Parliament itself last week took up the argument recently launched by James Richard Baron Atkin, 74, in one of the most notable dissenting opinions of recent times. Last month Lord Atkin protested against the power of the Home Secretary, under defense legislation, to by-pass the traditional democratic right of habeas corpus and imprison persons at his own discretion, not subject to court interference (TIME, Nov. 17).
In a daylong session Parliament debated an amendment to Regulation 18B that would have allowed anyone held by the Home Secretary to appeal to an "independent tribunal." Defending...