We encounter topics which are susceptible to substantive evolution all the
time. Habeas corpus is a good example of a common tool used every day in the
nation’s courts. It has an enormous history, and judges, even judges in high
courts, are as capable as lawyers of litigating such cases without paying much
attention to the substantive law of the matter.9 Surely, it is plain that both lawyers
and judges make better law for the future if they understand what the law has
been.