prison to hold him in his custody.

Now the master does not hold his slave in custody by virtue of any
formal or legal writ or process, either authorized by law, or issued by
the government, or that charges the slave with any legal offence or
liability. A slave is incapable of incurring any legal liability, or
obligation to his master. And the government could, with no more
consistency, grant a writ or process to the master, to enable him to
hold his slave, than it could to enable him to hold his horse. It simply
recognizes his right of property in his slave, and then leaves him at
liberty to hold him by brute force, if he can, as he holds his ox, or
his horse--and not otherwise. If the slave escape, or refuse to labor,
the slave code no more authorizes the government to issue legal process
against the slave, to authorize the master to catch him, or compel him
to labor, than it does against a horse for the same purpose.--The slave
is held simply as property, by individual force, without legal process.
But the writ of _habeas corpus_ acknowledges no such principle as the
right of property in man. If it did, it would be perfectly impotent in
all cases whatsoever; because it is a principle of law, in regard to
property, that simple possession is _prima facie_ evidence of ownership;
and therefore any man, who was holding another in custody, could defeat
the writ by pleading that he owned his prisoner, and by giving, as proof
of ownership, the simple fact that he was in possession of him. If,
therefore, the writ of _habeas corpus_ did not, of itself, involve a
denial of the right of property in man, the fact stated in it, that one
man was holding another in custody, would be _prima facie_ evidence
that he owned him, and had a right to hold him; and the writ would
therefore carry an absurdity in its face.

The writ of _habeas corpus_, then, _necessarily_ denies the right of
property in man. And the constitution, by declaring, without any
discrimination of persons, that "the privilege of this writ shall not be
suspended,"--that is, shall not be denied to any human being--has
declared that, under the constitution, there can be no right of property
in man.

This writ was unquestionably intended as a great constitutional guaranty
of personal liberty. But unless it denies the right of property in man,
it in reality affords no protection to any of us against being made
slaves. If it does deny the right of property in man, the sla