interdictum

The interdictum, like the modern injunction, is a quick decision process designed to protect existing situations.

In an actio, which was civil, the Praetor could either issue an interdictum (interdict) forbidding some circumstance or appoint a iudex (judge).

An application for the interdictum may be made in a superior court either by the detainee or by a family member, friend or interested party on his or her behalf.

In South Africa and other countries whose legal systems are based on Roman-Dutch law, the interdictum de homine libero exhibendo is the equivalent of the writ of habeas corpus.

If officials detain a person without lawful authority, the detainee, or someone on his behalf, may bring an interdictum de homine libero exhibendo application, which is a special type of mandamus, to compel his release.

The interdictum de homine libero exhibendo was a form of interdictum in Roman law ordering a man who unlawfully holds a free man as a slave to produce this man in court.

In Roman law, an interdictum was an order issued by a praetor (or, in the provinces, a proconsul) at the request of a claimant and addressed to another person, imposing a requirement either to do something or to abstain from doing something.

In South Africa the interdictum has been entrenched in the Bill of Rights, 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.

In South Africa and other countries whose legal systems are based on Roman-Dutch law, 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.