But as applied to you and to me, what does it signify? Suppose on your way home this evening, some person should seize you and force you to go to jail, and lock you up. No charge is made against you. You are innocent of any offense. You sit there in the cell wondering what it all means. You cannot even communicate with your parents or friends. The jail is built of stone, the iron bars are strong, and you are helpless.
Well, in the olden days, many a man and woman had such experiences, and many a man and many a woman lay in jail for long periods without any charge, or any trial, deprived of liberty, utterly powerless.
Now as I said, suppose you were in jail to-night--not even permitted to communicate with a friend or with a lawyer, and your father found out where you were. He could not go and break down the prison walls. He could not even talk to you; but if he were familiar with the Constitution of the United States and of his State--because there is a like provision in the Constitutions of all States--if your father understood his constitutional rights, he would at once apply to some court or judge for a writ of habeas corpus. It would be a simple matter. He would set out in writing the facts, simply the story that you were seized and were imprisoned wrongfully, and he would ask that a writ of habeas corpus issue, and this request, no court or judge can deny. He would promptly issue the writ, which would be in writing directed to the person keeping you in jail, or the keeper of the jail, or some one who was aiding in keeping you in jail, and this writ would command such person to have you brought before the court at once, "commanding him to produce the body of the prisoner at a certain time and place". You would be brought there, and the person having you in jail would have to show cause for such conduct. Unless legal cause were shown, the judge would promptly discharge you, and the person who had committed the wrong against you would probably receive proper punishment, after a trial, for his wrongful act.
Now there were long periods of time in England when the right to a writ of habeas corpus was suspended, during which time a person wrongfully in prison had no relief and no remedy, when helpless men and women starved and died. So when the Constitution was adopted, the people of America were careful to see that the following guaranty was written therein: