HAB 
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oy Y 
as FLABEAS CORPUS, is a writ in the English law, of 
ae there are various kinds, for removing prisoners 
_ from one court into another, for the more easy admi- 
: _ aed Tranjeiocien are the. habeas corpus ad 
Po ‘um, satisfaci , prosequendum, testifican« 
_ dum, deliberandum, &c. when a prisoner is erin 
_ from an inferior court to be charged with a new action 
in the courts above ; or when he is to be charged with 
) of execution ; or when it is necessaty to remove 
_ a prisoner in order to prosecute or bear testimony in 
any court, or to be tried in the jurisdiction wherein the 
fact of which he is accused was committed. There is 
also the common writ ad faciendum et recipiendum, other- 
wise called an habeas corpus cum causa, which issues 
out of the courts of Westminster Hall, commanding the 
inferior judge to Lagecretine na a the defendant in 
a process, together wi e and cause of his cap- 
-tion and detainer, to do and receive whatsoever he 
king’s court shall consider in that behalf. 
ut the most important writ of this kind, and the 
most efficacious for vindicating the personal liberty of 
the subject in all cases of illegal confinement, is that of 
habeas ad subjiciendum. This is a high prero- 
gative writ, and therefore, by the common law, issuing 
out of the court of King’s Bench, not only in term time, 
but also during the vacation, by a fiat from the chief 
justice, or any other of the judges, and running into all 
parts of the king’s dominions. Like all other preroga- 
tive writs, it must be applied for by motion, and does 
not issue of mere course, without shewing some pro- 
bable cause why the extraordinary power of the crown 
is called in to the assistance of the party. And this is 
more reasonable, because, when once granted, the 
to whom it is directed can return no satisfactory 
excuse for not bringing up the body of the prisoner. 
This also, it will be observed, induces an absolute ne- 
cessity of expressing, upon every commitment, the rea- 
son for which it is made ; in order that the court, upon 
an habeas corpus, may examine into its validity, and 
act according to the circumstances of the case. 
_ The law of England has always been extremely care- 
ful in asserting and preserving the personal liberty of 
individuals, which ought never to be abridged at the 
mere discretion of the magistrate, without the explicit 
permission of the laws. The great charter provides, 
that no freeman shall be taken or Sragiiecuial but by. 
the lawful judgment of his equals, or by the law of 
the land ; and many subsequent old statutes expressly 
direct, that no man shall be taken or imprisoned by 
ion or petition to the king, or his counsel, un- 
Jess it be by legal indictment, or the process of the com- 
mon law. The writ of hateas carpus affords an ample 
and effectual remedy in all cases of illegal confinement ; 
_ yet this remedy was in danger of being rendered nuga- 
‘during the early part of the reign of Charles I. 
the court of King’s Bench having determined, that they 
could not upon an habeas corpus either bail or deliver a 
prisoner, though committed without any cause assign- 
ed, in case he was committed by the special command 
of the king, or by the lords of the privy council. This 
~ illegal judgment drew ona parliamentary shes and 
produced the petition of right, 3 Car. I. which enacted, 
that no freeman shall be imprisoned or detained with- 
out cause shewn,’to which he may make answer ac- 
cording to law. The evasions of this enactment, how- 
ever, which were attempted in the following years, par« 
FOL, X. PART II. : 
601 
HAD 
ticularly in the case of Mr Selden, gave rise to the sta- 
tute 16 Car. I. c 10. § 8 wh it was provided, that 
if any person be restrained of his liberty by order or 
decree of any illegal court, or by command of the king’s 
majesty in WY vgn or by warrant of the council board, 
or of any of the privy counsel ; he shall, upon demand 
of his counsel, have a writ of habeas corpus, to bring his 
body before the court of King’s Bench or Common 
= shall Loews pees sly cpr ate his commitment 
just, and thereupon do as to justice shall appertain. 
Bue other abuses now crept inte daily practice, which 
in some measure defeated the benefit of this great con~ 
stitutional remedy ; and in the case of Jenks, who in 
1676 was committed by the king in council for a tur- 
bulent speech at Guildhall, new shifts and devices were 
made use of to prevent his enlargement by law. These 
abuses gave birth to the famous habeas corpus act, 31 
Car. IT. c. 2, which has frequently been considered as 
another ‘charta of the ki 3 and by which 
the methods of obtaining this writ are so plainly point- 
ed out and enforced, that, so | as this statute re- 
mains unimpeached, no subject of England can be long 
detained in prison, except in those cases in which the 
law requires and justifies such detainer. 
» Sometimes, when the state is in real danger, a tem-« 
porary suspension of the habeas corpus act is thought 
n ; but, fortunately, it is net left to the execu- 
tive power to determine when the danger of the state 
is so great as to render this measure expedient. For the 
Parliament only, or legislative power, whenever it sees 
proper, can authorise the crown, by suspending the 
habeas corpus act for a short and limited time, to impri- 
son suspected persons without giving any reason for so 
doing. This, howeyer, is an experiment which ought 
never to be resorted to, except in cases of extreme 
emergency. See Blackstone’s Comment. B. III. ch. 8, 
and Jacob's Law Dict. by Tomlins, in which the reader 
will also find the substance of the provisions contained 
in the habeas corpus act. (2) 
HABIT. See Morar Putrosopny, and Association 
or Ingas, vol. ii. p. 570, col. 1.. 
HACKNEY. See Mippuesex.. ~ 
HADDINGTON isa royal burgh of Scotland, and 
the county town: of East Lothian or Haddingtonshire. 
It is situated’on the small river Tyne, and consists of 
four streets which cross each other nearly at right angles, 
One of these has two branches, viz. the Fore and the 
Back Street, the first of which crosses the place of in- 
tersection. The streets are in general spacious and 
clean. The houses, particularly those in the. Fore 
Street, are neat and well built ; and in the suburbs are 
some elegant little villas, At the end of the Fore 
Street, at its junction with the Back Street; is a 
neat town house, erected from the. designs of the 
late Mr Adam. The old abbey, which contains the 
parish church, is one of the principal ornaments 
of the town. This. venerable pile was. formerly. 
the church of the Franciscan monastery, and was 
erected during the reign of Alexander Il, In Febru- 
ary 1355-6, the town and a ae along with the 
church of the, Minorites, were burned by Edward IIT. 
The parish church, which has lately been much im- 
proved and embellished, occupies the west end, and the 
rest of the building is in ruins. In the aisle, which 
forms the burying-place of the Maitland family, is a 
marble statue of the Duke of Lauderdale lying on a bed. 
46 y 
Habeas 
‘< 
Hadding- 
ton 
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