Whoever, being an officer, agent, or employee of the United States or any department or agency thereof, engaged in the enforcement of any law of the United States, searches any private dwelling used and occupied as such dwelling without a warrant directing such search, or maliciously and without reasonable cause searches any other building or property without a search warrant, shall be fined under this title for a first offense; and, for a subsequent offense, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
This section shall not apply to any person—
(a) serving a warrant of arrest; or
(b) arresting or attempting to arrest a person committing or attempting to commit an offense in his presence, or who has committed or is suspected on reasonable grounds of having committed a felony; or
(c) making a search at the request or invitation or with the consent of the occupant of the premises.
June 25, 1948, ch. 645 62 Stat. 803 Pub. L. 104–294, title VI, § 601(a)(8)110 Stat. 3498 Pub. L. 107–273, div. B, title IV, § 4002(d)(1)(C)(iii)116 Stat. 1809 (, ; , , ; , , .)
Historical and Revision Notes
Aug. 27, 1935, ch. 740, § 201 49 Stat. 877 Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., § 53a (, ).
section 6 of this titleWords “or any department or agency thereof” were inserted to avoid ambiguity as to scope of section. (See definitive .)
The exception in the case of an invitation or the consent of the occupant, was inserted to make the section complete and remove any doubt as to the application of this section to searches which have uniformly been upheld.
section 1 of this titlesection 212 of this titleReference to misdemeanor was omitted in view of definitive . (See reviser’s note under .)
Words “upon conviction thereof shall be” were omitted as surplusage, since punishment cannot be imposed until conviction is secured.
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
Pub. L. 107–2732002— inserted “under this title” after “warrant, shall be fined” and struck out “not more than $1,000” after “for a first offense”.
Pub. L. 104–2941996— substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000”.