The Habeas Corpus Act of 1867 (sess. ii, chap. 28, ) is an act of Congress that significantly expanded the

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...

of federal courts to issue writs of

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

. Passed February 5, 1867, the Act amended the Judiciary Act of 1789 to grant the courts the power to issue writs of habeas corpus "in all cases where any person may be restrained of his or her liberty in violation of the constitution, or any treaty or law of the United States."''An Act to amend "An Act to establish the judicial Courts of the United States," approved September twenty-fourth, seventeen hundred and eighty-nine,"'' sess. ii, chap. 28, (1867). Prior to the Act's passage, prisoners in the custody of one of the states who wished to challenge the legality of their detention could petition for a writ of habeas corpus only in state courts; the federal court system was barred from issuing writs of habeas corpus in their cases. The Act also permitted the court "to go beyond the return" and question the truth of the jailer's stated justification for detaining the petitioning prisoner, whereas prior to the Act courts were technically bound to accept the jailer's word that the prisoner was actually being held for the reason stated. The Act largely restored habeas corpus following its 1863 suspension by Congress, ensuring that anyone arrested after its passage could challenge their detention in the federal courts, but denied habeas relief to anyone who was already in military custody for any military offense or for having aided the Confederacy. Another feature of the 1867 Act is that it extended the reach of habeas to include interpersonal detention as well as official detainment:

"in addition to the authority already conferred, S Courts, and judges and justices thereinshall have power to grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases where any person may be restrained of his or her liberty in violation of the constitution, or of any treaty or law of the United States; and it shall be lawful for such person so restrained of his or her liberty to apply to either of said justices or judges for a writ of habeas corpus...and shall set forth the facts concerning the detention of the party applying, in whose custody he or she is detained, and by virtue of what claim or authority, if known..."

Although some states already had statutes applying habeas to interpersonal as well as official confinement, such as in the case of Missouri's

freedom suit Freedom suits were lawsuits in the Thirteen Colonies and the United States filed by slaves against slaveholders to assert claims to freedom, often based on descent from a free maternal ancestor, or time held as a resident in a free state or ter ...

provision, this federal expansion of habeas allowed petitioners in states that had not already done so to use habeas to challenge confinement contrary to the constitution, particularly in the case of coercive labor contracts that closely resembled enslavement. When the Habeas Corpus Act of 1867 is spoken of, it is usually this act that is meant. Another act dealing with habeas corpus was passed the same day and appears on the same page of the

United States Statutes at Large The ''United States Statutes at Large'', commonly referred to as the ''Statutes at Large'' and abbreviated Stat., are an official record of Acts of Congress and concurrent resolutions passed by the United States Congress. Each act and resolut ...

, being the twenty-seventh rather than the twenty-eighth chapter. It amended the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act of 1863, which permitted (among other things) government officials charged with abusing their powers under the suspension of habeas corpus to have their cases heard at the federal rather than state level.''An Act related to Habeas Corpus, and regulating judicial Proceedings in certain Cases,'' sess. iii, chap. 81, (1863). The 1867 Act ensured that the federal courts could effectively hear the cases transferred to them by issuing a writ for habeas corpus cum causa.''An Act amendatory of "An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act relating to Habeas Corpus, and regulating judicial Proceedings in certain Cases,'" approved May eleventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-six,'' sess. ii, chap. 27, (1867). This act actually amended an amendment to the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, sess. i, chap. 80, (1866).

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