The Habeas Corpus Act of the Restoration, based on the common-law writ of habeas corpus ad subjiciendum (Latin for “you shall have the body for submitting”) was enacted in England on May 27, 1679. The Habeas Corpus Act of the Restoration was and, with amendments, continues to be in modern times a key piece of legislation that protects the rights of individuals against arbitrary and unlawful detention by the king or the executive and against abuses of procedure by the judiciary and state custodians. The concept of habeas corpus was not born with the 1679 act, having origins predating the Magna Carta. A cornerstone of the English constitution, the Magna Carta, or Great Charter, which was written in Latin and first issued in 1215, established that the will of the monarch, King John, was bound by the law. It specifically set out particular rights to be enjoyed by all subjects, whether free or imprisoned, which supported appeals against unlawful detention. The Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 is held to be of similar constitutional importance to the U.S. Bill of Rights and even the Magna Carta itself.