Habeas Corpus

(ha'be-as körpüs.) [ L., you may take the body.] (Law.) A writ directed by courts of law or equity to produce the body of a person illegally detained, and to state the reasons of such detention, so that the court may judge of their sufficiency. The true foundation of this writ, one of the chief safeguards of English and American liberty, is to be found in the Great Charter, or Magna Charta (see CHARTER). By the Constitution of the U. States, the privilege of this writ is secured at all times, except in cases of rebellion or invasion, when the public safety may require its suspension. It is the imperative duty of the judge to order the complainant to be immediately brought before him, unle his case plainly comes within one of the exceptions pointed out by the law. The party being thus brought up, the judge determines whether he is entitled to be discharged, absolutely, or to be discharged on giving a certain bail, or must be remanded to prison. If the imprisonment is wholly unauthorized, the complainant is discharged; if it be not unauthorized, but is yet for a cause in which the party is entitled to be discharged on giving bail, the judge orders accordingly.H. C. is also the formal commencement of several other writs of a kindred nature to that above mentioned. Thus, the H. C. ad respondendum is a writ i ued by a common-law court to bring up a prisoner to serve him with a writ in another action. [s. 433]