Habeas Corpus is the primary means whereby an individual who is incarcerated can challenge the lawfullness of that detention. It has its origins in 14thC Britain but was formalised in 1679 with the Habeas Corpus Act. With the establishment of the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution a writ of Habeas Corpus become one of inalienable right.
The University of Chicago has
the complete Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 online. The act's preamble explains why it is necessary:
Whereas great delays have been used by sheriffs, gaolers and other officers, to whose custody any of the King's subjects have been committed for criminal or supposed criminal matters, in making returns of writs of habeas corpus to them directed, by standing out an alias and pluries habeas corpus, and sometimes more, and by other shifts to avoid their yielding obedience to such writs, contrary to their duty and the known laws of the land, whereby many of the King's subjects have been and hereafter may be long detained in prison, in such cases where by law they are bailable, to their great charges and vexation:
Basically it is to stop indefinite and arbitrary detention from the executive. Habeas Corpus is a writ to appeal to the judicial against executive tyranny. It allows a prisoner to sue the executive for their freedom or have a charge leveraged against them.
II. For the prevention whereof, and the more speedy relief of all persons imprisoned for any such criminal or supposed criminal matters; ...
That whensoever any person or persons shall bring any habeas corpus directed unto any sheriff or sheriffs, gaoler, minister or other person whatsoever, for any person in his or her custody, and the said writ shall be served upon the said officer, or left at the gaol or prison with any of the under-officers, under-keepers or deputy of the said officers or keepers, that the said officer or officers, his or their under-officers, under-keepers or deputies, shall within three days after the service thereof as aforesaid
...
and shall then likewise certify the true causes of his detainer or imprisonment,
Badly chopped up unfortunately, but it is a rambling piece of legislation. Interesting to note that it demands action within three days of the writ being issued.
The
history of Habeas Corpus is centred in English law and comes from the judicial asserting its right to review the executive. Initially it was just a convention, but in 1679 became a legislative process. With the establishment of the US Republic it became an entrenched constitutional right except for certain circumstances. Today the US Supreme Court re-asserted that Habeas Corpus was a liberty that an individual held
which could not be intruded upon by the executive or legislative [pdf].
From the decision:
A brief account of the writ's history and origins shows that protection for the habeas privilege was one of the few safeguards of liberty specified in a Constitution that, at the outset, had no Bill of Rights; in the system the Framers conceived, the writ has a centrality that must inform proper interpretation of the Suspension Clause.
That the Framers considered the writ a vital instrument for the protection of individual liberty is evident from the care taken in the Suspension Clause to specify the limited grounds for its suspension: The writ may be suspended only when public safety requires it in times of rebellion or invasion.
The Clause is designed to protect against cyclical abuses of the writ by the Executive and Legislative Branches. It protects detainee rights by a means consistent with the Constitution's essential design, ensuring that, except during periods of formal suspension, the Judiciary will have a time-tested device, the writ, to maintain the "delicate balance of governance." Separation-of-powers principles, and the history that influenced their design, inform the Clause's reach and purpose.
Habeas Corpus is also important as a mechanism by which the judicature can assert the
principle of Judicial Review over the constitution, executive and legislature. The decision is a long one and is more than just Habeas Corpus, there are all manners of grey which are now painted black and white, such as the constitution being binding on the US Government and not being absent extra-territorially.
U.S. has now lost 75 percent of Guantanamo habeas cases. From the article;
The U.S. government has won just 14 of the 51 decided cases filed by prisoners at Guantanamo, although an appeals court has found a flaw in one of the 14 rulings and ordered a new review in the case of Algerian captive Belkacem Bensayah.
Apparently there are still one hundred and eighty one people held in Guantanamo Bay and there are one hundred more
habeas corpus cases to go. I wonder why the other fourteen were denied habeas corpus?
The removal of detainees by the executive from the judicial system is an example of a state of exception where individuals can be placed completely outside of the law. The habeas cases being lost are examples of the judicial clinging back its independence the normative right of individuals to under the law rather than the arbitrary will of the executive; no matter how justified by emergency the absence of law and political rights may seem.
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Most Popular Restaurants in Phoenix
Phoenix Eats Out is the restaurant review site for
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Scottsdale and
Old Town Scottsdale which lists the modernist and contemporary restaurants, taverns and bars in the greater Phoenix area.
This is the list of the most popular restaurants pages from phoenixeatsout.com that have been viewed the most;
My personal favourite restaurants in Phoenix are
AZ88,
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Grazie,
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Arizona is an outdoor state and has lots of hiking in the city and around the state. Phoenix is unusual for most cities in having several large mountains in the center of the city with great hiking. Anyone who comes to Phoenix has to do the
Echo Canyon trail on Camelback and the
Summit Hike on Squaw Peak or Piesta Peak. The views of the city, suburbs and surrounding mountains are wonderful from Camelback and Piesta Peak.
For more experienced hikers there is the McDowell Mountains in North Scottsdale that has several difficult and strenuous hikes in
Tom's Thumb and
Bell Pass. Alternatively, you can hike the highest mountain in Arizona. At 12,600 feet
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Alternate Australian Constitutions
Between 2004 and 2009 this site,
southsearepublic.org, was a constitutional blog based on scoop which focused on Australian and global constitutional issues.
One of the strongest aspects of it was the development of constitutions by those involved in the blog. These constitutions are the outcome:
The constitutions were built using principles from Montesquieu's separation of powers, the enlightnment's universal political rights and the ancient Athenian technology of sortition and choice by lot.
Archives For South Sea Republic
South Sea Republic started in 2004 as an Australian constitutional blog in 2004 based on scoop software. It was an immigrative outgrowth of Kuro5hin. The archives for each year since then;
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Who Is Cam Riley
I am an Australian living in the United States as a permanent resident.
I am a software developer by trade and mostly work in Java and jump between middleware and front end.
I originally worked in the New York area of the United States in telecommunications before moving to Washington DC and
working in a mix of telecommunications, energy and ITS. I started my own software company before heading out to
Arizona and working with Shutterfly. Since then I have joined a startup in the Phoenix area and am thoroughly enjoying myself.
I do a lot of photography which I post on this website, but also on flickr. I have a photo-journalistic website which lists
the modernist and contemporary restaurants in phoenix. I have a site on the
Australian Flying Corps [AFC] which has been around since the 1990s and which I unfortunately
lost the .org URL to during a life event; however, it is under the
www.australianflyingcorps.com URL now.
The AFC website has gone through several iterations since the 90s and the two most recent are
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2004-2002) and
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2002-1999) which are good places to start.
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