, explains: Regardless of whether dad is in the kitchen, the living room, or the garage, he is still dad, but if the digit  3  is in different locations (tens or hundreds place, for example), it means something different. A  3  in the ones column is just  3.  But that same  3  in the tens column is  3 x 10, or 30, and the  3  in the hundreds column is  3 x 100, or 300. To teach place value, give students the tools they need to grasp this concept. Base 10 Blocks Base 10 blocks are  manipulative sets designed to  help students learn place value with blocks and flats in various colors, such as small yellow or green cubes (for ones), blue rods (for tens), and orange flats  (featuring 100-block squares). For example, consider a number such as  294.  Use green cubes for ones, blue bars (which contain 10 blocks each) to represent 10s, and 100 flats for the hundreds place. Count out four green cubes representing the  4  in the ones column, nine blue bars (containing 10 units each) to represent the  9  in the tens column, and two 100 flats to represent the  2  in the hundreds column. You dont even have to use different-colored base 10 blocks. For example,  for the number 142, you would place one 100 flat in the hundreds place, four 10-unit rods in the tens column, and two single-unit cubes in the ones place. Place Value Charts Use a chart like  an image  atop this article when teaching place value to students. Explain to them that with this kind of chart, they can determine place values for even very large numbers. For instance, with a number such as 360,521: the  3  would be placed in the Hundreds of Thousands column and represents 300,000 (3 x 100,000); the  6  would be placed in the Tens of Thousands column and represents 60,000 (6 x 10,000); the  0 would be placed in the Thousands column and represents zero (0 x 1,000); the  5  would be placed in the Hundreds column and represents 500 (5 x 100); the  2  would be placed in the Tens column and represents 20 (2 x 10), and the one would be in the Units—or ones—column and represents 1 (1 x 1). Using Objects Make copies of the chart. Give students various numbers up to 999,999 and have them place  the correct digit in its corresponding column. Alternatively, use different-colored objects, such as gummy bears, cubes, wrapped candies, or even small squares of paper. Define what each color represents, such as green for ones, yellow for tens, red for hundreds, and brown for thousands. Write a number, such as 1,345, on the board. Each student should place the correct number of colored objects in the corresponding columns on her chart: one brown marker in the Thousands column, three red markers in the Hundreds column, four yellow markers in the Tens column, and five green markers in the Ones column. Rounding Numbers When a child understands place value, she is usually able to round numbers to a specific place. The key is understanding that rounding numbers are essentially the same as rounding digits. The general rule is that if a digit is five or greater, you round up. If a digit is four or less, you round down. So, to round the number 387 to the nearest tens place, for example, you would look at the number in the ones column, which is  7.  Since seven is greater than five, it rounds up to 10. You cant have a 10 in the ones place, so you would leave the zero in the ones place and round the number in the tens place,  8, up to the next digit, which is 9. The number rounded to the nearest 10 would be 390. If students are struggling to round in this manner, review place value as discussed previously.