‘Let The Body Be Brought….’

Habeas Corpus, the law which in Britain, the USA and many other English-speaking countries guarantees that nobody can be held in prison without trial, was passed because of a wild party. The party was held in 1621 at the London home of a notoriously rowdy lady called Alice Robinson. When a constable called to complain about the noise, Alice allegedly swore at him so violently that he arrested her, and a local Justice of the Peace committed her to the Clerkenwell House of Correction. When Alice was finally brought to the trial at the Old Bailey, her story of her treatment in prison caused an outcry. She had been put on a punishment diet of black bread and water, forced to sleep on the bare earth, stripped and given 50 lashes: treatment that was barbaric even by the harsh standards of the time. What made it worse was that she was pregnant. Public anger was so great that she was acquitted, the constable who had arrested her without a warrant was sent to Newgate Prison, and the JP was severely reprimanded. In addition, her case, along with other similar cases, led directly to the passing of the Habeas Corpus Act in 1679. The Act is still on the statute books today and a version of it is still used in the USA. Indeed, the founders of the USA regarded the law as such an important guarantee of liberty that Article 1 of the US Constitution declares that it shall not be suspended except in cases of ‘rebellion or invasion’. Habeas Corpus is part of a Latin phrase - “Habeas Corpus ad subjiciendum” - which means “Let the body be brought before the judge”. In effect, a writ of Habeas Corpus is an order in the name of the Sovereign to produce an imprisoned person in court at once.