What is Habeus Corpus?

Continuing with the theme of explaining the name of the blog, this post we’re going to talk about Habeus Corpus.

Here the black’s law dictionary definition: “A writ employed to bring a person before a court, most frequently to ensure that the person's imprisonment or detention is not illegal (habeas corpus ad subjiciendum). • In addition to being used to test the legality of an arrest or commitment, the writ may be used to obtain judicial review of (1) the regularity of the extradition process, (2) the right to or amount of bail, or (3) the jurisdiction of a court that has imposed a criminal sentence.”

It’s basically the mechanism by which you appear before the court to say that you have been wrongfully held in custody. It’s a right with a long history in the common law system and one that our founding fathers were determined to protect in the Constitution. Article I, Section 9, Clause 2 states: “The Privileges of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.” 

Note this clause is not a part of the later added Bill of Rights, it’s in the Constitution itself. It was that important. Want to know more in layman’s terms, here’s a good brief description: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/habeas_corpus=

But why use it for the name of this blog? Well, partly alliteration, but also this blog is about social change through technology and how that impacts organizations and lawyers’ ability to impact social change through the legal system and habeus corpus was really the first cause of action created in the court purely intended to right an injustice and so it seems fitting that as we continue in the spirit of fighting injustice we highlight the earliest mechanism used in our legal system!

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