householdThereWhichever,
Probable cause is a requirement found in the Fourth Amendment that must usually be met before the police make an arrest, conduct a search, or receive a warrant.
“Probable cause” is a legal standard applied to the police and prosecutors; individual citizens don’t “get” probable cause.
Police must demonstrate sufficient probable cause to believe that there is evidence of a crime to obtain a search warrant or an arrest warrant.
Prosecutors must demonstrate sufficient probable cause as to every element of a charged crime to proceed with filing charges and beginning the trial process.
There is no clear legal definition of what constitutes “probable cause” — it’s somewhere between suspicion and proof. The closest you’ll come is the 1949 case Brinegar v. the United States in which the Supreme Court described it thus:
“…where the facts and circumstances within the officers' knowledge, and of which they have reasonably trustworthy information, are sufficient in themselves to warrant a belief by a man of reasonable caution that a crime is being committed.”
Please imagine a situation when someone very healthy falls ill all of a sudden and the reason is not immediately known. You take that person to a doctor and the doctor will ask you to identify the root cause of the illness, generally as under:
type of food the person ate recently
what liquids he/she consumed
whether he/she traveled recently and had food from outside,
whether affected by climate change,
whether any drastic change in his/her daily routine etc.
any other likely change in his/her work schedule
The above list could be the probable causes from which the doctor can identify the root cause for the illness.
II. Similarly, when an inexplicable accident happens(the driver cannot find out the cause), several questions like the following may be asked:
was there break failure
did one of the tires burst
was the driver distracted by someone(suddenly crossing the road etc.)
did the driver doze off(sleep for a while)
The above can be considered as the probable causes, to arrive at the root cause of the accident.
This is cause and this is the effect is a highly scientific approach and it is hardly possible in less than 1% of our day-to-day life despite our 99% dependence on only science-originated things. It is a decision without measurements, proper logic errors, etc., we are forced to land in probability and possibility. Maximum experience is in medical decisions, especially in new upcoming nuisance topics like a corona. Only probable cause is guessed. There is nothing when a patient comes with corona. Whichever is the cause treat him with your best tools as a doctor? Those who work in huge projects of prevention, curtailing, “stop-the-spread” projects will break their heads.
A simple example from a household happening. The jewel kept on a chair just temporarily is missing. 1. Somebody should have kept it safely 2. Somebody should have pocketed it on a non-returnable basis 3. The servants should have taken full benefit of our negligence and we should start searching for what more is stolen 4. The jeweler whom we told that we have some repair work should have come and taken it for repair, we telephone and find out. 5. Government announced gold control when Morarji was P.M. Some excise officer should have read it now, noticed our careless and taken it.
Which out of these is most probable?
Nothing! The jewel was under the cushion of the chair.
Two servants were dismissed forever. There is no excise department connection with that jewel. Nobody can keep it more safely than what the jewel can keep its good self. That jeweler has left the city two years ago.
All guesswork done is included in only probable causes, many cause foolish. Some are probable. But the actual happening has not chosen that. It is the house that has chosen those causes. The scientific or guess ability of the house is clear to them at least.
Probable cause is a guesswork cause that may be or may not be tallying with the truth. The correct guess is 100% probable!
The jewel missing cause is 0% probable!