FBI v Apple
A research resource developed by Professor Clark D. Cunningham, W. Lee Burge Chair in Law & Ethics, Georgia State University College of Law
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History: the English struggle against general warrants and to protect private papers

Donald A. Dripps, "Dearest Property": Digital Evidence and the History of Private "Papers" as Special Objects of Search and Seizure, 103 J. Criminal Law & Criminology 49 (2013).

Eric Schnapper, Unreasonable Searches and Seizures of Papers, 71 Virginia L.Rev. 869 (1985)

Huckle v Money, 95 Eng. Rep. 768 (1763)

Wilkes v. Wood, 98 Eng. Rep. 489 (1763)

Money v. Leach, 97 Eng. Rep. 1075, 1076 (1765)

Entick v Carrington Action for damages by the printer John Entick for search of private papers pursuant to general warrant issued by Lord Halifax; judgment for Entick affirmed on appeal. Opinion for the Court by Chief Justice Charles Pratt, 1st Earl of Camden ("Lord Camden")
“[E]very American statesman, during our revolutionary and formative period as a nation, was undoubtedly familiar with this monument of English freedom [i.e. Entick] and … it may be confidently asserted that its propositions were in the minds of those who framed the fourth amendment.” Boyd v U.S, 116 U.S. 524, 530 (1886).
95 Eng. Rep. 807 (1765)
"The warrant in our case was an execution in the first instance, without any previous summons, examination, hearing the plaintiff, or proof that he was the author of the supposed libels ... it was left to the discretion of these defendants to execute the warrant in the absence or presence of the plaintiff, when he might have no witness present to see what they did; for they were to seize all his papers, bank bills, or any other valuable property they might take away if they were so disposed; there might be nobody to detect them. ... [W]e can safely say there is no law in this country to justify the defendants in what they have done; if there was, it would destroy all the comforts of society; for papers are often the dearest property a man can have. ... [W]e are all of the opinion that this warrant is wholly illegal and void." Id. at 817-18.
Longer report of case at 19 Howell’s State Trials 1030 (1765)

Father of Candor, A Letter Concerning Libels, Warrants, Seizure of Papers and Sureties for the Peace of Behaviour (5th ed.) (London: J. Almon 1765)
-- Complete Pamphlet (122 pages)
-- Excerpt on seizure of Wilkes' papers, pp. 54-56