After keeping the public waiting anxiously for years, just months before the handover, the administration has finally presented to Legco the bill to preserve the cornerstone of the courts' power to protect individuals against secret or unlawful detention by the executive.
The writ of habeas corpus is older than the Magna Carta. The first Habeas Corpus Act was enacted in 1640.
They are given effect in Hong Kong through the Application of English Law Ordinance, due to lapse upon the change of sovereignty. 'Localisation' by means of incorporating the 1679 and 1816 Acts into the Supreme Court Ordinance is necessary if the Hong Kong courts are to continue to exercise this power after July 1.
This is one of the swiftest and most powerful writs of the court. A writ may be applied for on behalf of a person under detention. Within the shortest possible time, the authority detaining this person will be ordered by the court to bring him to court, and there to justify the lawfulness of that detention. Unless the lawfulness of the detention is justified, the court will order the release of that person.
Given the fears of the public of secret arrests and political prisoners, the importance of this powerful safeguard of personal liberty cannot be exaggerated.
What we need is not just the writ in name. Not just the illusion of having habeas corpus provisions added to our law. We must have the writ in full force, unweakened and uncomplicated.
