<Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> Habeas corpus (/ ˈheɪbiəs ˈkɔːrpəs /; Medieval Latin meaning literally "that you have the body") is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, to bring the prisoner to court, to determine if the detention is lawful . </P> <P> The writ of habeas corpus is known as "the great and efficacious writ in all manner of illegal confinement", being a remedy available to the meanest against the mightiest . It is a summons with the force of a court order; it is addressed to the custodian (a prison official, for example) and demands that a prisoner be taken before the court, and that the custodian present proof of authority, allowing the court to determine whether the custodian has lawful authority to detain the prisoner . If the custodian is acting beyond his or her authority, then the prisoner must be released . Any prisoner, or another person acting on his or her behalf, may petition the court, or a judge, for a writ of habeas corpus . One reason for the writ to be sought by a person other than the prisoner is that the detainee might be held incommunicado . Most civil law jurisdictions provide a similar remedy for those unlawfully detained, but this is not always called habeas corpus . For example, in some Spanish - speaking nations, the equivalent remedy for unlawful imprisonment is the amparo de libertad ("protection of freedom"). </P> <P> Habeas corpus has certain limitations . Though a writ of right, it is not a writ of course . It is technically only a procedural remedy; it is a guarantee against any detention that is forbidden by law, but it does not necessarily protect other rights, such as the entitlement to a fair trial . So if an imposition such as internment without trial is permitted by the law, then habeas corpus may not be a useful remedy . In some countries, the writ has been temporarily or permanently suspended under the pretext of war or state of emergency . </P>

What does it mean that a prisoner's petition to the court has standing