Can the police (California) confiscate an expired driver's license on the spot?

[Daniel Webster]

Can the police (California CHP) confiscate an expired driver's license on
the spot?

I was driving with an expired driver's license, which had expired on my
birthday while I was waiting for a new one to arrive. While I had paid a
bit late for my renewal, I was totally legal, with the exception that I
didn't have the new license yet, so, I understand (and agree with) the
ticket that I got for not being able to produce a valid license (in
addition to the speeding ticket).

My question is not about that.

My question is whether or not the patrol woman could legally *confiscate*
my expired license? She took it, but, I feel it's my property, and that
she had no right to take it.

Does she have a right to confiscate my expired license without any legal
paperwork whatsoever (I didn't even get a receipt for it)?

[Stuart A. Bronstein]

Daniel Webster <dan...@webster.com> wrote:

> Can the police (California CHP) confiscate an expired driver's
> license on the spot?
>
> I was driving with an expired driver's license, which had
> expired on my birthday while I was waiting for a new one to
> arrive. While I had paid a bit late for my renewal, I was
> totally legal, with the exception that I didn't have the new
> license yet, so, I understand (and agree with) the ticket that I
> got for not being able to produce a valid license (in addition
> to the speeding ticket).

The DMV should have given you a temporary license. They probably
shouldn't have taken the license away if you had that, because it
had the same information but also your photo.

> My question is not about that.
>
> My question is whether or not the patrol woman could legally
> *confiscate* my expired license? She took it, but, I feel it's
> my property, and that she had no right to take it.

I have not looked this up, but my guess is that it is considered
the state's property, and it is given to you as proof of your being
allowed to drive.

> Does she have a right to confiscate my expired license without
> any legal paperwork whatsoever (I didn't even get a receipt for
> it)?

I wouldn't be surprised. But you should have gotten a receipt for
it if you had asked.

Call her supervisor, or your state senator or representative to
look into this.

--
Stu
http://DownToEarthLawyer.com

[Gordon Burditt]

> Can the police (California CHP) confiscate an expired driver's license on
> the spot?
>
> I was driving with an expired driver's license, which had expired on my
> birthday while I was waiting for a new one to arrive. While I had paid a
> bit late for my renewal, I was totally legal, with the exception that I
> didn't have the new license yet, so, I understand (and agree with) the
> ticket that I got for not being able to produce a valid license (in
> addition to the speeding ticket).

In Texas, you get a paper when you renew your license, which serves
as a temporary license for a limited period of time (maybe 30 days)
until the official new one arrives. The last one even made an
attempt to put my picture on it (in black & white laser printer).
They told me that I was supposed to carry that along with the old
license (which may or may not have expired yet, depending on how
close to your birthday you renewed and how fast they are at getting
new licenses out) until I got the new one. This is a potential
issue for *any* renewal, even on-time ones, since they let you renew
more than 30 days in advance, and it may take 30 days to get the
new license to you (although I seem to recall that the actual time
was more like 2 weeks last renewal).

> My question is not about that.

> My question is whether or not the patrol woman could legally *confiscate*
> my expired license? She took it, but, I feel it's my property, and that
> she had no right to take it.

In Texas, they say you are not allowed to possess more than one
license at a time. How this interacts with "an expired license is
not a license at all", I'm not sure. It may be that having a
collection of decades-old long-expired licenses is, in fact, illegal,
and as such they can probably confiscate them on sight. If you
have such a collection, don't carry it in your wallet.

Presumably they would not confiscate a recently-expired license if
you had the addendum that said you had renewed it. That seems to
be their way of handling last-minute (and presumably a-little-bit-late
also) renewals.

> Does she have a right to confiscate my expired license without any legal
> paperwork whatsoever (I didn't even get a receipt for it)?

Did you get a receipt for your *RENEWAL*?

Maybe. She might have had *more* right to confiscate it if you'd
also had a current license with you, since you have two licenses
in your possession.

[John Levine]

>My question is whether or not the patrol woman could legally *confiscate*
>my expired license? She took it, but, I feel it's my property, and that
>she had no right to take it.

I think you will find that the state claims it owns all the licenses,
and it's just lending them to you.

I'd be interested to hear if there's any case law about this. Seems
pretty arcane.

--
Regards,
John Levine, jo...@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. http://jl.ly

[Stuart A. Bronstein]

John Levine <jo...@iecc.com> wrote:

>>My question is whether or not the patrol woman could legally
>>*confiscate* my expired license? She took it, but, I feel it's
>>my property, and that she had no right to take it.
>
> I think you will find that the state claims it owns all the
> licenses, and it's just lending them to you.

That's my understanding of California law.

> I'd be interested to hear if there's any case law about this.
> Seems pretty arcane.

I was unable to find any case law in California on this point, after
a brief search.

--
Stu
http://DownToEarthLawyer.com