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.Habeas corpus, or the Great Writ, is the legal procedure that keeps the government from holding you indefinitely without showing cause. The writ of habeas corpus, also known as the Great Writ, is a U.S. legal process that determines whether an offender's imprisonment is valid. What we are talking about, of course, is habeas corpus, a Latin phrase meaning "you should have the body. Habeas corpus was written into federal law in 1798, granting federal prisoners the right to file for habeas corpus relief. The law in the area is an intricate weave of statute and case law. In the US system, federal courts can use the writ of habeas corpus to determine if a state's detention of a prisoner is valid. During just about any conversation with a civil liberties advocate or constitutional lawyer, the concept of habeas corpus will likely come up. Habeas Corpus - "You have the body," the name given a variety of writs whose object is to bring a person before a court or judge.