📜 Chapter 1: Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship
1.1.3 Habeas Corpus
1 paragraphs · 2 questions
Habeas corpus is one of the oldest protections a person can have. It is the right to challenge the state when the state holds someone in detention unlawfully. If you are locked up without legal grounds, you are not helpless — you can contest it. This right did not start in Canada. It arrived through English common law, which is one of the sources of Canadian law. It belongs to the same long tradition of ordered liberty that Canadians inherited from Britain.
Key Facts
- Habeas corpus is the right to challenge unlawful detention
- It protects a person held by the state without legal grounds
- It comes from English common law
Test yourself on this topic
2 practice questions from “Habeas Corpus”, each with the answer explained.
- What does habeas corpus give a person the right to do?
- Habeas corpus reaches Canada from which legal tradition?
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