search, right of. 1 In domestic law, the right of officials to search persons or private property, usually obtained through some form of search warrant authorized by a court. In the United States, the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the security of the people "in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures," and requires that a search warrant, based on "probable cause," be obtained by police. The wording of the amendment, however, has proved open to widely varying interpretations. Thus, eavesdropping, including electronic "bugging," was long considered not to require a warrant, and the nature of "probable cause" has been debated over the years.

In the 1960s the Supreme Court strengthened protections against "unreasonable" searches and seizures by applying exclusionary rules, barring the use of illegally collected evidence in court. Since the 1980s, however, a more conservative Court has undercut the force of exclusionary rules, allowing the use of evidence collected "in good faith" even if without a valid warrant. Government officials have been given wider access to telephone and bank records, and a nationwide antidrug campaign has led to the use of "stop and frisk" searches, particularly in the nation's cities. In the 1990s congressional conservatives sought to write into federal statute the greater leeway allowed police by the Court.

2 In international law the right of search denotes the right of a warship to detain and search a private vessel belonging to a foreign national. In peacetime, this right is ordinarily exercised only within the territorial waters (see waters, territorial) of a state and merely as an incident of the power to police such waters, and generally only in such cases as suspected piracy, violation of fishing regulations, or interference with telephone cables. In wartime, however, a belligerent may search neutral vessels on the high seas in order to capture the property of enemy nationals or to remove contraband bound for enemy ports. Forcible resistance to search allows the warship to attack or destroy the vessel or its cargo or to take them as a prize. The right of search is also called the right of visit and search.

right-handedness: see handedness.

right whale, name for whales of the family Balaenidae. They were so named by whalers, who for centuries considered them "the right whales" to hunt, because they float when killed and because they yield enormous quantities of oil and of baleen. Baleen, or whalebone, is the substance forming the fringed, triangular plates that hang from the roof of the whale's mouth and serve as a filter for plankton. It commanded such a high price in the 19th cent. that baleen whales (right whales and rorquals) were nearly exterminated by hunting. Right whales are distinguished from rorquals by the lack both of a dorsal fin and of neck furrows. Their girth is great in proportion to their length, and they have two thick pectoral fins. The lower jaws are scooplike in shape; the upper jaws contain about 300 baleen plates.

The black right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) is usually black all over; some individuals have white undersides. The female, larger than the male, averages 45 to 60 ft (14-18 m) in length. There is an irregularly shaped, horny growth, called the bonnet, above the snout. It has no known function, other than possible intraspecific aggression, and accumulates an immense conglomeration of parasites. There are three subspecies of black right whales, inhabiting the N Atlantic and N Pacific oceans and the Southern Hemisphere, respectively. The northern populations travel to the equator in winter, breeding on their way back to the poles. The bowhead, Greenland, or Arctic right whale (Balaena mysticetus) remains near the ice front all year, following its seasonal advances and recessions. It is black with a white chin and often a white tail band; there is a bump on top of the head. Its baleen plates grow up to 13 ft (4 m) long, and it produces large quantities of oil. The 20-foot-long (6-m) pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata) is found in the waters of Australia and New Zealand. (Some authorities place it in a separate family, Neobalaenidae.) All three species are rare and endangered. Right whales are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Cetacea, family Balaenidae.

right of way, in land and air traffic and in sea navigation, rules that determine precedence in the use of traffic lanes. The rules are framed in the simplest possible terms and with nearly absolute uniformity in order to minimize the possibility of collisions. In land traffic, railroad trains, military vehicles in convoy, government vehicles (e.g., mail trucks), and emergency vehicles have the right of way over ordinary private vehicles. Rules of sea and air navigation are largely governed by international conventions and law. The term "right of way" is also applied to an easement in gross (e.g., that of a railroad). See air, law of the; maritime law.

right ascension, in astronomy, one of the coordinates in the equatorial coordinate system. The right ascension of a celestial body is the angular distance measured eastward from the vernal equinox along the celestial equator to its intersection with the body's hour circle.

right, in politics, the more conservative groups in the political spectrum, in contrast to the radical left and the liberal center. The designation stems from the seating of the nobility on the right side of the presiding officer in the French National Assembly of 1789. In some European legislative assemblies conservative members are still seated in that position.

privacy, right of, the right to be left alone without unwarranted intrusion by government, media, or other institutions or individuals. While a consensus supporting the right to privacy has emerged (all recently confirmed Justices to the Supreme Court have affirmed their belief in the right to privacy), the extent of the right, and its basis in constitutional law, remain hotly contested. It was not until the U.S Supreme Court decision in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), which voided a state statute preventing the use of contraceptives, that the modern doctrine of privacy emerged. In his opinion, Justice William O. Douglas argued that a protection from state intrusion into marital privacy was a constitutional right, one that was a "penumbra" emanating from the specific guarantees of the constitution. The right to sexual privacy as set forth in Griswold was one of the main foundations of the court's decision in Roe v. Wade (1973) to overturn state abortion statutes. Later attempts to extend the right of privacy to consensual homosexual acts in Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) were initially rejected by the court. In 2003, however, the court reversed that decision and rejected all antisodomy laws.

