No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
No stationing of soldiers in private houses
The Third Amendment (Amendment III) to the United States Constitution places restrictions on the quartering of soldiers in private homes without the owner's consent, forbidding the practice in peacetime. The amendment is a response to Quartering Acts passed by the British parliament during the buildup to the American Revolutionary War, which had allowed the British Army to lodge soldiers in private residences.
Reference
Amendment III to the U.S. Constitution
Web Pages
A Brief History of the Third Amendment, by Jol A. Silversmith, May 2000
... the Third Amendment has proven to be one of the least-litigated sections of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has never directly reviewed the meaning of the amendment ... [It] has been cited in passing in other cases, most notably opinions arguing that there is a constitutional right to privacy ...
Articles
Benjamin Franklin: The Man Who Invented the American Dream, by Jim Powell, The Freeman, Apr 1997
Lengthy biographical essay, including a section on the posthumous publication and reaction to Franklin's Autobiography
Lengthy biographical essay, including a section on the posthumous publication and reaction to Franklin's Autobiography
Parliament tried again to assert its supremacy over the colonies. It passed a Quartering Act that empowered the British commander in America to demand lodgings for his soldiers. In June 1767, Parliament enacted new colonial taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. Franklin urged some kind of conciliation, but back in the colonies Boston patriots Samuel Adams and James Otis spurred the Massachusetts Assembly to call for renewed resistance against British policies. Public opinion radicalized after the Boston Massacre, in which British soldiers killed five Boston patriots.
The Bill of Rights: Antipathy to Militarism, by Jacob G. Hornberger, Freedom Daily, Sep 2004
After quoting the text of the Third Amendment, discusses standing armies in the historical context and in modern times
After quoting the text of the Third Amendment, discusses standing armies in the historical context and in modern times
The Third Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that "no Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law." ... William S. Fields and David T. Hardy point out in their excellent article, "The Third Amendment and the Issue of the Maintenance of Standing Armies: A Legal History" ...: "... During the seventeenth century, problems associated with the involuntary quartering of soldiers and the maintenance of standing armies became crucial issues propelling the English nation toward civil war."
The Great Writ Then and Now, by Wendy McElroy, The Freeman, Nov 2009
Chronicles the history of the writ of habeas corpus from the Magna Carta through the American Civil War to Guantanamo Bay and "enemy combatants"
Chronicles the history of the writ of habeas corpus from the Magna Carta through the American Civil War to Guantanamo Bay and "enemy combatants"
... the lawyer and parliamentarian Sir Edward Coke ... was a passionate advocate of common law ... In 1628 he helped to draft the Petition of Right, which became a foundational document of the English Constitution. The Petition detailed the specific liberties of freemen, which legally constrained the king. For example, martial law could not be declared during a time of peace ... When drafting their own documents to ensure liberty, the Founding Fathers drew heavily on his ideas. For example, the Third Amendment of the Bill of Rights derives from the Petition of Right’s ban on billeting troops.
The Third Amendment and the Issue of the Maintenance of Standing Armies: A Legal History, by William S. Fields, David T. Hardy, American Journal of Legal History, 1991
... the grievance against the involuntary quartering of soldiers was in essence an individual complaint, the ramifications of which affected specific citizens who were forced to suffer its onerous burdens. The question ... was one involving the civil rights of the individual citizen versus the power of the government.
Related Topic: Standing Army
The Third Amendment: Forgotten but Not Gone, by Tom W. Bell, William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Jul 1999
Part II ... reveals that a mystery surrounds the Third Amendment's ratification: why did Congress turn down James Madison's comprehensively worded amendment for a version that fails to specify what limits apply to quartering at times when the country is neither at peace nor officially at war?
The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "Third Amendment to the United States Constitution" as of 14 Oct 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.