Habeas Corpus Act of England 1679

The Habeas Corpus Act 1679 was an Act of Parliament passed during the reign of King Charles II that helped establish the name of that session as the Habeas Corpus Parliament. It was passed in order to fully define and strengthen the ancient writ of habeas corpus, so that persons unlawfully detained cannot be ordered to be prosecuted before a court of law.


The Act is often wrongly described as the origin of the writ of habeas corpus, which had existed in England for over 300 years. The Act followed an earlier act of 1640, which established that the command of the King or the Privy Council was no answer to a petition of habeas corpus, which had greatly limited the King’s ability to manufacture crimes and punishment. Further Habeas Corpus Acts were passed by the British Parliament in 1803, 1804, 1816 and 1862, but it is the Act of 1679 which is remembered as one of the most important statutes in English constitutional history. 


Though amended, it remains on the statute book to this day.