COVID-19 in Iceland: The Need for Constitutional Justification and Checks and Balances

At the beginning of this pandemic in Iceland, the sense of urgency, uncertainty, and necessity seemed to be front and centre. New and far-reaching restrictions were seen, at least by some, as ‘a necessary evil’ in order to protect us from a new and, in a sense, invisible threat. The learning curve f...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hafsteinn Dan Kristjánsson
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:German
English
Published: Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog GmbH
Subjects:
Law
K
Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/44ee9480b29448a2843970a2ebf2eb74
Description
Summary:At the beginning of this pandemic in Iceland, the sense of urgency, uncertainty, and necessity seemed to be front and centre. New and far-reaching restrictions were seen, at least by some, as ‘a necessary evil’ in order to protect us from a new and, in a sense, invisible threat. The learning curve for the government was also steep. According to our law, the government had a wide discretion to address this novel situation. Less than a year later, this is still true to a certain extent. However, whereas the necessity to act was predominant in the first stages of the pandemic, questions of constitutionality and legality are now moving to the forefront.