Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1864-08-31
,un r,,n,n Carolina STANDARDS. "WEDNESDAY. AGtt

as the expressions complained of were on account |
Of criminal or supposed criminal nsatters" as is
recited in the preamble Of the Statute Of Charles
that act relates solely to the writ Of Gd eissm,
in favor of prisoners confined On such account
The cases Of Illegal confinement arisng out Of the
domestic and other civil relations Of Life not being
occasions for temptations to royal oppression, were
either 70 few, or otherwise so easily redressed BY
ordinary actions Of law, or by application to The
Ecclesiastical Courts or Courts Of Chancery by the
writ de honins replgiando, that no real grievance
was felt - to them. The people Of England con-
sidered themselves amply protected against unjust
Imprisonment, after they had transferred the keys
Of the Jail from the King to the Judges. The Amer.
lean colonies springng into being about this time
had almost from their settlement, been accustomed
to enjoy the protection afforded BY the Statute Of
after the revolution and before the adoption Of the
Federal Constitution. The Statute was regarded
as in full force in this State for more than sixty
years before the revolution. Rev. Stat. Oh. 55.
Rev. Code Of 1920, Oh. 8; 8, 3-ih p 80.
When, therefore, the trainers of the Federal Con-
stituon assembled for their labor In 1857, they must
have been well acquainted with the act of 81 Charles
and were, doubtless, with the previous English his.
tory which related to the act Having inangurated
the revolution upon the basis Of protecting the
rights of Englishmen in America it was natural to
expect that their constitutions would embrace, as
far as practicable the true principles Of the govern
ment from which they had just separated. This
was DONE. They were aware of the security afford.
ed by the habeas corpus acts Of Charles; and they
were also aware that that act, certain vital por
tons Of it. had been temporarily annulled in Eng:
land. But as the Federal government could not be
formed until after the adoption OF the Constitution
and there could be act of Congress till after the
adoption the language comforting the power TO sus-
pend the writ Of necessity obliged to be differ
ent from what it would have been, had the sub
stance Of the act of Charles, or the portion Of it
which fad been suspended in England, been incor.
porated in the Constitution. 1t would not have
conveyed the proper idea, if the language had been
1.-THE writ Of ha6eas corpus shall not be suspended,
unless, &c. for therewere many wfits Of that name;
and the power SO expressed bad embraced them all.
Nor would the proper idea have been conveyed if
the language had been, 1.-The act securing the writ
Of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless"
&c. for there was no such act Of the government.
The best understood term that could be employed
WAS privilege-the privilege Of the writ Of Aa6eas
corpus-for that was well understood 1t had been
the subject of too much national struggle, aad de.
fined too often in the blood of reemen to be forgotten
or Of uncertain meaning in the minds of those who
had batled for seven years to preserve the priv:
legc secured by the writ 1t was prioilegium in-
deed, and intended fora class-the class Of the
helpless, the Imprisoned whose complaints were un-
needed under accusations of crime real or supposed
The suspension or temporary annulment Of the 3sG-
6eas corpus act had often times occurred in Eng
land: Nine times, said Lord Mansfield, in the d..
bate on the bill to suspend it in the rebellion Of
l745. q Camp. Lives Of Oh. Justices Of England
SOS) The suspension then enacted made the tenth.
The next was in TIT, then in 1874. Now, the
causes, tho times the modes and the eztsnt of these
suspensions we're familiar to the trainers of the Con-
st. tuition. The causes were c0nspiracies, or at.
tenpts real or supposed to overthrow the existing
government the times were those of rebellion or
invasion; the mode affected the due process of Law,
the act of Charles 2, and magma chartG and the
extent went far beyond the simple privilege of the
writ of hadeas eo,pus
In England the causes had been uniform, and the
suspension affected only those who were regarded
as CRIMINALS of the deepest dye Every act, popu-
ls:y called act suspeudng the ha6eas corpus act
beginning in 1858, with the first year Of ". s NJ,
and running through the stormy times which be-
gan with the abandonment of the throne by james
H. and the introduction of the new line of W. NJ,
and ended only with the extinction of the male is
sue Of James, embracing period of - years and
eleven acts of suspension is of the character.
The titles are nearly the same and those only were
deprived of The benefit Of the act who were couspr-
ing or supposed to be conspirng against the Kings
person and government, and charged with i" trea-
son, suspicion Of treason Or reasonable practices.
Every cotemporary with the formation of the
Constitution, who has left his opinions upon the
character OF the causes for which suspension was
allowed by the Constitution, and every statesman,
every jurst, who has lived since and written on the
subject al concur in the opinion, that although
the writ might issue for any person illegally eonn
ed, yet the suspension of its privilege could affect
only those who were imprisoned, and imprisoned
for crime. Thus, Judge Story, 2 CON- on Const
1915, ct seQ, after declaring that the writ ad subj
eisndum, at common law "is applied to every case
of illegal restraint whatever it may be-" SAYS that
Statute 81 ch has been incorporated into the jur
isprudence OF every State in the Union and the
10 1t has been secured in most if not in all of the
State Constitutions, by provision similar to that
existing in the Constitution of the United States
Judge Story clearly connects the privilege of thu
writ as secured by the Constitution, with that Sc
cured by the Aa6eas corpus act of Charles. THAI
act is confined to criminal or supposed criminal
matters. See preamble and the act at large, Hurd
6a5. In 1912, the learned commentator says
at is obvious, that cases of peculiar emergency
may arise, which may justify nay, even require tn,
temporary suspension Of any right to the writ Ba
as 1t has frequently happened Ill foreign countries
and even in England that the writ has upon various
| pretexts and occasions been suspended, whereof,
persons apprehended upon suspicion have suffered
long Imprisonment sometimes from design, an,
sometimes because they were forgotten, the RICH
to suspend it is expressly confined to cases of re
beiion or invasion, when the public safety may re
qYire it. A very just and wholesome restraint
which cuts down at blow fruitful means of on
preston, capable of being abused in bad times L
| the worst purposes"-
| The whole and every part of the paragraph look
only to suspension for crime. The causes of sus
pension allowed by the Constitution, and thos
recognized as adequate 10 England, are treated q
the same and the evils likely to- flow, the same, t
wit that innocent persons apprehended on suspicion
is treated as the uniform result of suspension. an
the imprisonment is for crime, actual or upon sus