What does habeas corpus mean?

Answer 1

"Let us have the body".

A court issues a writ of habeas corpus to review an order of confinement or detention -- it's how the court asserts jurisdiction and authority to order someone released.

Answer 2

'Habeas corpus' literally means 'you have the body'. It is a very old principle of law that allows someone to petition for release from unlawful detention.

In other words, it means that nobody can be arrested and imprisoned without some good reason--in our case it means there must be formal charges against someone.

Dictators in 3rd World countries often arrest people they consider politically dangerous and imprison them indefinitely (or just kill them). In our system leaders are not supposed to do that. Our Constitution says that a person can't be arrested without 'probable cause', some good reason to suspect that he has committed a crime. And then he must be allowed to get a lawyer, and to have a fair trial in some reasonable amount of time.

But President Bush has decided that this rule doesn't apply to his administration, that he has the right to just pick people up off the street and imprison them in foreign countries and they have no rights in the matter.

Answer 3

In Latin, it literally means "Produce the body."

One of a variety of writs that may be issued to bring a party before a court or judge, having as its function the release of the party from unlawful restraint.

If you are convicted of a crime, your appeal does not overturn the decision, and the Supreme Court refuses certiorari (to hear the matter), you file a Writ of Habeas Corpus as your last resort appeal for release.

Answer 4

habeas corpus is the right to trial by jury started in mideval times

Answer 5

http://www.justiceforkevin.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_corpus