Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States

Citations

• 251 U.S. 385
• 40 S. Ct. 182
• 64 L. Ed. 319
• 1920 U.S. LEXIS 1685

Syllabus

<p>The Fourth Amendment protects a corporation and its officers from compulsory production of the corporate books and papers for use in a criminal proceeding against them, when the information upon which the subpoenas were framed was derived by the Government through a previous unconstitutional search and seizure, planned and executed by its officials under color of a void writ; provided the defense of the Amendment be seasonably interposed, and not first raised as a collateral issue at the trial of the indictment. P. 391. Weeks v. United States, 232 U. S. 383, followed. Adams v. New York, 192 U. S. 585, distinguished.</p> <p>The rights of a corporation against unlawful search and seizure are to be protected even if it be not protected by the Fifth Amendment from compulsory production of incriminating documents. ' P. 392.</p> <p>Reversed.</p>