Habeas Corpus Research Paper

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This essay focuses mainly on the general meaning of the right of habeas corpus according to the U.S constitution, habeas relationship with civil liberties, historical evolution and the American and English traditions of the writ. Sample cases in history of suspension of freedom of habeas corpus and today’s applicability of the writ is also provided. The paper also provides and analysis of the significance of habeas corpus to the current U.S. situation in tackling terrorism. At the same time, it explains interpretation
Habeas corpus originated mainly from Anglo-Saxon common law. It came after the 1215 Magna Carta. Since then, the practice surrounding the Habeas corpus writ has evolved. The writ from has been obliged to grant an appearance of a detained person to be brought before a judge. Originally the habeas corpus was a ‘privileged writ’ of the King and courts. However, it has evolved over time it has into a prerogative writ started by the person jailed or custodian rather than by the King and courts. The habeas corpus comes from the fact that that the government must either incriminate any accused or set him free. Compared to other civil liberties, the writ of habeas corpus serves the same purpose as freedom of speech. People are provided given the freedom to not only speak the truth, but to also stand in court to provide evidence on some innocence. As well, the entitlement to habeas corpus gives a person privilege to exercise their right to legal representation (Habeas corpus,
The habeas corpus has been suspended three times since the Constitution was ratified. In 1861, the first habeas corpus suspension was made. It happened in Maryland state and some regions in Midwestern. It was done by the then President Abraham Lincoln in reply to riots and local militia force action, as well as the threat that Maryland would split from the Union. Through this suspension Lincoln permitted the detention of militia members, war prisoners, and alleged traitors to be kept in captive for the duration of the civil war without trial. The second suspension occurred in the early 1870s during Reconstruction in response by President Ulysses S. Grant to civil rights violations by the Klan of Ku Klux. It was then restricted to nine counties in South Carolina. President Bush also suspended the right of habeas corpus on 17TH October, 2006. The president passed a given law that suspended the right of habeas corpus to individuals that the government viewed as enemies in the fight against international terror. Several criticisms resulted from this with the law being accused of failing to determine who is and who not any “enemy combatant” is (Walker,