Five noblemen imprisoned by Charles I for refusing to lend the king money to pay for the Thirty Years' War sought writs of habeas corpus; they argued that, without charges, "imprisonment shall not continue for a time, but for ever".
The Supreme Court, which in 2008 ruled that detainees at Guantanamo had a constitutional right to challenge their confinement by seeking writs of habeas corpus, stood by while a federal appeals court eviscerated that landmark ruling.
Al-Kateb then sought writs of habeas corpus and mandamus on the basis that he was being unlawfully detained, and although the judge found that "removal from Australia is not reasonably practicable at the present time as there is no real likelihood or prospect of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future", his application was dismissed.
But the Supreme Court has reaffirmed the right of American citizens to seek a writ of habeas corpus.
The first thing NOW did was to seek a writ of mandamus against the E.E.O.C., compelling it to perform its legal function.
In introducing the C.S.R.T.s, in 2004, the Department of Defense announced that, as part of the process, "detainees will also be notified of their right to seek a writ of habeas corpus in the courts of the United States".
On behalf of Rahmatullah's family, Reprieve instructed lawyers to seek a writ of habeas corpus ad subjiciendum et recipiendum (literally, "that you have the body for submitting and receiving").
'The court will not entertain the application, will not recognize a chimpanzee as a human or as a person who can seek a writ of habeas corpus.'.
In the ruling on Tommy's lower-court case, Fulton County Supreme Court Justice Joseph Sise said: "The court will not entertain the application, will not recognize a chimpanzee as a human or as a person who can seek a writ of habeas corpus.
Milligan's lawyers sought a writ of habeas corpus, contesting the constitutionality of the military trial.
That would be difficult, however, because it requires seeking a writ of mandamus, which are granted only in extraordinary circumstances.
