The ''interdictum de homine libero exhibendo'' was a form of interdictum in

Roman law Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...

ordering a man who unlawfully holds a free man as a

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

to produce this man in court. In modern

Roman-Dutch law Roman-Dutch law ( Dutch: ''Rooms-Hollands recht'', Afrikaans: ''Romeins-Hollandse reg'') is an uncodified, scholarship-driven, and judge-made legal system based on Roman law as applied in the Netherlands in the 17th and 18th centuries. As such, ...

it has been developed into a mechanism to challenge unlawful detention, equivalent to the writ of ''habeas corpus'' in

English common law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, be ...

Ancient Rome

The Favian law (lex Fabi) made the purchase, sale, donation, or acceptance of a freeman, if done wittingly, a capital crime; and the pecuniary penalty provided by that law having fallen out of practice, those guilty of "plagiary", or man-stealing (which appears to have been a common offence, both as regarded slaves and freemen) were condemned to the mines for the delictum, a fine of twenty

aurei The ''aureus'' ( ''aurei'', 'golden', used as a noun) was a gold coin of ancient Rome originally valued at 25 pure silver ''denarii'' (sin. denarius). The ''aureus'' was regularly issued from the 1st century BC to the beginning of the 4th cen ...

amputation Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indi ...

of the hand, etc. The

Salic law The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old D ...

provided that nobles guilty of plagiary should be scourged and imprisoned, slaves and freedmen exposed to the beasts, and freemen

decapitated Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

Roman-Dutch law

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

and other countries whose legal systems are based on

, the ''interdictum de homine libero exhibendo'' is a remedy by which a person who is arrested or detained can challenge the legality of his or her detention, and be released if it is found to be unlawful. It is the equivalent of the writ of ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) 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, ...

'' in

English law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, b ...

. An application for the ''interdictum'' may be made in a

superior court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civi ...

either by the detainee or by a family member, friend or interested party on their behalf. It takes priority over other matters on the court roll, and is usually heard by a single judge. If the court finds ''

prima facie ''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning ''at first sight'' or ''based on first impression''. The literal translation would be 'at first face' or 'at first appearance', from the feminine forms of ''primus'' ('first') and ''facies'' (' ...

'' evidence that the detention is unlawful, it will order the authority responsible to bring the detainee before the court within a short period of time and show cause why they should not be released. On the return date of the order, if the court is not satisfied that the detention is lawful, the court will order the immediate release of the detainee. In South Africa the ''interdictum'' has been entrenched in the

Bill of Rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pr ...

, which provides in section 35(2)(d) that every detained person has the right to challenge the lawfulness of the detention in person before a court and, if the detention is unlawful, to be released.

References

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External links

Encyclopedic dictionary of Roman law By Adolf Berger
Roman law Latin legal terminology South African legal terminology Law of South Africa