Habeus corpus originated in the English courts. To follow up on Galway's post I thought I'd touch on the two main different types of legal systems in the world.
One system is based on Roman law and the other on the English common law. Roman law is based on the rights of the state and it gives permissions for citizens to do certain things. For example a law may say that you are allowed to do X, Y and Z because the state gives permission.
Common law builds up over time from court decisions and legislation commonly says that you cannot do certain things. For example you can do whatever you like but you cannot do A, B and C because it infringes the rights of others, or you can do other things but you have to do it like so.
The split in the different types of systems follows broadly colonial lines, so the USA has a common law system (though its now a hybrid of the two) as do most ex-English colonies. Scotland and most ex-French and Spanish colonies have Roman law systems.
In my opinion most countries are having a gradual shift towards state control and this means a shift towards the Roman law system. I feel this is as a response to things like terrorism or external threats, not because of some conspiracy, and this is why habeus corpus is gradually being eroded - the state doing what it wants in order to protect the state and its peoples.
Personally I don't have a problem with it as long as it is for the right reasons. What the "right reasons" are is worthy of debate. Then the problem becomes how those reasons are applied.
Hood
Caveats
The above is a very general outline, for a better and fuller explanation do your own research. Any opinions expressed are my own and have nothing to do with previous posts or opinions expressed by anyone on this forum but instead are formed from my own life experiences and from what I do in my work.
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