curtilage
- noun
- /ˈkɜːrtɪlɪdʒ/
- Formal
:
curtilaje
- In Florida v. Jardines, Justice Scalia relied exclusively on preconstitutional and English common law to determine whether the use of a drug-sniffing dog on the curtilage of a home constitutes trespass for the purposes of the Fourth Amendment.
- curtilage of a home
- dog on the curtilage
Examples
-
If police were to trespass on a suspect's curtilage, for instance, then using an electronic substitute like a sniffer device would constitute a search just as much as using a dog would.
Academic text (2017) -
While this may be the case where a government building and its immediate curtilage are involved, it is not necessarily so with respect to those "places which by long tradition or by government fiat have been devoted to assembly and debate, . . . particularly streets and parks which have immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public and, time out of mind, have been used for purposes of assembly, communicating thoughts between citizens, and discussing public questions." Perry Ed.
Academic text (1995) -
If the suspect were a felon in flight, police could enter his curtilage.
Academic text (2018) -
Other permissive mechanisms would also allow police to enter the suspect's curtilage.
Academic text (2018) -
It permits police to do something the Fourth Amendment would otherwise prohibit: enter a suspect's curtilage to ask him questions about an investigation.
Academic text (2018) -
My sense is that there were enough Justices to sign on to the view that the officer entered the curtilage of the home and that there was no implied consent because what happened was far beyond the usual neighbor dropping by.
Blog text (11) -
First, installing a virus on a computer and then using resources on that computer (such as electricity, memory, and processing time) is arguably every bit as much of a trespass on private interests as the use of a dog on the curtilage of a home.
Academic text (2017) -
Because the police officer's use of a dog on the curtilage of the home constituted a trespass under common law, the police officer's actions constituted a search regardless of whether the officers' investigation of Jardines' home violated his expectation of privacy under Katz.
Academic text (2017) -
This was because the police brought the dog onto a "constitutionally protected area"—the home's curtilage—"through an unlicensed physical intrusion." (182)
Academic text (2018) -
The children played safely in the curtilage of their grandparents' house.
Synonyms
651
1.0
An area of land next to a building, often fenced, used for animals, work or play
150
2.0
The land around a building that belongs to it, often with gardens
25
3.5
An area surrounded by a fence, wall, or natural feature
How Big
Surface Forms
Etymology
Curtilage comes from an old word meaning 'small yard' or 'court', similar to the familiar English word courtyard. It originally named the ground that belonged to a house, so today curtilage means the land right around a building that is treated as part of the property.