Habeas Corpus Definition

hābē-əs
noun
A writ that a person may seek from a court to obtain immediate release from an unlawful confinement, as when the confinement has occurred through a means that violated the person's constitutional rights.
American Heritage
Any of various writs ordering a person to be brought before a court; specif., a writ requiring that a detained person be brought before a court to decide the legality of the detention or imprisonment.
Webster's New World
In criminal procedure, a process to challenge the detention of a prisoner; frequently used as a way to attack a conviction in federal court when state appeals have been exhausted.
Webster's New World Law

(law) A writ to bring a person before a court or a judge, most frequently used to ensure that a person's imprisonment, detention, or commitment is legal.

Wiktionary
Synonyms:
  • writ of habeas corpus
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Other Word Forms of Habeas Corpus

Noun

Singular:
habeas corpus
Plural:
habeas corpora, habeas corpuses

Origin of Habeas Corpus

  • Middle English from Medieval Latin habeās corpus produce the body (from the opening words of the writ) Latin habeās second person sing. present subjunctive of habēre to have Latin corpus body

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Latin habeas corpus ad subjiciendum (“You (shall) have the body to be subjected to (examination)”), referring to the body of the person being detained (not the body of a victim, as in corpus delicti).

    From Wiktionary

Habeas Corpus Sentence Examples

  • Thus habeas corpus ad respondendum is used to bring up a prisoner confined by the process of an inferior court in order to charge him in another proceeding (civil or criminal) in the superior court or some other court.

  • The repressive measures of 1795 and1799 were now revived and extended, and Repressive a bill suspending the Habeas Corpus Act for a year a was passed through both Houses by a large majority, On.

  • At the beginning of 1866 Lord Russells government thought itself compelled to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act In Ireland; and in 1867 Lord Derbys government was confronted in the spring by a plot to seize Chester Castle, and in the autumn by an attack on a prison van at Manchester containing Fenian prisoners, and by an atrocious attempt to blow up Clerkenwell prison.

  • There are various forms of the writ, of which the most famous is that known as habeas corpus ad subjiciendum, the well-established remedy for violation of personal liberty.

  • A judge delaying habeas corpus forfeits £500 to the party aggrieved.

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Words Starting With

HHAHAB

Words Ending With

SUSPUS

Unscrambles

habeas corpus

Words Starting With H and Ending With S

Starts With H & Ends With SStarts With HA & Ends With SStarts With H & Ends With US

Word Length

13 Letter Words13 Letter Words Starting With H13 Letter Words Ending With S