HAB - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

HABAuthored

The Law Mind • 696 words

Definition

"Hab" is an abbreviated form of habeas corpus, the foundational common law writ commanding that a person held in custody be brought before a court to determine the lawfulness of their detention. The abbreviation appears in legal shorthand, citation practice, and index headings in historical legal literature, and is not a standalone legal term of art but a compressed reference to habeas corpus and its family of related writs.

In full, habeas corpus ad subjiciendum — the form Burrill's entry directly invokes — is the principal writ in the habeas corpus family, directed to a jailer or officer holding a prisoner and commanding that the prisoner be produced before the court so that the legality of the detention may be examined. Blackstone called it a second Magna Charta of the realm. The writ stands as one of the oldest protections against unlawful executive detention in the common law tradition.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A member of the Montreal Canadiens hockey team (informal, from the team's nickname "Les Habitants").

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not separately defined; "hab" does not appear as an independent entry in Webster's 1913, where it would have no recognized common meaning in English.

Editorial note: The legal abbreviation "hab" and the sports nickname "Hab" are entirely unrelated. Researchers encountering "hab" in a legal index, margin note, or shorthand citation should read it as a reference to habeas corpus, not as any independent term.

Why It Matters in Research

Researchers working in the Law Mind corpus will encounter "hab" primarily in two forms: as an index abbreviation (e.g., "Hab. Corp.") and as a truncated reference within heavily compressed legal shorthand in historical treatises, practice manuals, and writ registers. Burrill's own entry illustrates this pattern — the text is excerpted mid-sentence, implying that "hab" served as a running headword or abbreviated locator for a longer habeas corpus discussion.

The critical navigational point: any search for "hab" in historical legal materials should be understood as a gateway to the full habeas corpus doctrine, not a self-contained concept. Historical sources organize the writ family under several Latin variants (ad subjiciendum, ad prosequendum, ad testificandum, ad respondendum), and "hab" alone will rarely distinguish among them. Researchers should chase the full Latin form to identify which writ and which procedural purpose is at issue.

The Blackstone and Stephen's Commentaries citations embedded in Burrill's entry (3 Bl. Com. 130, 135–137; 3 Steph. Com. 694, 699–702) are the natural next stop for anyone tracing the writ's common law foundations. The note that the statute "has been re-enacted or adopted, if not in terms, yet in substance" in other jurisdictions is significant for American legal research: U.S. federal and state habeas corpus practice derives from the English model but was never a simple transplant, and the statutory basis varies considerably across jurisdictions.

Historical Dictionary Support

Burrill's entry treats "hab" as a compressed heading for habeas corpus ad subjiciendum specifically, situating it within the writ's constitutional importance rather than offering a formal definition. The entry's fragmentary character — it begins mid-sentence — suggests it functioned as a locator abbreviation within a longer alphabetical run under habeas corpus variants. Burrill does not define the abbreviation itself but uses it to anchor references to Blackstone and Stephen, both of whom provide the substantive account.

What historical dictionaries do not provide: a definition of "hab" as an independent term. It appears only as shorthand. Researchers should not expect standalone definitional authority for this abbreviation in any historical source; the authority runs to habeas corpus proper.

Jurisdictional Note

The habeas corpus tradition to which "hab" refers operates differently in English, federal American, and state American practice. In the United States, federal habeas corpus for state prisoners is substantially governed by statute and has been significantly restricted by judicial interpretation. Researchers should not assume that historical English sources cited under "hab" translate directly to modern American procedure.

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

See: Habeas Corpus

HABmain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1870

(2) remove a prisoner, in order to be tried in the proper jurisdiction wherein the fact was committed. 3 Bl. Com. 130. 3 Steph. Com. 694. ad subjiciendum, and which is frequently considered as another Magna Charta of the kingdom. 3 Bl. Com. 135-137. 1 Id. 137. For a summary of its provisions, see 3 Steph. Com. 699, 702. This statute has been re-enacted or adopted, if not in terms, yet in substance and effect, in all the United States. 2 Kent's Com. 27, and note. Id. 28-31. (3) ego talis, dedi et concessi, et hac præsenti Habere contractum; to have a contract; cartâ meâ confirmavi tali, pro homagio et servitio suo, tantam terram cum pertinentiis in tali villa: HABENDAM et tenendam tali et hæredibus suis, generaliter vel cum coarctatione hæredum, liberè et quiete, &c. Know [all] men, present and future, that I, (such a one,) have given and granted, and by this my present charter have confirmed to (such a one,) in consideration of his homage and service, (so much land,) with the appurtenances, in (such a town:) TO HAVE and to hold to (such a one,) and his heirs, (generally, or with a limitation of heirs,) freely and quietly, &c. Bract. fol. 34 b, 35. See Fleta, lib. 3, c. 14, § 5. See also the forms in Littleton, sect. 371, 372. It will be seen that, in this example, Bracton uses the word habendam, agreeing grammatically with terram; but this is disregarded in other instances, (see infra,) and habendum, as a word of more general application, has become established in the later forms. to contract. Calv. Lex. Habere in procinctu; to have in readiness. Id. Habere venale; to sell. Id.