Law Reform Commission Meeting on The Rule of Law and The Response To COVID-19

In early July, the 4 law commission of England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Jersey held a joint annual meeting to discuss government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

They recently published the proceedings from that gathering:

"Striking the balance between the urgency of the responses required by a public health crisis and the rule of law is a challenge for every legitimate government. Achieving the balance not only protects human rights and safeguards institutions but may also help to support the measures required by the emergency by sustaining public trust in the institutions and in the legitimacy and necessity of the measures introduced. It is an issue that has been considered in both international instruments and national legal frameworks ... Ten principles to reconcile the immediate exigencies of a crisis with the long-term legitimacy offered by the rule of law may be derived from these sources: legality, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, time ii limits, non-derogable rights, international obligations, parliamentary scrutiny, effective remedy and transparency." 

"Bodies engaged with law reform such as the Law Commissions attending this online Joint Annual Meeting of the four neighbouring Law Commissions have a role in supporting governments achieve the best outcomes. The meeting presented a timely opportunity to take stock of what measures had been introduced and to evaluate their compatibility with human rights and the rule of law (...)" 

"Presentations were made by each of the Law Commissions for England and Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Jersey. The Law Commission of England and Wales gave an oral presentation about potential post-COVID law reform priorities and did not present a formal paper to the meeting. The papers prepared by or digests of the presentations from each of the Law Commissions of Ireland, Scotland and Jersey follow."