Habeas Corpus Act 1679

27 May 1679

The Habeas Corpus Act received royal assent from Charles II on 27 May 1679 and became law. Its full title was 'An Act for the better secureing the Liberty of the Subject and for Prevention of Imprisonments beyond the Seas.'

Charles prorogued Parliament immediately afterwards — a prorogation, not an adjournment. It never met again before being dissolved on 12 July 1679.

The abuse it named

The Act's own preamble answered sheriffs and gaolers who delayed returns to habeas-corpus writs and used procedural shifts to keep legally bailable subjects imprisoned.

It set deadlines for producing prisoners and stating the causes of detention, provided access to judges outside ordinary court terms, penalized noncompliant officials, and restricted moving prisoners between gaols or beyond the seas to evade review.

The tariff

Deadlines ran by distance: three days if the prisoner was held within 20 miles, ten days beyond 20 and up to 100, twenty days beyond 100.

A gaoler's first failure to obey or produce the warrant cost £100 payable to the prisoner or injured party; a second cost £200 and disqualification from office. Knowingly recommitting someone discharged on habeas corpus for the same offence cost £500.

None of this invented habeas corpus. The writ and earlier statutory protections already existed; the Act made the remedy faster and harder for officials to evade.