so much odium in the colonial history of the times. These writs
were granted by the court under pressure of the ministry in the
year 1760.

The Writs of Assistance were directed to the officers of the
customs in America. But any officer could arm one of his
subordinates, or indeed any other person whom he should
designate, with one of the writs, and the person so appointed
might act in the name of the king's officer.

The thing to be done was the examination of any place and all
places where contraband goods might be supposed to be lodged.
Whether there were evidence or no evidence, the case was the
same. The document was a writ of arbitrary search.

Any house, public or private, might be entered at any time; any
closet or any cellar might be opened. Neither the bridal chamber
nor the room of the dead was sacred on the approach of any petty
customs constable or deputy in whose hands a Writ of Assistance
had been placed. The antecedent proceedings required no
affidavit or any other legal formality. The object was to lay
bare the whole privacy of a people on sheer suspicion of
smuggling.

It could hardly be supposed that our fathers would tamely submit
to such an odious and despotic procedure. To have done so would
have been to subscribe to a statute for their own enslavement.
Nor may we pass from the consideration of these writs and the
resistance offered thereto by the patriots of all our colonies
without noticing the un-English character of these laws.