Meaning & use
habeas corpus
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Meanings
noununcountablelegal
A court order requiring the authorities to bring a detained person before a judge so the court can decide whether the imprisonment is lawful.
Grammar: Usually has no article or plural: she filed for habeas corpus, not 'a habeas corpus'.
Patterns
- petition for habeas corpus
- habeas corpus rights
The lawyer asked the court for habeas corpus after her client was held for weeks without a charge.
Judges used habeas corpus to force the prison to explain why the man was still locked up.
Many constitutions protect habeas corpus as a basic safeguard against arbitrary arrest.
noununcountablelegalfigurative
The general legal principle that nobody may be kept in custody without lawful reason, often discussed as a basic civil liberty.
Grammar: Often the subject of political debate: suspending habeas corpus.
Patterns
- suspend habeas corpus
- the right of habeas corpus
Critics said the new law quietly weakened habeas corpus.
In history class we studied the moment when the government suspended habeas corpus during a crisis.
Common combinations
- writ of habeas corpus
- The prisoner's family applied for a writ of habeas corpus.
- file a habeas corpus petition
- His attorney filed a habeas corpus petition on Monday.
- suspend habeas corpus
- The president threatened to suspend habeas corpus during the emergency.
- habeas corpus rights
- Detainees argued that their habeas corpus rights had been ignored.
- deny habeas corpus
- The court refused to deny habeas corpus to anyone held without trial.
Synonyms and how they differ
- writ
- A writ is any formal court order, so it is much broader than habeas corpus, which is one specific kind aimed at unlawful detention.
- warrant
- A warrant authorizes police to arrest or search, whereas habeas corpus challenges a detention that already exists.
- subpoena
- A subpoena orders someone to appear or hand over evidence, not to release or produce a prisoner.
Word family
Commonly confused: habeas corpus or corpse?
habeas corpus vs corpse
A corpse is a dead body. Corpus is a Latin word with a different spelling and pronunciation, and habeas corpus has nothing to do with the dead.
Practice
A lawyer wants a judge to force the police to explain why her client is still in custody. She should ask for ____.
Choose one answer.
Habeas corpus requires the authorities to justify a detention before a court. A subpoena orders someone to testify or produce evidence, so it does not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “habeas corpus”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.