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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.

Newspaper report on the May 28, 1924 ruling with the headline 'Woman Denied Divorce.' Full text in Katie's story.

Featured story: The Habeas Corpus and Divorce Proceedings of Katie Mayes

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People : Miller, Ira (sheriff)

31 results

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In re application of Frank Kreishutz for Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: October 14, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Institutional: insanity
  • Petition outcome: Unknown
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the matter of the application of Agnes Smith for a writ of habeas corpus

  • Earliest record date: January 19, 1918
  • Petition type(s): Institutional: disability
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the Matter of the Application and Petition of Earl J. Sorenson for Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: January 21, 1922
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
  • Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
  • Fate of bound party: Not in custody

In the Matter of the Petition of Aubrey Pickard for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for Leonard Pickards

  • Earliest record date: January 25, 1921
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the Matter of the Application and Petition of C. H. Paul for Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: January 18, 1921
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: fugitive from justice
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of the application of William Lemke, for writ of habeas corpus for Paul Lemke

  • Earliest record date: March 29, 1920
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the Matter of the Application and Petition of Donald Warner and Floyd Warner for Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: December 8, 1920
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: stealing an automobile
  • Petition outcome: Petition withdrawn
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the Matter of the Application and Petition of Nathan Boynum, for Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: November 6, 1922
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the Matter of the Application and Petition of Earl L. Sorensen for Habeas Corpuss

  • Earliest record date: January 19, 1922
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: failure to provide for spouse | Carceral: bigamy
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

State of Nebraska ex rel Agnes Donohue, et al. vs. Kittie F. Noonan, et al.

  • Earliest record date: August 22, 1918
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Unknown
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the matter of the Application of Perry Anthony for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: August 26, 1921
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: fraud
  • Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

Charles Sitzman vs. L. C. Oberlies, A. E. Allyn, Catherine Worley, as the Board of Commissioners of State Institutions of the State of Nebraska and Doctor S. J. Stewart, Superintendent Institution for Feeble Minded Youth

  • Earliest record date: April 28, 1921
  • Petition type(s): Institutional: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In Re Application of Jane M. Williams for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: October 31, 1921
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of the Application of Mabel Sanderson Best, formerly Mabel Sanderson, for a writ of habeas corpus, for Isabel Sanderson, a minor, of the age of twelve years

  • Earliest record date: September 1, 1920
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
  • Fate of bound party: New custody arrangement reached

In the matter of the application of Allen Vincent Grammer for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: January 13, 1920
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of the application of Earl C. Hall for writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: May 31, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In re-application of Frank B. Moore, for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: September 29, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: rape
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of the application of Simeon E. Mace for a writ of Habeas Corpus on behalf of Glen McAtee

  • Earliest record date: June 14, 1920
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
  • Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the Matter of the Application of Edgar L. Noble for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: October 22, 1921
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the Matter of the Application of Joseph Thomas Williams, by Joseph Lafayette Williams, his father and next friend for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: October 1, 1921
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the Matter of the Application of Margaret Purdy, for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for Josephine Blairb

  • Earliest record date: December 14, 1920
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Unknown
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In Re application of Rosie Nichols for a Writ of Habeas Corpus vs. Addassa F. Maxson

  • Earliest record date: January 30, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of the petition of Stella Williams for a writ of habeas corpus for Howard Edward Godden

  • Earliest record date: June 18, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the Matter of the Application of George W. Smith, Guardian of Arthur P. Smith, Incompetent, for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: September 6, 1921
  • Petition type(s): Institutional: insanity
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of the application of H. Ray Desch for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: August 1, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the Matter of the Application of Edna Brookfield for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: November 2, 1921
  • Petition type(s): Institutional: juvenile detention
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

Ellis M. Harrison vs. Eillen M. Harrison

  • Earliest record date: November 12, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Petition withdrawn
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of the Application of Sam Harris for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: December 30, 1920
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of the application of Peter Wurtz for a writ of Habeas Corpus for Robert Wurtz, a minor

  • Earliest record date: June 4, 1920
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Petition withdrawn
  • Fate of bound party: Custody transferred to third party

In the matter of the Application of Phoebe Maresch for Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: July 21, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Institutional: medical debt
  • Petition outcome: Petition withdrawn
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In Re Application of Russell and Nettie Watson for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: October 29, 1920
  • Petition type(s): Institutional: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody
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