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An ACT respecting Writs of Habeas Corpus.
BE IT ENACTED, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That whensoever a writ of habeas corpus shall
be served, by delivering it to the officer or other person to whom it is directed, or by leaving
it at the gaol, prison or place, in which the party suing it out is detained, unless the warrant of
commitment plainly and specially express the same to have been for treason or felony, such officer or
-other person shall, within three days after such service, make return of the writ, and cause the pri-
soner or person detained, restrained or confined, to be brought before the proper court, judge or
judges, according to the command thereof, and shall likewise certify the true causes of his or her
detainer or imprisonment, if any, or under what colour or pretence such person is confined or re-
strained of his or her liberty, but if the prisoner is to be brought more than twenty miles, the sheriff
or other person shall be allowed so many days more to bring him or her in, as will be equal to one
day for every twenty miles of such further distance, and every such writ shall be signed by him who
awarded it.
II. AND BE IT ENACTED, That if any person in the vacation time shall be or stand committed or
detained as aforesaid for any crime, or under any colour or pretence whatsoever, unless it be for
treason or felony, plainly expressed in the warrant of commitment, the prisoner or person detained,
not being convict or in execution by legal process, or any one on his behalf, may complain to the
chancellor, or any judge of the court of appeals, or of the county courts of this state, or to the chief
justice of the court of oyer and terminer and gaol delivery for Baltimore county, who, at the request
of such prisoner or person detained, or other person on his behalf, or upon a view of a copy of the
warrant of commitment or detainer, or cause of commitment or detainer, or otherwise, upon affida-
vit made that a copy thereof was demanded of him in whose custody the. prisoner was detained, and
the same neglected or refused to be given, to award and grant a habeas corpus, to be directed to the
officer or other person in whose custody the party committed or detained shall be, returnable imme-
diately before the said chancellor, judge or chief justice, and upon service thereof as aforesaid, the
officer or person in whose custody the party is so committed or detained, shall, within the times be-
fore respectively limitted, bring the prisoner or person detained before the said chancellor, judge or
chief justice, before whom the writ is made returnable, or in case of his absence, before any other
of them, with the return of the writ, and the true causes, if any, of the commitment or detainer,
and thereupon the chancellor, judge or justice, before whom the prisoner shall be brought, shall,
within two days thereafter, discharge him or her from imprisonment, taking his or her recognizance,
with security, in any sum, according to the direction of the chancellor, judge or justice, having re-
gard to the circumstances of the prisoner and the nature of the offence, for his or her appearance in
the county court the term following, or in some other court where the offence is properly cognizable,
as the cause may require, and then also certify the same writ, with the return thereof, and the said
recognizance, into the said court where such appearance is to be made, unless it appear to the chan-
cellor, judge or justice that the party so committed is detained upon a legal process, under a war-
rant out of some court that hath jurisdiction of criminal matters, or by some warrant signed with
the hand of any of the said judges or justice, or some justice of the peace, for such matter or offence
for which by law the prisoner is not bailable, or if it shall appear that such person is detained with-
out any legal warrant or authority, such chancellor, judge or justice, shall immediately release and
discharge such person from such illegal detention or restraint.
III. AND BE IT ENACTED, That any officer or other person neglecting or refusing to make the
return as aforesaid, or to bring the body of the prisoner or person detained, according to the com-
mand of the writ, within the time aforesaid, or not delivering a true copy of the warrant of commit-
ment or detainer, if any there be, within six hours after demand thereof made, to the prisoner or
person demanding it on his or her behalf, which copy the officer or other person is hereby required
to deliver, shall forfeit to the prisoner five hundred dollars, to recover which the right of action shall
not cease by the death of either or both of the parties.
IV. AND BE IT ENACTED, That no person who shall have been delivered upon a habeas corpus shall
afterwards be imprisoned or committed tor the same offence, otherwise than by the order or process
of the court wherein he or she shall be bound by recognizance to appear, or some other court having
jurisdiction of the cause, or upon surrender by his or her bail.
V. AND BE IT ENACTED, That a citizen of this state, committed to prison in custody of an offi-
cer for any criminal matter, shall not be removed from thence into the custody or another officer,
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Passed 6th of
Jan. 1810.
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