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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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A History of Ideas

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Factual

Factual: History

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the work of key philosophers and their theories.

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A History of Ideas: Historian Alice Taylor on Habeas Corpus

What Is Justice?

10/04/2015

Historian Alice Taylor on Habeas Corpus

BBC Radio 4 - A History of Ideas, Historian Alice Taylor on Habeas Corpus

Historian Alice Taylor on the slippery justice of extrajudicial detention.

Historian Alice Taylor on the slippery justice of extrajudicial detention, throughout history and today.

Historian Alice Taylor explores the idea of justice through history, through the lens of power. Who holds the power? Who SHOULD hold the power? Who does that power serve? And who should it protect?

One way in which the justice system can remove the power of a citizen is by locking them up, but there are strict laws about how and when that can be done. The writ of Habeas Corpus, part of our legal system almost since the time of Magna Carta, is designed to protect subjects from being imprisoned unlawfully. But who this writ really serves is a more complicated question. Alice follows the legal and historical trail to find out who really decides what justice is.

Producer: Emily Knight.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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A History of Ideas

Historian Alice Taylor on Habeas Corpus

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