Habeas Corpus

lit. “you shall have the body”

The legal principle, dating from Magna Carta and codified by the 1679 English Habeas Corpus Act, that a person held by the state has the right to be brought before a court that can rule on whether the detention is lawful.

Origin

The full Latin phrase is habeas corpus ad subjiciendum — 'you (the jailer) shall have the body (the prisoner) brought before the court.' If the state cannot show legal grounds for holding someone, the court must release them. It is the central anti-arbitrary-detention safeguard in English-derived legal systems. Suspended only in extraordinary circumstances: Lincoln during the US Civil War, the UK during both World Wars, the US after 9/11 for detainees at Guantánamo (the Supreme Court partially restored it in Boumediene v. Bush, 2008).

Modern usage

Invoked constantly in any debate about extraordinary detention — terrorism suspects, immigration holds, military prisoners. 'Suspension of habeas corpus' is the standard journalistic phrase for any wartime erosion of detention rights. The Latin gives the principle gravitas in news copy that 'must show the prisoner' would not have.

Magna Carta

The 1215 English charter — extracted from a reluctant King John by his barons — that for the first time put a king under written law.

concept

Politics & Statecraft

Constitution

The fundamental law of a state — usually written — that defines the structure of government, allocates power, and (typically) lists protected rights.

character

Politics & Statecraft

Abraham Lincoln

The American president who held the Union together through civil war, freed the slaves, and was assassinated five days after the war ended.

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