1. C.J.S. Searches and Seizures §§ 113–115.]
common authority rule
common-authority rule. The principle that a person may consent to a police officer’s search of another person’s property if both persons use, control, or have access to the property. • Under this rule, the consenting person must have been legally able to permit the search in his or her own right, and the defendant must have assumed the risk that a fellow occupant might permit a search. See U.S. v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164, 171 n.7, 94 S.Ct. 988, 993 n.7 (1974). See THIRD-PARTY CONSENT. [Cases: Searches and Seizures 173.
