_The Fourth Amendment_ declares among other things that no warrant for arrest (by the federal authorities) shall be issued except upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the person to be seized. This provision is designed to prevent arbitrary arrests of persons on mere suspicion. It prohibits general search warrants such as were commonly used by the British authorities in the colonies prior to the outbreak of the Revolution and which were popularly known as "writs of assistance." Such warrants did not mention the name of the person to be arrested but permitted the officer to insert any name in the warrant and arrest whomsoever he might choose. _The Eighth Amendment_ declares that excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. The purpose of the first provision is discussed on p. 119. The purpose of the other two prohibitions is to prevent the old severities of the penal code that were common two hundred years ago. _Treason._--Among the crimes in the prosecution of which judges were frequently arbitrary and which were punished with undue severity, was that of treason. Treason has always been regarded as the highest crime known to society, because it seeks the overthrow or destruction of the government itself. In earlier times, judges frequently construed offenses to be treasonable which were not declared so by the laws. This was known as _constructive_ treason. To prevent them from construing the existence of treason where it really did not exist, parliament therefore passed a statute during the reign of Edward III defining the offense with more or less precision, and this definition in substance was incorporated in the Constitution of the United States, This provision declares that treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. The Supreme Court in interpreting this provision has ruled that in order to constitute treason there must be an actual levying of war or an assembling of persons for the purpose of making war; that a mere conspiracy to subvert the government by force is not treason, but after the war has once begun, all those who perform any part, however minute or remote, or who give aid and comfort to the enemy, are traitors and as such are liable to the penalties of treason. To protect persons accused of treason against conviction upon the testimony of a single witness, the Constitution requires the testimony of two witnesses to the act, or confession in open court, to convict. Congress is authorized to prescribe the punishment of treason, but the Constitution declares that no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted. Under the old law, a person convicted of treason was not only put to death in a barbarous manner, but his blood, was considered as