Habeas Corpus Act
May 27, 1679
The English Parliament passed a law forbidding imprisonment without a speedy opportunity to appear before a court. The principle was ancient; the procedure was new and enforceable. Habeas corpus would become the single most famous English legal protection against arbitrary detention and would migrate wherever English common law traveled, from Philadelphia to Calcutta to Sydney, shielding the liberty of millions.
In context
Also in 1679 (3 other events on record)
- Aurangzeb Abolishes the Jizya Reimposition Debate · South Asia · Religion
- Plague Devastates Vienna · Europe · Disaster
- Treaty of Nijmegen · Europe · Politics
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Politics
Era
Enlightenment (1651–1800), one of 696 events from that era on Saeculum.