what is Habeas Corpus, and why did Abraham Lincoln suspend it ?
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It’s a suspension of due process. Normally it’s an arrest followed by a PC hearing, trial, blah blah. If HC is suspended then it’s basically a free for fall.
It seems like everyone summed it up pretty well, from my understanding, it’s the due process of proving that said person being arrested is being arrested properly.
As to why anyone would suspend it, I imagine like mentioned before in time of rebellion it allows military police to arrest people and present why later in an effort to stop the rebellion and once everything is “stabilized” and I use that loosely, allows the people who actually started it to be found out.
Long winded here, imagine a big riot causing mayhem destroying everything, instead of individually proving the person you accuse in said riot did indeed participate and here’s the evidence. You brig everyone, stop the chaos, figure out logistics later.
It’s the requirement that a person under arrest has to be brought before a court of law before being punished. He suspended it because of the nature of a Civil War, ie there are people all over that may side with the enemy. And they may do something like sabotage or run to the South to join an army. And since treason is really hard to actually convict someone of in the US, suspending habeas corpus meant these people could just be thrown in jail without worrying about a trial.
Habeus corpus requires, when it’s invoked, that a person be brought before the court for release from custody unless probable cause to detain them can be shown. It’s used all time in an effort to get released from custody. The main purpose is to prevent unjust detentions
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