The Code of Practice in Civil Cases for the State of Louisiana (New Orleans, 1839) states that the district judges were among those empowered to grant writs of habeas corpus. Individuals were allowed to petition a judge for such writs. The petition was to state that the party applying for the writ was imprisoned or otherwise deprived of his liberty. The writ of habeas corpus if effect ordered the imprisoner to bring the imprisoned before the issuing judge who was to then determine whether or not to grant freedom to the imprisoned party.

It appears that the Court kept a separate docket for habeas corpus matters but such a docket book is not extant. It is unclear as to why the records do not begin until 1831. This series of habeas corpus records ends in 1846 when the First Judicial District Court ceased to exist.

The table below lists the extant habeas corpus cases from the First Judicial District Court.

Name(s)	Docket Number	Year	Comments
04	James McGary	1831
05	James Mitchell	1833	Seeking the return of his infant daughter.
13a	Michael Flynn, James Myers, John Fitzgerald, Patrick O'Brian	1838
13b	Spencer Logan	1838	A negro boy who once lived in France.
15	Martin Steib	1838	Attempting to have his daughter released from an indecent situation with another individual.
16	Robert Mitchell	1838
17	James Cassedy	1838	Attempting to secure the release of a boy, of whom he had temporary custordy, from another individual.
18	D. F. J. Maloy	1837
21	Thomas Wharton Collens	1838	Collens, Deputy Clerk of the U.S. Circuit Court, seeks his release from imprisonment on contempt of court charges stemming from his refusal to turn over records in another matter.
22	Charles Cora	1838
23	Felix (fmc)	1839	Included is a police report on other free men of color who were arrested for playing cards with white persons and slaves at a grog shop on Gallatin Street.
25	John Whilberger	1839	Seeking the release of his seven year old son from the custordy of Thomas Iler.
26	Solomon Andrews	1839
27	Marie Noel alias Nounoute	1839	A "quartroon" illegally detained in the Police Jail.
28	Louis Chabert	1839	Seeking the release of his young son who has been placed on a ship bound for France. A copy of the child's French birth record in included.
29	Anna Marie Alfonse	1839	Seeking the release of her young daughter from custody of a St. Bernard Parish couple. Alfonse was the wife of Antonio Cerise.
30	Leonard C. Barber	1839
31	Louis D. Fleury	1840	Seeking custody of his two young children who are being concealed by their mother who he is in the process of divorcing.
32	Abraham Colby	1840
37	Archibald Hotchkiss	1840
38	Pierre Dastugue	1840
39a	Samuel Scott, Joseph Rogers, Joshua Riddle, James Morgan, Charles Thompson, James Groves, Jonas Malcolm	1840	All were branch pilots who were arrested by order of a Plaquemines Parish Justice of the Peace and imprisoned in a barn since no other jail space was available.
39b	Jonas King Murphy	1840	For contempt of court.
40	Brigette Cicet (Widow of Bernard Anglade)	1840	Seeking the release of her fifteen year old daughter from custody of her son-in-law in St. John the Baptist Parish.
41	Charles F. O'Conner	1840
44	Jack Bowers	1840
49	Jean Baptiste Roussillon (fmc)	1840	Charged as an "incorrigible vagabond and a suspicious man of color."
50	William Weed	1840
51	F. A. Weed	1840
52	Daniel De Putron, Osborn Abbott, Luis Bargasse, Manuel Domingos, John Rathbone, John Tally, Michel Myhan	1841	Charged with piracy.
53	Charles Valles	1841	Deserter from a French ship.
74	Thomas Powell	1844	Claiming that he is being held more or less in "debtor's prison."
77	E. W. Nance	1844	Includes testimony on witnesses to Nance's movements in New Orleans.
78a	J. B. Ross	1845	Seeking the release of his minor child from a man in Mississippi.
78b	Manuel castein (fmc)	1845	Involving a charge of assault and battery brought against Joseph Zamore (fmc). Castein apparently was the victim. Includes statements of witnesses.
80	Jefferson J. Bryant	1845
81	Charles K. Wise	1845	Seeking the release of his minor daughter from custody of his in-laws.
87	Pietro Craglick, Mateo Fortunato	1846	They were Austrian nationals.
90	Dermot Jerome Brennan	1846	Accused of murder in the state of Mississippi.

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