Habeas Corpus Act 1640

Magna Charta, 9 H. III. c. 29.; 5 E. III. c. 9.; 25 E. III. st. 5. c. 4.; 28 E. III. c. 3.; 42 E. III. c. 3.; 36 E. III. c. 15.; 3 H. VII. c. 1.;21 H. VIII. c. 20.; All Matters examinable in the Star Chamber may be examinable and redressed by the Common Law;Council Table has assumed a Power contrary to Law.; Court of Star Chamber and all its Powers dissolved.

Whereas by the Great Charter many times confirmed in Parliament It is Enacted That no Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised of his Freehold or Liberties or Free Customes or be Outlawed or exiled or otherwise destroyed and that the King will not passe upon him or condemn him but by lawfull Judgement of his Peers or by the Law of the Land And by another Statute made in the fifth yeare of the Reigne of King Edward the Third It is Enacted That no Man shall be attached by any accusation nor fore judged of Life or [X1 Lim ] nor his Lands Tenements Goods nor Chattels seised into the Kings hands against the forme of the Great Charter and the Law of the Land And by another Statute made in the five and twentieth yeare of the Reigne of the same King Edward the Third It is accorded assented and established That none shall be taken by petition or suggestion made to the King or to his Councell unlesse it be by Indictment or Presentment of good and lawfull People of the same Neighbourhood where such deeds be done in due manner or by Processe made by Writ Originall at the Common Law and that none be put out of his Franchise or Freehold unlesse he bee duly brought in to answer and forejudged of the same by the course of [X2 the] Law and if any thing be done against the same it shall be redressed and holden for none And by another Statute made in the eight and twentieth yeare of the Reigne of the same King Edward the Third It is amongst other things Enacted That no Man of what Estate or condition soever he be shall be put out of his Lands or Tenements nor taken nor imprisoned nor disinherited without being brought in to answer by due Processe of Law And by another Statute made in the two and fourtieth yeare of the Reigne of the said King Edward the Third It is enacted That no Man be put to answer without presentment before Justices or matter of Record or by due Processe and Writ Originall according to the old Law of the Land and if any thing be done to the contrary it shall be void in Law and holden for errour And by another Statute made in the six and thirtieth yeare of the same King Edward the Third It is amongst other things Enacted That all Pleas which shall be pleaded in any Courts before any the Kings Justices or in his other places or before any of his other Ministers or in the Courts and places of any other Lords within the Realm shall be entered and inrolled in Latine And whereas by the Statute made in the third yeare of King Henry the seaventh power is given to the Chancellour the Lord Treasurer of England for the time being and the Keeper of the Kings Privie Seale or two of them calling unto them a Bishop and a Temporall Lord of the Kings most honourable Councell and the two chiefe Justices of the Kings Bench and Common Pleas for the time being or other two Justices in theire absence to proceed as in that Act is expressed for the punishment of some particular offences therein mentioned And by the Statute made in the one and twentieth yeare of King Henry the eighth The President of the Councell is associated to joyne with the Lord Chancellour and other Judges in the said Statute of the third of Henry the seaventh mentioned But the said Judges have not kept themselves to the points limited by the said Statute but have undertaken to punish where no Law doth warrant and to make Decrees for things having no such authoritie and to inflict heavier punishments then by any Law is warranted And forasmuch as all matters examinable or determinable before the said Judges or in the Court commonly called the Star Chamber may have theire proper remedy and redresse and theire due punishment and correction by the Common Law of the Land and in the ordinary course of Justice elsewhere And forasmuch as the reasons and motives inducing the erection and continuance of that Court doe now cease and the Proceedings Censures and Decrees of that Court have by experience beene found to be an intollerable burthen to the subjects and the meanes to introduce an Arbitrary Power and Government And forasmuch as the Councell Table hath of late times assumed unto it selfe a power to intermedle in Civill causes and matters onely of private interest betweene party and party and have adventured to determine of the Estates and Liberties of the subject contrary to the Law of the Land and the Rights and Priviledges of the subject by which great and manifold mischeifes and inconveniencies have arisen and happened and much incertainty by meanes of such proceedings hath beene conceived concerning Mens Rights and Estates For setling whereof and preventing the like in time to come. Be it Ordained and Enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament That the said Court commonly called the Star Chamber and all Jurisdiction Power and Authority belonging unto or exercised in the same Court or by any the Judges Officers or Ministers thereof be from the first day of August in the yeare of our Lord God one thousand six hundred fourty and one cleerely and absolutely dissolved taken away and determined and that from the said first day of August neither the Lord Chancellour or Keeper of the Great Seale of England the Lord Treasurer of England the Keeper of the Kings Privie Seale or President of the Councell nor any Bishop Temporall Lord Privy Councellor or Judge or Justice whatsoever shall have any power or authoritie to heare examine or determine any matter or thing whatsoever in the said Court commonly called the Star Chamber or to make pronounce or deliver any Judgement Sentence Order or Decree or to doe any Judiciall or Ministeriall Act in the said Court And that all and every Act and Acts of Parliament and all and every Article Clause and Sentence in them and every of them by which any Jurisdiction power or authority is given limited or appointed unto the said Court commonly called the Star Chamber or unto all or any the Judges Officers or Ministers thereof or for any proceedings to be had or made in the said Court or for any matter or thing to be drawn into question examined or determined there shall for so much as concerneth the said Court of Star Chamber and the Power and Authoritie thereby given unto it be from the said first day of August repealed and absolutely revoked and made void.

Editorial Information

X1 Variant reading of the text noted in The Statutes of the Realm as follows: Lymne O. [O. refers to a collection in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge]

X2 interlined on the Roll.