Also known as: manacles · manacled · manacling · handcuffs · shackles · restraints
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A metal device consisting of a pair of cuffs connected by a chain or bar that is fastened around a person's wrists to limit freedom of movement.
Federal agents investigating leaks of troop movements place manacles on journalist Mason McCarthy at his home before questioning him about planned publication. The agents later release him after determining no immediate national security harm justified continued restraint. Mason later sues, claiming the manacles imposed an unconstitutional prior restraint.
Trust beneficiary Maria Morales attempts to sell her interest in a fiber-optic LLC but discovers the instrument subjects the sale to a right of first refusal. When the designated buyer exercises the right, Maria is placed in manacles by security during the tense closing meeting to prevent interference. The court upholds the reasonable terms of the right of first refusal and finds the brief manacles incidental to enforcing the valid preemptive provision.
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Federal narcotics agents enter Malcolm McKinley's apartment without a warrant and place him in manacles in front of his family during the search and arrest. McKinley later brings a Bivens action seeking damages for the unconstitutional seizure. The manacles form part of the evidence showing the agents exceeded their authority.
State officials place protest leader Musa Mensah in manacles outside an abortion clinic to prevent him from approaching patients during a demonstration. Mensah challenges the manacles as an unconstitutional restriction on speech and liberty. The court examines whether the restraint was narrowly tailored to protect access rights.
City inspectors place homeowner Monica Morgan in manacles after she refuses to remove an adult grandchild from her home in violation of a single-family zoning ordinance. Morgan challenges the manacles as an arbitrary interference with family living arrangements. The court weighs the restraint against substantive due process protections for extended family residence.
State labor inspectors place bakery owner Miguel Mendoza in manacles during a raid enforcing maximum-hour laws for bakers. Mendoza challenges the manacles as part of an unconstitutional interference with freedom of contract. The court assesses whether the physical restraint exceeded the state's police power under the Fourteenth Amendment.
No. Confinement can be accomplished by physical barriers, threats of force, or assertions of authority that cause a reasonable person to believe they must remain. The absence of manacles does not defeat the element when other means effectively restrain movement.
The Due Process Clause forbids visible manacles during the guilt or penalty phases of a capital trial unless the court makes a particularized finding that they are justified by essential state interests such as courtroom security or preventing escape.
Transporting a person from home to a crime scene and then to the station house in manacles, without a warrant or probable cause, constitutes an arrest. Mere verbal acquiescence under coercive circumstances does not convert the encounter into a voluntary or non-custodial detention.
…is a rational continuum which, broadly speaking, includes a freedom from all substantial arbitrary impositions and purposeless restraints . . . and which also recognizes, what a reasonable and sensitive judgment must, that certain interests require particularly careful scrutiny of the state needs asserted to justify their…