The Habeas Corpus law traces back to the 1600s in England and is still in use in the United States today.
Habeas Corpus is “a writ requiring a person to be brought before a judge or court, especially to determine whether the person has been detained or imprisoned illegally. The right to obtain such a writ as protection against illegal detention or imprisonment,” according to the California Bail Education textbook. “(It is) a writ or order issued by a court to a person having custody of another, commanding him or her to produce the detained person in order to determine the legality of the detention. The write of habeas corpus is of English origin; its original purpose was to liberate illegally detained persons, and it is still a protection against arbitrary imprisonment.”
The Blackstones Commentaries, originally known as the Commentaries on the Laws of England is an 18th-century treatise on common law that is still in use in courts today.
They are divided into four volumes — on the rights of persons, the rights of things, of private wrongs and of public wrongs — and are very influential in the American court system.
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