Lord Donaldson of Lyminton MR said: ‘Chapters 39 and 40 of Magna Carta provide:
No freeman shall be arrested or imprisoned or disseised or outlawed or exiled or in any way destroyed, neither will we set forth against him or send against him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers and by the law of the land.
To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay right or justice.
The duty of the courts is to uphold this classic statement of the rule of law and if, in particular circumstances, a writ of habeas corpus is the appropriate procedure for doing so, it is wholly immaterial that the practical effect may be the same as enjoining the Crown.’
and ‘The great writ of habeas corpus has over the centuries been a flexible remedy adaptable to changing circumstances.’
Judges:
Lord Donaldson of Lyminton MR
Citations:
[1992] 2 QB 244
Statutes:
Constitutional
Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.470606
