In Law
"Suspicion" in Roman law meant an opinion founded on a small amount of evidence and far from certain. Trajan ruled that "no one should be condemned on the ground of suspicion alone". Medieval Roman law of evidence regarded suspicion as a low grade of proof, sufficient for making further inquiries but insufficient for making a legal decision.
In the US and Canada, the concept of suspicion is part of the legal codes. People can be arrested on suspicion of involvement in various criminal activities ranging from driving under the influence to belonging to a criminal gang. As well, in the US, the courts use the term "reasonable suspicion" in connection with the right of the police to stop people on the street. In the US, police officers cannot legally stop a person and search the person for no reason, or just because they have an inexplicable "hunch" or "bad feeling" about a person.
Before police can stop and search a person (or the person's vehicle), the police have to have "reasonable suspicion" that the person is involved in some illegal activity. A person walking down the street may be stopped and searched if they are walking unsteadily or erratically, because that behaviour suggests that the person may be intoxicated or under the influence of drugs or alcohol. A person driving a car may be stopped and searched if the car is weaving in traffic or if the driver goes through a stop sign, because this behaviour may suggest drunk driving. A person walking into a bank in the middle of summer who is wearing a heavy woolen winter coat may be stopped and searched, because officers may have a reasonable suspicion that the individual may be hiding something under his coat, such as a shotgun or rifle.
Read more about this topic: Suspicion (emotion)
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