. >> professor paul halliday, what is habeas corpus? >> habeas corpus is not only a writ which meant 300 years ago that it was a scrap of parchment that a judge sent to a jailer. ordering matt jailer to bring a named prisoner into his court and along with it what was called a return also had to be on parchment. explained why the jail was holding that prisoner. more than a scrap of parchment even 300 years ago and certainly today habeas corpus stands in our minds not only in lawyers's minds for the idea that no one should be held, constrained in any way against their will by someone else without the loss supervising that constrained in the person of a judge being sure it is okay. >> how did the concept of habeas corpus developed? >> i emphasize the liberal piece of parchment because really habeas corpus is a legal device long before it is an idea that you and i associate with the great writ of liberty or one of the fundamental means by which we insure freedom from constrained. a very common form of process. when you stop to think of it c

. >> well, paul halliday, let's take that back to your article. what kind of history did you invoke in that? >> that's right. i certainly want to be sure that you're listeners know i worked on that with a marvelous colleague here at the law school, ted white, in large part because he knew the american side. i was a specialist in the english practice, and i had been writing and thinking about that practice, and i knew what was going on, let's go ahead and get it out there with the guantanamo business, that the english practice was of enormous interest in the u.s. courts, and to my mind, they didn't understand, and so i started writing this with my colleague, ted, we have to work together on this. i knew he could help me and we could put this into a form to help connect it to american jurisprudence, and that's what we did and why ultimately justice kennedy in the 2008 decision of the case cited the article because we were able to connect the kid of the ideas i mentioned from the english experience, it is thus about the ultimate and unquestionable au

. >> paul halliday is the author published by harvard, "habeas corpus." >> next, kate masur presents a history of washington, d.c., during reconstruction. through her book "an example for all the land." the author recounts the city's many organizations and public works that represented racial equality. the discussion is about an hour. >> good evening. thanks for inviting me to speak here tonight, and also i'd like to thank sabrina for doing such a great job making the arrangements for my visit. what i want to do tonight is talk somewhat briefly and kind of an overview way about what i tried to do in this book at that i wrote. i'm going to talk about it basically in terms of two threads. first, this book is designed to offer an updated history of washington, d.c., during the support and reconstruction that highlights the significance of the national capital or understanding reconstruction writ large. and second, the book makes an argument about the importance of the debate over the meaning of equality in a period after slave emancipation. i want to say something about my approach. i'm

[applause] [inaudible conversations] >> professor paul halliday, what is "habeas corpus"? >> "habeas corpus" is not only that but was given a scrapbook that a judge sent to jail or in ordering the jailer to bring a named prisoner into his court and along with it what was called a return also had to be on parchment. the unexplained way that jailer was holding a prisoner. for more than just a scrap of parchment and i think even 300 years ago and certainly today, habeas corpus stands in our minds not only in lawyer's mind, but white people's minds for the idea that no one should be held constrained in any way against her will by someone else without the law somehow supervising the constraint, without the law in the personal judge according to law. >> out of the concept of habeas corpus realize? >> well, emphasized the literal piece of the parchment because billy pbs is a legal device long before it is an idea, long before the kind of idea you and i associate with the term about the great writ of liberty and it being one of the fundamental means by which we ensure freedom cons