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Habeas Corpus Act 1679

1679

An English statute strengthening the right not to be imprisoned unlawfully, built on the principle found in Magna Carta's clause 39.

This later statute shows how lawyers used Magna Carta's clause 39 to justify stronger protections against unlawful imprisonment.

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What it is

The Habeas Corpus Act 1679 was passed by the Parliament of England during the reign of Charles II. It strengthened the ancient writ of habeas corpus, requiring courts to examine whether a prisoner's detention was lawful, and punished jailers who tried to evade this. It was pushed through Parliament with support from the Earl of Shaftesbury, and remains, in amended form, part of English law.

Why it matters

Seventeenth-century lawyers read the Habeas Corpus Act as giving real legal teeth to clause 39 of Magna Carta, which said no free man should be imprisoned except by lawful judgment. The act shows how a medieval charter could be reinterpreted centuries later to answer new political struggles, such as fears that Charles II's brother James might rule arbitrarily.

Look closer

  • Why might lawyers want to connect a new law to an old document like Magna Carta?
  • What problem with imprisonment was this act trying to solve?
  • Who benefited from this law, and who might have been left out?

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