Jack Smith wrote:

>> Which basically seems to mean that (at least in the US) people don't
>> have a right against seizure without being (criminally) guilty of any
>> wrongdoing. 
>> 
>> Is this correct? Anybody knows how this is handled in other countries?
>> I always was under the (obviously innocent) impression that for the
>> government (any democratic government) to be able to seize anything
>> from me, I have to be guilty (beyond reasonable doubt) of /something/. 

> There are a host of matters that fall under "civil" law that can result
> in seizure. (I mean civil in the sense of not criminal, in the
> traditional British and American legal systems.) 
> 
> For example, suppose you build an new room on your house. (This is a
> true story recently covered in the local newspapers) And, suppose you
> submit the plans to the county authorities and receive the proper
> building permits. And, finally, suppose you build the new room in exact
> accordance with the plans you submitted. [...]

I can see this, and I can even agree with that. If the law says (which it
seems to) that the builder is responsible for complying with regulations,
and if the construction doesn't, it's his responsibility to make it comply.
It would be nice to have something like a "binding permit", ie. a permit
that says that this is ok no matter what, but that's just shuffling
responsibilities around. (Which then would be with the county, and any
costs from lack of compliance would be paid by the taxpayer. Not a good
solution either.)

But that's different from the police simply seizing something that is
supposedly the product of a criminal activity, without being able to show
that there in fact was any criminal activity. In my simple logic this says
that if there is no proof of criminal activity, the byproduct is also not
proven to be of a criminal activity... Seems like a double standard to me
to say that something is a product of a criminal activity without being
able to prove the criminal activity.

Gerhard

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