Kids DefinitionKids; Legal DefinitionLegal; More from MW. The right to a writ of habeas corpus is in the US Constitution.The writ of habeas corpus primarily acts as a writ of inquiry, issued to test the reasons or grounds for restraint and detention. Habeas corpus is a Latin phrase meaning "produce the body. Federal habeas corpus is a procedure under which a federal court may review the legality of an individual's incarceration. The U.S. Supreme Court interprets the Constitution, which means it defines constitutional rights and violations in the cases it decides. In many countries, authorities may incarcerate someone for months or years without charging them. The literal meaning of habeas corpus, from Latin, is "you should have the body. This means that you can only file a federal habeas petition if you have already lost your state direct appeal and your state post-conviction proceedings. The writ of habeas corpus is basically the writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court.