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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6 results
Download JSON Download CSVIn the matter of the application of Maude Cooper for a writ of Habeas Corpus for Kenneth Cooper, otherwise known as Albert Silas
- Earliest record date: November 29, 1902
- Petition type(s): Institutional: child custody
- Petition outcome: Writ allowed
- Fate of bound party: New custody arrangement reached | released from custody
In the Matter of the Application of Mary Moore for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for Walter Johnson
- Earliest record date: February 18, 1903
- Petition type(s): Institutional: child custody
- Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In the matter of the application of Arthur Moraine for a writ of habeas corpus for a minor child named Richard Moraine, and also known as Richard Murray
- Earliest record date: September 18, 1903
- Petition type(s): Institutional: child custody
- Petition outcome: Unknown
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In the matter of the application of Arthur Treichel, minor on the part of Marie Holz and Adolph Holz for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: October 2, 1919
- Petition type(s): Institutional: child custody
- Petition outcome: Writ allowed
- Fate of bound party: Dismissed
In the matter of the application of Marie Paulson Hislop on behalf of Herbert Paulson and Robert Paulson for a writ of Habeas Corpus
- Earliest record date: August 16, 1920
- Petition type(s): Institutional: child custody
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
In the matter of the application of Hazel B. Dillon, mother and legal custodian of Emily McCarty, Earnest McCarty and Mabel McCarty, minor children under the age of eighteen years, Plaintiff, vs. Child Saving Institute, Defendant
- Earliest record date: August 21, 1923
- Petition type(s): Institutional: child custody
- Petition outcome: Writ denied
- Fate of bound party: Unknown
