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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.

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  • between 101 and 150 pages 14

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Length of Case File : between 101 and 150 pages

14 results

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Territory of Washington V. Wilson D. Coyle

  • Earliest record date: April 5, 1885
  • Petition type(s): Institutional: imprisoned for longer than term | Carceral: assault with a deadly weapon
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the matter of the Proceedings in Habeas Corpus in behalf of Evelyn E Miller, on Petition and Application of Louis B. Millerburrb

  • Earliest record date: August 4, 1889
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody | new custody arrangement reached

In the matter of the application of Louis S. Lathrop for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: October 8, 1877
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: New custody arrangement reached

In the Matter of the Application of John Lovell and Kate Lovell for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: October 26, 1891
  • Petition type(s): Institutional: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of the application of Eugene F. Ladd for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: March 31, 1896
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: selling liquor without a license
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of application of K. Gregory, et al. for a writ of habeas corpus

  • Earliest record date: December 20, 1913
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: immigration | Carceral: public charge
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Deported

In the matter of the application of Marie Robina Grayson for a writ of habeas corpus

  • Earliest record date: March 14, 1912
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: immigration | Carceral: prostitution
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the Matter of the Application of CHIN HING, for a Writ of Habeas Corpus.

  • Earliest record date: September 28, 1914
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: immigration
  • Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the Matter of the Application of Francis Stephen Medcraf for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: May 3, 1915
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: practising dentistry without a license
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of the application of Frank O'Neill - Dave Gillinsky, A. F. Pirson first and real name unknown Art Williams and William Larsen for writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: December 10, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: possession of burglary tools | Carceral: burglary
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody | remained in custody

Chung Him and Seid Yam v. Henry M. White

  • Earliest record date: September 13, 1888
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: deportation
  • Petition outcome: Unknown
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the matter of Jay D. Crary for writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: March 27, 1918
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: conspiracy to use United States mails for scheme to defraud
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the Matter of the Application of John Matthews for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: August 31, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: immigration | Carceral: public charge | Carceral: moral turpitude

In the Matter of the Application of Hosaye Sakaguchi, for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: April 18, 1921
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: immigration
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Order of discharge | exhibits withdrawn
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