The Privacy Act of 1974 provides for disclosure of, and personal access to, all federal records containing personal information, regulates their transfer to others, and allows for legal remedies in cases of their misuse under the law. The Right to Financial Privacy Act (1978) limits federal access to financial records but places few restrictions on access by states, businesses, and others. The privacy of most other information is not guaranteed. Computer and telecommunications advances have made credit, medical, and other data a readily available, highly marketable commodity, raising many concerns about individuals' privacy. Although the European Union in 1998 severely limited the buying and selling of personal data, these practices have been generally allowed under U.S. law. Limits exist on the federal government's ability to intercept voice and data communications; these are established by law and related to the Constitution's protection against unreasonable searches (see search, right of).

divine right, doctrine that sovereigns derive their right to rule by virtue of their birth alone—a right based on the law of God and of nature. Authority is transmitted to a ruler from his ancestors, whom God himself appointed to rule. Because the sovereign was responsible not to the governed, but to God alone, active resistance to a king was a sin ensuring damnation. The doctrine evolved partly in reaction against papal claims to wield authority in the political sphere. In England, King James I and his son Charles I made many claims based on divine right, and a notable exponent of the theory was Sir Robert Filmer. It ceased to be important in England after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The epitome of the doctrine is found in the rule of Louis XIV of France.

Right, Petition of: see Petition of Right.

Petition of Right, 1628, a statement of civil liberties sent by the English Parliament to Charles I. Refusal by Parliament to finance the king's unpopular foreign policy had caused his government to exact forced loans and to quarter troops in subjects' houses as an economy measure. Arbitrary arrest and imprisonment for opposing these policies had produced in Parliament a violent hostility to Charles and George Villiers, 1st duke of Buckingham. The Petition of Right, initiated by Sir Edward Coke, was based upon earlier statutes and charters and asserted four principles: no taxes may be levied without consent of Parliament; no subject may be imprisoned without cause shown (reaffirmation of the right of habeas corpus); no soldiers may be quartered upon the citizenry; martial law may not be used in time of peace. In return for his acceptance (June, 1628), Charles was granted subsidies. Although the petition was of importance as a safeguard of civil liberties, its spirit was soon violated by Charles, who continued to collect tonnage and poundage duties without Parliament's authorization and to prosecute citizens in an arbitrary manner.

In law, the right of one who owns riparian land (land abutting or including a stream or river) to have access to and use of the shore and water. These rights are a form of real property (see real and personal property) and are inherited with the land. A landowner whose property abuts an ocean, sea, lake, or pond is said to possess littoral rights. Specific water-use laws vary from state to state.

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In the U.S., any state law forbidding various union-security measures, particularly the union shop, under which workers are required to join a union within a specified time after they begin employment. Supporters of such laws maintain that they are more equitable because they allow a person to choose whether or not to join a labour union. Opponents contend that the name right-to-work law is misleading because such laws do not guarantee employment to anyone. On the contrary, they maintain that such laws tend to reduce workers' job security by weakening the bargaining power of unions.

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Any of five species (genera Balaena, Eubalaena, and Caperea) of baleen whales (family Balaenidae) with a stout body and an enormous head. (The name refers to two species considered the “right” whales to hunt because of their value, slowness, and buoyancy after death.) The upper jaw is strongly arched, and the lower lip curves upward along the side, giving the lower jaw a scooplike form. There is no dorsal fin except in the pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata), a small, seldom-seen whale of the Southern Hemisphere. The bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), inhabiting Arctic and northern temperate waters, is black, with a white chin, throat, and sometimes underparts. It grows to about 65 ft (20 m). The northern right whale (E. glacialis) grows to 60 ft (18 m). Similar to the bowhead but with a smaller, less strongly arched head, it may also have a “bonnet,” a horny growth infested with parasites, on its snout. Both species have been protected since 1946.

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Protection from arrest and extradition given to political refugees by a country or by an embassy that has diplomatic immunity. No one has a legal right to asylum, and the sheltering state, which has the legal right to grant asylum, is under no obligation to give it. It is thus a right of the state, not the individual. Its traditional use has been to protect those accused of political offenses such as treason, desertion, sedition, and espionage. Beginning in the 20th century, asylum also was granted to those who could demonstrate a significant risk of politically motivated persecution if they returned to their home countries.

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In criminal law, the giving of evidence that might tend to expose the witness to punishment for a crime. The term is generally used in relation to the privilege of refusing to give such evidence. In some continental European countries (e.g., Germany), a person fearing self-incrimination may make his own decision as to whether or not he will testify. In Anglo-American practice, a person other than an accused cannot refuse to testify; he may only cite his privilege against self-incrimination, and the judge then decides whether he must testify. If required to testify, he must answer all questions except those he considers to be self-incriminating. The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution contains a provision that protects a person from being compelled to make self-incriminating statements, one intention being to prevent coercion of testimony. Seealso rights of the accused; exclusionary rule.

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Right of a person to be free from intrusion into matters of a personal nature. Although not explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, a right to privacy has been held to be implicit in the Bill of Rights, providing protection from unwarranted government intrusion into areas such as marriage and contraception. A person's right to privacy may be overcome by a compelling state interest. In tort law, privacy is a right not to have one's intimate life and affairs exposed to public view or otherwise invaded. Less broad protections of privacy are afforded public officials and others defined by law as “public figures” (e.g., movie stars).

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Religio-political concept that views a ruler as an incarnation, manifestation, mediator, or agent of the sacred. In some nonliterate societies, members view their rulers or chiefs as inheritors of the community's own magical power. The ruler may exercise this power either malevolently or benevolently, but he is usually responsible for influencing the weather and the land's fertility to ensure the harvest necessary for survival. In other societies, particularly those of ancient China, the Middle East, and South America, the ruler was identified with a particular god or as a god himself; in Japan, Peru (among the Inca), Mesopotamia, and the Greco-Roman world, the ruler was regarded as the son of a god. In either case—whether the ruler embodies his own magical power or that of the community—the ruler protects the community from enemies and generally feeds and cares for his people. A third form of divine kingship, one practiced in Europe, is that of the ruler as mediator or executive agent of a god. In this form it is the institution of kingship, more than an individual ruler, that bears the mark of the sacred.

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