What Is the Legal Meaning of Habeas Corpus

A prisoner may file an application for habeas corpus with the sentencing court only after exhausting all remedies and petitions. Federal courts may receive a petition from a state prisoner, but only after the plaintiff has attempted all available appeals and petitions and habeas corpus petitions in state courts. Federal inmates must exhaust all remedies and petitions available to the Federal Criminal Court and Federal Courts of Appeals before filing a habeas corpus petition with the criminal court. If the first application is rejected, the detainee may appeal to the courts of appeal. In South Africa and other countries whose legal system is based on Romano-Dutch law, the Interdictum de homine libero exhibendo is the equivalent of the writ of habeas corpus. [64] In South Africa, it is enshrined in the Bill of Rights, Article 35(2)(d) of which provides that every detained person has the right to personally challenge the lawfulness of his detention before a court and, if the detention is unlawful, to be released. The writ of habeas corpus as a procedural remedy is part of the English inheritance law of Australia. [23] In 2005, the Australian Parliament passed the Australian Anti-Terrorism Act 2005. Some legal experts have questioned the constitutionality of the law, in part because of the limitations of habeas corpus law. [24] [25] [26] A writ of habeas corpus has been replaced in many states by a legal authority, often consumed by post-conviction exoneration rules governing claims and related remedies. Several States have adopted, at least in part, the so-called uniform post-conviction procedure law in order to provide a fairly consistent means of dealing with written habeas corpus applications. These sample phrases are automatically selected from various online information sources to reflect the current use of the word “habeas corpus”.

The views expressed in the examples do not represent the views of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us your feedback. In its simplest form, a writ of habeas corpus requires that a detained person be brought before a judge or court and be able to challenge this concern. The writ of habeas corpus is used to challenge an illegal or unlawful detention. The full name of the script is often used to distinguish it from similar ancient writings, also called habeas corpus. These include: A writ of habeas corpus orders a person, usually a prison guard, to bring the prisoner before him and justify his detention. If the detainee is successful that the detention violates a constitutional right, the court may order his release. Habeas corpus can also be used to obtain custody of a child or to secure the release of a detained person suffering from mental illness, drug addiction or infectious disease. Usually, however, it is a response to incarceration by the criminal justice system. The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 further limited the scope of habeas relief by providing that detainees held at Guantanamo Bay would not have access to federal courts through habeas corpus.

Instead, they have to go through military commissions and then appeal to the DC circuit court. In Boumediene v. Bush (2008), the Supreme Court expanded the territorial scope of habeas corpus, ruling that the suspension clause guaranteed the right to habeas review. Thus, foreign prisoners designated as enemy combatants detained outside the United States have the constitutional right to habeas corpus. A habeas corpus petition is a civil action against the prison guard. It is neither an appeal nor a continuation of the criminal proceedings against the prisoner. It is not used to determine guilt or innocence. Rather, it is only a question of whether the placement violates a constitutional right. This is important because it limits the scope of complaints that a petitioner can use as a basis for the request. The literal meaning of habeas corpus is “you should have the body” – that is, the judge or court should (and must) have each imprisoned person brought to trial so that the lawfulness of that person`s detention can be assessed. In U.S. law, habeas corpus ad subjiciendum (the full name of what habeas corpus generally refers to) is also referred to as “Great Scripture,” and it`s not about a person`s guilt or innocence, but whether custody of that person is legal under the U.S.

Constitution. Common grounds for habeas corpus – the “remedy” in this case is release – include a conviction based on illegally obtained evidence; denial of effective legal assistance; or a conviction by a jury that was wrongly selected and convicted. We command you that the body of A.B. be kept in our prison under your care, as it is said, with the date and reason for his capture and imprisonment, under whatever name the said A.B. may be known there, which you have in our court. to submit and receive what our Tribunal will consider and order on that behalf. It does not fail in any way, at your own risk. And then you have this scripture there. [7] The Crown of Aragon also had a remedy corresponding to habeas corpus, the manifestación de personas (literally demonstration of persons). [60] According to the law of manifestación, la Justicia de Aragon (lit. The judge of Aragon, an Aragonese judicial figure similar to an ombudsman but with extensive executive powers) requires that a judge, court or other official whom they hand over to the Justicia (i.e. that they be proven to the Justicia) be prosecuted in order to ensure the protection of that person`s rights.

and that the person would not be subjected to violence prior to conviction. [61] In addition, Justicia reserved the right to review the judgment and decide whether it met the requirements for a fair trial. If the Justicia was not satisfied, it could refuse to return the accused to the authorities. The law of the manifestación acted as habeas corpus: knowing that the call to the Justicia would immediately follow any illegal detention, these were effectively illegal. Similarly, torture (forbidden in Aragon since 1325) will never take place. [61] In some cases, people exercising their right to protest were detained under Justicia surveillance in protestación prisons (notorious for their mild and simple conditions) or under house arrest. In general, however, the person was released and placed under the protection of Justicia, where he was awaiting trial. La Justicia has always granted the right to manifestación by delay, but they only had to really act in extreme cases, such as in 1590, when Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary of Philip II. He fled Castile in Aragon and took advantage of his Aragonese domination to appeal to the Justicia to obtain the right of demonstration. This prevented his arrest at the king`s request.