English Beginnings

• Ensuring the accused would return to stand trial began during the earliest days of criminal trials. According to the website Bail Bonds US, early English bail bonding was under the discretion of local sheriffs and was subject to their often corrupt standards and judgments. The Statute of Westminster of 1275 set standards by stating which crimes were considered bailable, but it left the particular details to the sheriffs. Further acts concerning bail legislation were attempts to make the requirements more ethical and standardized. The Petition of Right of 1628 guaranteed no imprisonment without the due process of law, and the Habeas Corpus Act of 1677 stated that a magistrate "shall discharge the said prisoner from his imprisonment taking his or their recognizance, with one or more sureties." These bail laws were generally observed in colonial America.
  
  

American Bail Beginnings

• After American independence, changes were made to adapt bail law to American beliefs and remove regal provisions, as the United States could no longer ensure the protections of English law. The individual colonies enacted their own bail laws, and these laws generally forbade excessive bail requirements and refused bail to those charged with "crimes punishable by life or limb." The Eighth Amendment to the Bill of Rights, drafted in 1789, includes a clause prohibiting excessive bail.
  
  

Modern Legislation

• Throughout the history of bail legislature, the fundamental recurring issues have been excessive bail, offenses considered bailable and legislation aimed at preventing abuses of the two. In 1946, Rule 46 of Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure clearly differentiated between bail before and after conviction and made the 1789 Bill of Rights Act the standard for release. The Bail Reform Act of 1966 provided for a suspect's release with as little burden as necessary. Due to a rise in criminal acts committed by people out on bail, a study of the Bail Reform Act was made and changes were adopted in 1970, allowing judges to weigh a suspect's flight risk and danger to the community before setting bail.