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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.

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1876 results

In re app Mack Sterns for writ H.C.

  • Earliest record date: August 28, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: vagrancy
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the Matter of the Application of Angelo Rose for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: August 28, 1899
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: wrongful imprisonment
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the matter of the application of Thomas W. Van Sciever for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: October 20, 1894
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: embezzlement
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of the application of Alson B. Cole for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: July 24, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

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 of Fred Harris and Charles Eick for Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: November 19, 1901
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: rape
  • Petition outcome: Unknown
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the matter of the application of Thomas Johnson for writ Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: June 11, 1909
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: vagrancy
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In Re: Petition of Ham Hung Wah by Tom Sing for Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: October 3, 1904
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: immigration
  • Petition outcome: Petition withdrawn
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the matter of the application of Frances Palmer for writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: April 18, 1902
  • Petition type(s): Carceral
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the matter of the application of John Alperson for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: September 6, 1905
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: selling tobacco
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of the application of C. P. Bishop for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: April 10, 1894
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: Maliciously Prosecuting
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the Matter of the Application of Anthony Han for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: October 4, 1884
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: wrongful imprisonment
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

Mary Charlotte, woman of color v. Gabriel S. Choteau

  • Earliest record date: May 1, 1843
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: wrongful enslavement
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of the application of Jesse Fowler and Mamie Cole for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: August 23, 1916
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: vagrancy
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the Matter of Caroline Bauer By the Habeas Corpus Act

  • Earliest record date: January 2, 1868
  • Petition type(s): Institutional: insanity
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of the application of Edith Uhling, for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: May 7, 1918
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: kidnapping
  • Petition outcome: Petition withdrawn
  • Fate of bound party: Custody transferred to third party

In the matter of the application of Sam Greer for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: October 21, 1916
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: carrying a concealed weapon
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of the application of John Baggs for Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: March 19, 1874
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of the application of Daniel O'Connell for Mandamus and Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: April 14, 1922
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act
  • Petition outcome: Unknown
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

Abraham Franklin, Plantiff V. Henry Dunn as Chief Police of City of Omaha Nebraska, Stephen Maloney, Fred Heil, Defendant

  • Earliest record date: October 17, 1914
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: embezzlement | Carceral: suspicious character
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of the application of Thomas Walton for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: July 15, 1901
  • Petition type(s): Institutional: insanity
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of application of M. O. Ricketts for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for the body of ‘Till’

  • Earliest record date: October 20, 1890
  • Petition type(s): Interpersonal: wrongful enslavement
  • Petition outcome: Writ dismissed
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the matter of the application of Sarah D. Bassett for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: April 18, 1902
  • Petition type(s): Institutional: juvenile detention
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the Matter of the Application of Gross S. Edison for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: May 4, 1857
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: wrongful imprisonment | Carceral: fraud
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In re application of John Sullivan for Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: February 24, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: fast and reckless driving
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released on bail

In the matter of the deportation of James Douglas, "an alien"

  • Earliest record date: March 20, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: Violation of Immigration Act of 1917
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied | writ dismissed
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the Matter of the Application of Nicholas Dick for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: June 1, 1894
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: disturbing the peace | Carceral: refusal or inability to pay fine
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of the application of James H Parsons for writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: August 28, 1918
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: grand larceny | Carceral: fugitive from justice
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of the petition of P. D. Hughes for a writ of Habeas Corpus for Frank Richards

  • Earliest record date: February 18, 1903
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
  • Petition outcome: Unknown
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the Matter of the Petition of John O'Day for Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: September 19, 1906
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
  • Petition outcome: Unknown
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the Matter of the Application of W. M. McPhay for Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: August 24, 1903
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: murder
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of the application of Joseph Tebo for H. C.

  • Earliest record date: April 19, 1910
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: fornication | Carceral: wrongful imprisonment
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of the application of W. L. Lafferty by his attorney Francis J. Lynch for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: December 10, 1903
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: peddling without a license | Carceral: refusal or inability to pay fine | Carceral: municipal violation
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of the application of Flow Morton and Leona P. Morton husband and wife, in behalf of their minor children William LaVearl Morton and Gladys Lucile Morton

  • Earliest record date: April 4, 1923
  • Petition type(s): Institutional: child custody
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the Matter of D.J. Needham for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: November 13, 1915
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: wife abandonment | Carceral: child neglect
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the matter of the application of Enola Crater for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: June 4, 1918
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: drunkenness
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of the application of George W. Tibbals to be discharged from custody

  • Earliest record date: June 9, 1868
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In Re: F. S. Walton for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: September 5, 1901
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: peddling without a license
  • Petition outcome: Unknown
  • Fate of bound party: Not in custody

In the Matter of the Application of Nettie Patterson for and on behalf of W. Burlingame, for a writ of habeas corpus

  • Earliest record date: September 8, 1919
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: knowingly uttering and publishing a forged customer's draft
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of the application of Lydia Hall for writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: June 4, 1909
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: vagrancy
  • Petition outcome: Unknown
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

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 Petition of J. D. Crary for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for William Setter

  • Earliest record date: March 19, 1903
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: grand larceny
  • Petition outcome: Unknown
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In re Application of Madge Howard for Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: September 23, 1914
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: wrongful imprisonment | Carceral: keeping a house of ill repute
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of the application of George Garlick for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: December 12, 1891
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: burglary
  • Petition outcome: Unknown
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown

In the matter of the application of Parker M. Wickstrum for a writ of habeas corpus

  • Earliest record date: April 13, 1912
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: cause unspecified
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Remained in custody

In the matter of the application of Howard Litz for a writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: January 10, 1895
  • Petition type(s): Carceral
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of the application of P. H. McNamara for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: August 19, 1889
  • Petition type(s): Carceral
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Released from custody

In the matter of the application of Washington Johnson for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: March 26, 1894
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: grand larceny
  • Petition outcome: Writ denied
  • Fate of bound party: Released on bail

In the matter of the application of Victor Pinot and Mrs. Pinot for a Writ of Habeas Corpus

  • Earliest record date: July 16, 1892
  • Petition type(s): Carceral: Commission of a felony
  • Petition outcome: Writ allowed
  • Fate of bound party: Unknown
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