Editing Habeas corpus (section)

===Biscay===
In 1526, the ''Fuero Nuevo of the Señorío de Vizcaya'' (''New Charter of the Lordship of Biscay'') established a form of ''habeas corpus'' in the territory of the ''[[Lord of Biscay|Señorío de Vizcaya]]'', now part of [[Spain]]. This revised version of the ''Fuero Viejo'' (Old Charter) of 1451 codified the medieval custom whereby no person could be arbitrarily detained without being summoned first to the [[Gernikako Arbola|Oak of Gernika]], an ancestral oak tree located in the outskirts of [[Gernika]] under which all laws of the Lordship of Biscay were passed.

The New Charter formalised that no one could be detained without a court order (Law 26 of Chapter 9) nor due to debts (Law 3 of Chapter 16). It also established due process and a form of ''habeas corpus'': no one could be arrested without previously having been summoned to the [[Gernikako Arbola|Oak of Gernika]] and given 30 days to answer the said summons. Upon appearing under the Tree, they had to be provided with accusations and all evidence held against them so that they could defend themselves (Law&nbsp;7 of Chapter&nbsp;9).<ref name="Trask – The History of Basque">{{cite book |last=Trask |first=L. |title=The History of Basque |publisher=Routledge |year=1997 |isbn=0-415-13116-2}}</ref>

No one could be sent to prison or deprived of their freedom until being formally trialed. No one could be accused of a different crime until their current court trial was over (Law&nbsp;5 of Chapter&nbsp;5). Those fearing they were being arrested illegally could appeal to the ''Regimiento General'' that their rights could be upheld. The ''Regimiento'', the executive arm of the [[Juntas Generales]] of Biscay, would demand the prisoner be handed over to them, and thereafter the prisoner would be released and placed under the protection of the Regimiento while awaiting trial.<ref name="Trask – The History of Basque" />