# What legal principle is this? (plane crash on property)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-legal-principle-is-this-plane-crash-on-property/697410>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 3, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-legal-principle-is-this-plane-crash-on-property/697410 "2014-09-03T20:44:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-legal-principle-is-this-plane-crash-on-property/697410/41 "2014-09-07T12:03:59Z")

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Back in WW2 a B29 (I think) was on a training mission over South Dakota and crashed. The government came in and picked up most of the wreckage but for years locals were still finding parts strewn around.

About 50 years after the incident they did a memorial service at the site.

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-legal-principle-is-this-plane-crash-on-property/697410/42 "2014-09-07T15:52:53Z")

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> [@lawbuff](#):
>
> If we call this the “open fields” doctrine, Mapp has no bearing.
> 
> If police “have a right” to be at a place, then anything in plain view is fair game.
> 
> The govt. certainly has a right to enter private property to investigate, no warrant is needed.

The particularity clause in the 4th Amendment reads:

“…particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or objects to be seized.”

Now, please give me some detail about the “open fields” doctrine and how it applies in this instance, to the alleged exclusion of \* Mapp. \*

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-legal-principle-is-this-plane-crash-on-property/697410/43 "2014-09-07T16:22:45Z")

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> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> This scenario actually happened over my hometown are on the Louisiana/Texas border…

That reminds me of one of those ‘Gotcha!’ questions popular with children. ‘A plane crashes right on the border between two countries. Where do they bury the survivors?’ (The other one I remember is ‘A rooster lays an egg exactly on the top of a steep roof. Which side does the egg roll down?’)

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**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-legal-principle-is-this-plane-crash-on-property/697410/44 "2014-09-07T16:23:09Z")

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You don’t need a warrant to search an open field so the particularity clause doesn’t apply.

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-legal-principle-is-this-plane-crash-on-property/697410/45 "2014-09-07T17:32:11Z")

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> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> You don’t need a warrant to search an open field so the particularity clause doesn’t apply.

Oh, all right.

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