Friday, November 1, 2013

Braswell v. United States case brief

Braswell v. United States case brief summary
487 U.S. 99 (1968)

CASE SYNOPSIS
Certiorari was issued to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to determine whether petitioner's motion to quash a subpoena for corporations' records was properly denied on the ground that, as custodian of the corporate documents, he had no act of production privilege under U.S. Const. amend. V.

CASE FACTS
Petitioner filed a motion to quash a subpoena issued by a federal grand jury requiring him to produce the books and records of two corporations. Petitioner argued that the act of producing the records would incriminate him in violation of his privilege under U.S. Const. amend. V.

DISCUSSION
  • The court affirmed the decision of the appellate court and held that petitioner could not resist the subpoena for corporate documents on the ground that the act of production might tend to incriminate him. 
  • The court noted that, under the doctrine of the collective entity rule, corporations and other collective entities were treated differently from individuals for purposes of U.S. Const. amend. V. 
  • The court explained that petitioner, as custodian of corporate or entity records, held those documents in a representative rather than a personal capacity. 
  • The court stated that petitioner's assumption of his representative capacity led to obligation to produce the corporate records on proper demand by the Government. 
  • The court ruled that the claim of privilege under U.S. Const. amend. V, asserted by petitioner, was tantamount to a claim of privilege by the corporation, which possessed no such privilege.

OUTCOME

The court affirmed the judgment of the appellate court denying petitioner's motion to quash a subpoena for corporations' records where petitioner could not resist the subpoena for corporate documents on the ground that the act of production might incriminate him in violation of his Fifth Amendment privilege.

Recommended Supplements for Administrative Law Examples & Explanations: Administrative Law, Fourth Edition
Administrative Law and Process: In a Nutshell (Nutshell Series)

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