Art. 3821.Definition

Article 3821 defines habeas corpus for purposes of this Code: a writ commanding whoever has another person in custody to bring that person before the court and state the legal authority for holding him. This is Louisiana's civil habeas corpus procedure, part of the Code of Civil Procedure rather than the state's criminal code, and it reaches situations well beyond a criminal defendant's confinement in jail.

The article defines custody broadly, extending it to detention and confinement generally. In civil practice, that reach covers a parent or other party holding a child in a contested custody dispute, a facility holding a person under an involuntary civil commitment, or another situation where someone's physical liberty is restrained outside the criminal-justice system entirely. The writ tests whether that restraint has a lawful basis, not whether a criminal charge was properly brought.

Article 3821 also identifies who may petition for the writ, and the answer is broader than the person in custody alone. Because someone held against their will, or a minor, or a person under a disability, may be unable to file a petition personally, the article lets any other person file on his behalf. A family member, a friend, or an interested party can set the proceeding in motion even when the person whose liberty is at stake cannot.