Habeas Corpus Paper

By definition the word Habeas Corpus mean “you have the body”, is a term that represents an important right granted to individuals in America and other nations (Kelly, 2014). Its roots come from England and are found all throughout our history, such as the Civil War and currently the War on terrorism.
The Writ of Habeas Corpus specifically refers to the right to challenge one's detention. It is also the state's ability to force someone to appear in court. By allowing an independent judge to review the basis of a person’s detention and order the detainee’s release if the grounds are unlawful, habeas corpus serves as a bulwark against arbitrary arrest, torture, and extrajudicial killings. This right, whose evolution was largely driven by historic struggles to impose limits on the power of the monarch, is today widely protected in domestic and international law. It was common in England, in the period of the conflict between Protestants and Catholics, to be held indefinitely in the Tower of London without trial. Political prisoners disappeared because they had not broken the law, but have opposed the crown's policies. When the term first came into widespread use in medieval England, a "writ of habeas corpus" was simply a subpoena. A king or local official could impose a "writ of habeas corpus" to force someone to appear and testify. But over time, it took on a more libertarian meaning. By the time England's Habeas Corpus Act came into effect in 1679, it was understood as a civil right protecting the populace from being arrested without charge. In America, the Writ of Habeas Corpus was proudly continued after freedom from England had been established and is a major part of the American legal system.
To break it down in more lament term, one cannot be detained by a government, before being brought to a court and explaining the charges against him/her. The act is an important article written into the constitution of the US and is considered be the “great writ of liberty” (Kelly, 2014).There are two important factors that go along with its Latin meaning previously mentioned. First, Habeas Corpus was enacted to protect an individuals from the detainment by the government, and given a due process through their legal system. If a prisoner wins at one tribunal, that successful defense may be ignored. He may simple be tried again until the government wins” (Foley, 2008).The second, being writ which is a legal document in courts name to a jailor for example, to act or not act in some way. The judge must decide whether the reason for detention is valid, and, second, assuming the reason is valid, he must decide whether there is sufficient evidence to support the detention (wiseGeek, 2004). The US adopted this act from Great Britain, and the earliest version of Habeas Corpus appeared in the Magna Charta “a Latin phrase meaning “Great Charter” in June of 1215. The person who enacted this law was King John of England, he proclaim certain liberties and accept that his will was not arbitrary- for example by explicitly accepting that no freeman could be punished except though the law of the land, a right that still exists today (Holtz,1974). Now to make it relevant to United States, we use it to appeal state convictions to the federal courts when a person who has been convicted of a crime feels his constitutional rights were violated on the state level. The only person that can actually suspend this act is the president, under (Article I, Section 9, and Clause 2), states: “The Privileges of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended unless when in Cases of Rebellion of Invasion the public Safety may require it.” (Popwitz, 2008). This actually happen under the reign of President Lincoln during the civil war almost 143 years ago. (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953–1955). After President Lincoln, previous president have use this law to their advantage, for example what the Bush administration would do to the detainee from the Middle East. They would detain them in Guantanamo bay “where there are no such Habeas Corpus Law” (Kelly, 2008), and interrogate them till they got the information that was needed at the time. On a personal level, I find it a bit troubling that federal habeas courts are obliged to show deference to unexplained state-court decisions. In the absence of any explanation, it is impossible to know whether a court considered — or was even aware of — a defendant’s arguments. A defendant should be entitled to a fair hearing on his or her claims for post-conviction relief! When the public is afraid, the rights of criminal defendants and people that we hate are the first to go. Habeas Corpus is the tool that politicians will attack again and again because there is little public opposition to the repressive "solutions" to a national crisis. No politician ever got elected by promising to protect the rights of the criminally accused.
Other countries that use the system would be The Republic of Ireland, by the Habeas Corpus Act of 1862 (20&26 Vic. C. 20), was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that limited the right of the English courts to issue writ of Habeas Corpus in British colonies of dominions (Lauterpacht, Elihu (1989).

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