Also known as: reasonable ground to believe · reasonable grounds for believing · reasonable belief · reasonable and probable grounds
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A standard requiring that an actor's conclusion rest on specific facts that would lead a reasonable person in the same position to reach the same conclusion.
Officers arrest Ronald Reed inside his apartment for a drug offense. They hear footsteps in a back bedroom and see a shadow move behind a partially open door. The officers conduct a brief sweep of that room and discover an armed associate hiding under the bed. The sweep is upheld because the officers possessed reasonable grounds to believe the area harbored a person posing danger.
Riverstone Manufacturing ships custom parts to Regal Apparel that deviate slightly from specifications. Regal rejects the shipment. Riverstone had previously supplied similar parts that Regal accepted after a price adjustment. Riverstone immediately notifies Regal of its intent to cure and tenders conforming parts within a further reasonable time. The cure right is available because Riverstone had reasonable grounds to believe the original tender would be acceptable with an allowance.
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Roberto Reyes faces an attacker who lunges with a knife aimed at his torso. Reyes draws a firearm and fires once, believing the attacker intends to inflict a wound that could prove fatal. The use of deadly force is privileged because Reyes held a reasonable belief that the threatened contact would cause serious bodily harm.
A teacher observes Rosa Ruiz passing a note during class and suspects it contains evidence of drug dealing. The teacher searches Ruiz's backpack and finds pills. The search is valid because the teacher had reasonable grounds to believe school rules had been violated and the search was reasonably related to its objective.
An officer watches Renee Rogers and two companions pace repeatedly in front of a jewelry store, conferring and peering inside. The officer approaches, pats down Rogers's outer clothing, and finds a concealed weapon. The frisk is justified because the officer had reasonable grounds to believe Rogers was armed and dangerous.
U.S. forces capture Renata Russo on a foreign battlefield and detain her as an enemy combatant. The government asserts that it possesses reasonable grounds to believe she took up arms against U.S. forces and poses a continuing threat. The detention authority turns on whether those grounds are supported by the record.
Reasonable grounds to believe is the functional equivalent of probable cause in many arrest and search contexts. It requires specific and articulable facts that would lead a reasonable officer to conclude a crime has been or is being committed.
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The seller must show an objective basis, often drawn from prior course of dealing or the buyer's past acceptance of similar substitutions, that supports the belief the buyer would accept the tender with or without a money allowance.
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No. The standard is objective. The actor must actually hold the belief, but the belief need only be one that a reasonable person would form from the known facts. Later discovery that the belief was mistaken does not defeat the privilege or right.
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School officials need only a moderate chance of finding evidence of wrongdoing. The search must be reasonably related to its objectives and not excessively intrusive given the student's age, sex, and the nature of the infraction.
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…. . . "279. The 'bodily injury' exception could not be invoked by a married woman whose husband, if notified, would, in her reasonable belief, threaten to (a) publicize her intent to have an abortion to family, friends or acquaintances; (b) retaliate against her in future child custody or divorce proceedings; (c) inflict…