Such an inquiry has long been the English practice.

The hearing before the committing magistrate, if any contest is
made, generally does not take place until some time after the
arrest. Each party is apt to wish time to prepare for it.
Meanwhile, the defendant can generally claim the privilege of
release on bail, unless the crime be capital and the
circumstances strongly point to his guilt. Here our practice
differs from that of an English court of inquiry. While there
bail must be allowed in case of misdemeanors and may be in case
of felonies; the amount required is frequently so large as to be
prohibitory.[Footnote: Maitland, "Justice and Police," 131.]

The essence of bail is that the prisoner should enter into an
obligation, together with one or more others of pecuniary
responsibility as his sureties, to appear whenever he may be
called for in the course of the pending proceeding, on pain of
forfeiting a certain sum of money. All our Constitutions forbid
the taking of excessive bail. The sum should be large enough to
give a reasonable assurance that he will not allow it to be
forfeited. In fixing the amount, which in each case is left to
the good judgment of the officer before whom it is taken, special
regard should be had to the gravity of the offense, the nature of
the punishment in case of conviction, and the means of the
defendant or his friends. If too large an amount is demanded,
the defendant can get relief on a writ of _habeas corpus_
issued by some superior judge.

This privilege of bail in most States extends to, or at the
discretion of the court may be allowed at, any stage of a cause,