Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- 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.
- noun The right of a person to obtain such a writ.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In law, a writ issued by a judge or court, requiring the body of a person to be brought before the judge or into the court; specifically, such a writ (entitled in full habeas corpus subjiciendum) requiring the body of a person restrained of liberty to be brought before the judge or into court, that the lawfulness of the restraint may be investigated and determined.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- (Law) A writ having for its object to bring a party before a court or judge; especially, one to inquire into the cause of a person's imprisonment or detention by another, with the view to protect the right to personal liberty; also, one to bring a prisoner into court to testify in a pending trial.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun law A
writ to bring a person before acourt or ajudge , most frequently used to ensure that a person'simprisonment ,detention , or commitment islegal .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a writ ordering a prisoner to be brought before a judge
- noun the civil right to obtain a writ of habeas corpus as protection against illegal imprisonment
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[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 Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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).
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Examples
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sionnach commented on the word habeas corpus
Monk's pet pig in the Doc Savage adventures.
August 1, 2008