What is the common law and common law respect to the power of the police to search a lawfully arrested person?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from R. v. Terezakis, 2005 BCSC 682 (CanLII):
The common law recognizes a police power to search a lawfully arrested person and seize anything in his or her possession or immediate surroundings for safety reasons or to provide evidence. In Cloutier v. Langlois, 1990 CanLII 122 (SCC), [1990] 1 S.C.R. 158, 53 C.C.C. (3d) 257, L’Heureux-Dubé J. for the court said (at ¶49): In general, despite certain comments in scholarly discussion, it seems beyond question that the common law as recognized and developed in Canada holds that the police have a power to search a lawfully arrested person and to seize anything in his or her possession or immediate surroundings to guarantee the safety of the police, prevent the prisoner’s escape or provide evidence against him. The common thread in this line of authority is the objective of guaranteeing safety and applying the law effectively.
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