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# The Good Oil Word of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/the-good-oil-word-of-the-day-256/
- Published: 2025-04-17T18:15:50.000Z
- Updated: 2025-04-17T18:15:49.000Z
- Author: David Theobald
- Tags: General, Word of the Day

The word for today is…

habeas corpus (noun): 

1: any of several common-law writs issued to bring a party before a court or judge

2: the right of a citizen to obtain a writ of habeas corpus as a protection against illegal imprisonment

Source : [Merriam -Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/habeas%20corpus?ref=goodoil.news)

Etymology : The literal meaning of habeas corpus is "You shall have the body"—that is, the judge must have the person charged with a crime brought into the courtroom to hear what he's been charged with. Through much of human history, and in many countries still today, a person may be imprisoned on the orders of someone in the government and kept behind bars for years without ever getting a chance to defend himself, or even knowing what he's done wrong. In England, the right to be brought before a judge to hear the charges and answer them was written into law over 300 years ago, and the U.S. adopted the British practice in its Constitution. 

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