The COVID-19 pandemic not only ravaged human bodies but also had profound and possibly enduring effects on the health of political and legal systems, economies and societies. Almost overnight, governments imposed the severest restrictions in modern times on rights and freedoms, elections, parliaments and courts. Legal and political institutions struggled to adapt, creating a catalyst for democratic decline and catastrophic increases in poverty and inequality. This handbook analyses the global pandemic response through five themes: governance and democracy; human rights; the rule of law; science, public trust and decision making; and states of emergency and exception. Containing 12 thematic commentaries and 25 chapters on countries of diverse size, wealth and experience of COVID-19, it represents the combined effort of more than 50 contributors, including leading scholars and rising voices in the fields of constitutional, international, public health, human rights and comparative law, as well as political science, and science and technology studies. Taking stock after the onset of global emergency, this book provides essential analysis for politicians, policy-makers, jurists, civil society organisations, academics, students and practitioners at both national and international level on the best, and most concerning, practices adopted in response to COVID-19 – and key insights into how states and multilateral institutions should reform, adapt and prepare for future emergencies.

This book examines the ethical, legal and regulatory impacts that COVID-19 has had on our society and institutions.

This book shines a spotlight on the way in which parliamentary scrutiny of regulations provides the primary support for democratic legitimacy for regulations in the UK and Australia. This democratic safeguard is supplemented by public consultation processes. Despite commonly expressed concerns that regulation-making is secretive and undemocratic, it can be recognised to be a democratically sound and important feature of modern law. There are, however, modern practices that remove or limit these safeguards on regulation-making, raising concerns about executive aggrandisement. This book has two aims. The first is to explain the systems of parliamentary scrutiny in the UK and Australia and their historical development. The development of parliamentary checks on regulation-making through the 20th century established the primary basis for the democratic legitimacy of regulations. The second aim is to examine recent developments in regulation-making that avoid or minimise this safeguard. Constitutional changes in the UK, transnational regulation, and emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic have affected regulation-making in a manner that avoids or minimises the parliamentary checks that were carefully developed and implemented in the 20th century. The book contributes to public law in the UK and Australia by analysing recent developments that involve executive over-reach, with reference to the historical development of parliamentary checks on regulation-making.

IMPACTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC Enables Readers to Understand the Impact of International Legislative and Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic The wide array of legal and policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have significant implications regarding the functioning of countries and their respective societies. This book addresses the impact of international legislative and policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in a range of countries. To aid the reader in understanding country-specific developments, each chapter focuses on a specific country and addresses the legal frameworks and policy approaches used to support measures to prevent transmission and otherwise reduce the impact of the virus on society and the economy. Sample topics discussed in the work include: The effect certain policies may have on civil liberties, such as due process, and the right to privacy in specific countries The provision of public goods in the face of the pandemic Policymakers in public health agencies and other branches of government, along with academics studying global pandemic response, homeland security, and emergency management will be able to use this book as a comprehensive resource to understand the current state of COVID-19 policies around the world and the potential future effects of these policies.

This book examines the initial impact of the coronavirus pandemic on global sport and the varying consequences of the sport shutdown on all levels of society. It also considers the many lessons that have been learnt so that sport stakeholders can successfully adjust and operate under the "new normal." Featuring authors, cases and examples from around the world, the book explores the impact of COVID-19 on sport at all levels, from community sport – where local clubs, gyms and development programmes had to find ways to survive with pitches closed and projects cancelled – to the major professional sport leagues and sport mega-events, with events postponed and teams playing in empty stadia. It considers the economic, social and developmental impacts of the pandemic, including physical, mental and social wellbeing, and looks at how key professional and community sport organizations have reacted to the crisis, reflecting on the lessons learnt and preparations for future pandemics and challenges of similar size and significance. With COVID-19 now endemic in the global population, this is an essential reference for anybody working in sport, from students and researchers to managers, policymakers and development officers.

This handbook provides a comprehensive global survey and assessment of the law and policy relating to homelessness prevention. Homelessness is regarded internationally as one of the most pressing issues facing humanity and one of the greatest social challenges of our times. This has been further amplified as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Across the globe, there is an enormous divergence in both experiences of and responses to homelessness from governments and state actors. This handbook examines how different jurisdictions from across all five continents of the world have encountered, framed and responded to homelessness. Written by expert scholars and leaders in their field, the book engages in a multidisciplinary and comparative analysis of homelessness as an issue of acute social concern. Understandings of homelessness are geographically, culturally and historically situated, making analysis of each jurisdiction’s approach by a national expert deeply insightful. The collection examines legal and extra-legal policy interventions targeted at reducing or preventing homelessness from across the globe. Drawing on diverse perspectives, differing cultures and welfare regimes, it thus constitutes a timely evaluation of current approaches to homelessness internationally. This book will appeal to students and scholars of homelessness, sociology, social policy, anthropology, and urban sociology, as well as international and national policymakers.

This book is about heroes of law. It provides examples of when judges have exercised courage, moderation, wisdom, and justice rather than blindly following the law. It also discusses the contentious issue of whether a judge has a moral responsibility to defend the rule of law, regardless of what the law actually states. The work presents a collection of thirteen stories about judges who in different settings have stood up against the authorities and public opinion in the defence of the rule of law. An introductory chapter sets the scene with two examples of situations gone wrong when those applying the law have just followed the demands of those in power. The thirteen stories are followed by two theoretical chapters discussing the moral responsibility of the judge. Finally, the book explores the kind of ethical theory required to guide judges in the assessments they must make, and the choices they have to take in order to fulfil their moral responsibilities. It is argued that the classic virtues of courage, moderation, wisdom, and justice are all qualities that can contribute to both sound judgment and reflection. The book thus seeks to nurture a realistic culture and a tradition of cultivating lawyers who defend the rule of law. Against a background where the history of our legal institutions when put to the test, is largely nothing to be proud of, the work seeks to change this by highlighting and reflecting on the exceptions. The book will be illuminating reading for students and academics working in the areas of Jurisprudence, Legal Ethics, and Legal History.