Over time a guarantee of a person's life and liberty was changed to property and money. The laws governing bail and who is responsible to set it have also changed over the years.

Until the 13th Century, the local Sheriffs had the authority to release or hold suspects. Sheriffs were able to use any standard in determining whether to allow bail and this authority was frequently abused for their own financial benefit.

The Statue of Westminster (1275 AD) was created to stop the exploitation of the accused by the sheriffs. The Statue listed the bailable and non-bailable crimes, but the sheriffs still had the authority to decide the bail amount and weigh all relevant factors to get to that amount.

In the 17th Century, King Charles did not get any funds from Parliament so he made noblemen issue loans to him. Those that would not were imprisoned without bail. Knights put in jail made a habeas corpus petition to argue that they weren't able to be held indefinitely without a trial or bail. The King would not tell them the reason for imprisonment or allow them bail. When they brought the case to the court, the counsel for the knights said that without a trial or conviction, the petitioners were being held completely on the basis of unsubstantiated and unstated accusation. Attorney General Health contended that the king could balance the interests of individual liberty against the interest of the state security when using his sovereign authority to imprison.

The Parliament responded to this with the Petition of Right of 1628. The Petition stated that no one be put in prison without due process of law or without "any cause showed." The king had been imprisoning people with a trial and without a cause. The petition also said that "no freeman in any manner as before mentioned, be imprisoned or detained." The Petition did not provide an absolute right to bail.

In colonial America, bail laws were patterned after the English law. State constitutions listed offenses as bailable or non-bailable and also provided that "Excessive bail shall not be exacted for bailable offenses."

Under current bail laws, the accused must be informed of their crime and whether they can be released on bail. The law today considers a person's dangerousness in determining conditions for release and the likelihood that they will appear for trial. Current laws also deny release or bail if an individual has been charged with a capital offense or if they pose a threat to community safety.

Bail bonds allow those who are permitted bail but do not have the means to pay, to acquire a loan. Beehive Bail Bonds has been providing bail bonds for over 30 years and can be reached at www.BeehiveBailBonds.com or 801.328.3329.