Habeas corpus

Habeas corpus, in common law, a writ ordering that a person held in custody or under arrest be brought before a court to determine whether the dentention is lawful. Habeas corpus (from the Latin “you should have the body”) originated in medieval England and became a major civil right with the 1679 Habeas Corpus Act. It was designed to make sure that arrested individuals received due process of law. Embodied in the U.S. Constitution, habeas corpus may not be suspended except in cases of rebellion or invasion. (President Lincoln suspended it in 1861 at the onset of the Civil War.)