The principle of habeas corpus (Latin for "having the body"), a fundamental guarantee of personal liberty that ensures that no-one can be imprisoned without a specific charge and a proper trial, was passed into law due to a prank. When England's House of Lords met to vote on the principle in 1679, chances of passage were slim until one mischievous vote-tallier counted the "yea" of a very fat peer as ten votes. No-one noticed the joke or called for a recount, and the Act of Habeas Corpus passed into law.