Cases
Habeas petitions described a broad range of carceral, institutional, and interpersonal confinement over the long nineteenth century, including those used to demand due process, resist enslavement, challenge child removal and reservation confinement, avoid deportation, present child custody claims and protest child marriage, and to challenge institutionalization and detention in private and state institutions. As a legal mechanism borrowed from British common law and guaranteed as a civil right in US federal and state constitutions, habeas provides a lens on a diverse community of legal actors.
Our encoding practice allows us to identify petitions in these three categories and to indicate where those categories overlap. In addition to these three general categories, our team has identified the specific carceral charge being challenged as well as the particular forms of institutional and interpersonal confinements being questioned.
You may also browse or search petitions by location and/or jurisdiction to learn more about the myriad complaints petitioners brought before judges in Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, and Washington between 1812 and 1924. Each case entry includes a full citation, a summary, links to people with a role in the case, a list of other people named, and any sites of significance. Visitors wanting access to full case files can contact the cited repository for information about obtaining copies. Those without institutional affiliations may request image scans from Dr. Jagodinsky directly. The Glossary defines the attributes used to structure data from the habeas petitions. The Code Book explains the relational structure of the data and functionality of the database website.
Featured story: The Habeas Corpus and Divorce Proceedings of Katie Mayes
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- Sec 583 of NE Criminal Code 1
- Sec 585 of NE Criminal Code 1
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- Holcomb, Silas A. (governer of Nebraska) 1
- Holloway, George M. (Clerk) 1
16 results
Download JSON Download CSVIn the matter of the application of George M. Bigelow for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: February 17, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: forcible defilement
- Petition outcome: Writ allowed
- Fate of bound party: Released from custody
In the matter of the re-application of George M. Bigelow for a writ of habeas corpus
- Earliest record date: February 24, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: forcible defilement
- Petition outcome: Unknown
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In the Matter of the Application of Charles W. Nordstrom for a Writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: February 20, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: first degree murder
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody | deceased
In the Matter of the application of O. J. Vallicott for a writ of Habeas Corpus, for the body of Benjamin D. Mills
- Earliest record date: May 15, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: embezzlement
- Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In Re-Application of Frank Dolezal for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: May 25, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: disturbing the peace
- Petition outcome: Writ allowed
- Fate of bound party: Released on bail
In the Matter of the Application of William P. Trester, for writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: March 26, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: assault with intent to kill
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody
In the Matter of the application of Sigmond Seaman for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: July 12, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: keeping and harboring a dog without a license
- Petition outcome: Unknown
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In re Application of James C. Morrisey for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: September 30, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: gambling
- Petition outcome: Writ allowed
- Fate of bound party: Released on bail
In the Matter of the Application of Caleb Sykes for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: December 1, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: fugitive from justice | Carceral: larceny | Carceral: fraud
- Petition outcome: Writ allowed
- Fate of bound party: Released from custody
In the Matter of the application of J. W. Mills for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: December 6, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: robbery
- Petition outcome: Unknown
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In the Matter of the Application of V. B. Walker, attorney for Maud Raymond for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: December 23, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: petty larceny
- Petition outcome: Unknown
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In re-Application of George Compton for Writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: December 6, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: vagrancy
- Petition outcome: Writ allowed
- Fate of bound party: Released from custody
In the Matter of Application of W.E. Baker - Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: November 5, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: embezzlement
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody
In the Matter of the Application of George Webster for a Writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: May 13, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: first degree murder
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Remained in custody
In the matter of the application of Leonard Kephart for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: February 23, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: perjury
- Petition outcome: Writ allowed
- Fate of bound party: Released from custody
In the Matter of the Application of L. L. H. Austin for a Writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: October 23, 1897
- Petition type(s): Carceral: libel
- Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
