<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This paper provides a comparison of the regulation of the pandemic in the Netherlands and Poland in order to determine whether a country with a high level of adherence to the rule of law in normal circumstances would also maintain this adherence in exceptional circumstances to a greater degree than a country with an initially lower level of adherence. The central questions posed in the paper are the following: what is the role of the rule of law in regulating the pandemic in the Netherlands and Poland? Is it true that the Dutch government was more successful in preserving legality than its Polish counterpart. By comparing the regulations in the two countries, the paper explores what role the rule of law – in particular, the principle of legality – may play in a crisis situation like this. According to Carl Schmitt, in a state of emergency, order has to be restored first before a return to the ‘normal’ legal order is possible. Does the regulation of the COVID-19 pandemic in the two countries confirm Schmitt’s claim or not?</p>
</abstract>

This paper provides a comparison of the regulation of the pandemic in the Netherlands and Poland in order to determine whether a country with a high level of adherence to the rule of law in normal circumstances would also maintain this adherence in exceptional circumstances to a greater degree than a country with an initially lower level of adherence. The central questions posed in the paper are the following: what is the role of the rule of law in regulating the pandemic in the Netherlands and Poland? Is it true that the Dutch government was more successful in preserving legality than its Polish counterpart. By comparing the regulations in the two countries, the paper explores what role the rule of law – in particular, the principle of legality – may play in a crisis situation like this. According to Carl Schmitt, in a state of emergency, order has to be restored first before a return to the ‘normal’ legal order is possible. Does the regulation of the COVID-19 pandemic in the two countries confirm Schmitt’s claim or not?

The Utopia of Legality: A Comparison of the Dutch and Polish Approaches to the Regulation of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands Theologische Universiteit Kampen

Białostockie Studia Prawnicze

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This paper provides a comparison of the regulation of the pandemic in the Netherlands and Poland in order to determine whether a country with a high level of...

The Utopia of Legality: A Comparison of the Dutch and Polish Approaches to the Regulation of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Published Online: Jul 09, 2022

Page range: 9 - 30

Received: Jan 30, 2022

Accepted: Apr 29, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15290/bsp.2022.27.02.01

Keywords
legality, pandemic regulations, restrictions on fundamental rights and freedoms, the rule of law, utopia

© 2022 Bart van Klink et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The Utopia of Legality: A Comparison of the Dutch and Polish Approaches to the Regulation of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Published Online: Jul 09, 2022

Page range: 9 - 30

Received: Jan 30, 2022

Accepted: Apr 29, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15290/bsp.2022.27.02.01

Keywordslegality, pandemic regulations, restrictions on fundamental rights and freedoms, the rule of law, utopia

© 2022 Bart van Klink et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
legality, pandemic regulations, restrictions on fundamental rights and freedoms, the rule of law, utopia