Pandemic and Constitutional Degradation, a ‘Long Covid’ Effect. A Comparative Law Overview

Introduction

Commentary: Standard of Care During a Crisis: What Should a Surgeon Know (and Do)?

In the context of increasing global instability and accelerating processes of transformation of political and legal systems, the question of maintaining state stability through the lens of modernization of constitutional mechanisms has become particularly pressing. Constitutional systems, which traditionally served as stabilizing frameworks of state power, are increasingly facing challenges brought about not only by internal socio-political contradictions but also by external transnational factors. Contemporary constitutionalism, undergoing qualitative changes, is encountering challenges arising from the hybridization of forms of government, the strengthening of executive power, and changes in the nature of political legitimacy. The subject of this study is modified forms of constitutional mechanisms aimed at ensuring state stability in a changing normative and institutional environment. Special attention is paid to the institutional, normative, and functional aspects of the transformation of constitutional stability. The analysis covers both general patterns and the peculiarities of individual legal systems that demonstrate alternative models of stability. The methodology of the research is based on an interdisciplinary approach that combines doctrinal analysis, a comparative legal method, and elements of political and legal hermeneutics. The emphasis is placed on identifying stable trends and varied forms of modernization by comparing constitutional practices of different states. The novelty of the study lies in revealing the hidden mechanisms of adaptation of constitutional governance to the changing conditions of socio-political existence. The author proposes a conceptual distinction between formal stability and functional resilience, highlighting the non-linearity of these processes. The work substantiates that the modification of constitutional mechanisms is not merely a reaction to challenges but a form of institutional evolution, linked to a change in the paradigm of constitutionalism. It concludes that hybrid models of stability are being formed, combining elements of traditional and innovative solutions. Alongside this, the significance of political adaptability is increasing as the ability of legal and institutional systems to respond to challenges without undermining the legitimate basis of power. Political adaptability implies not only the flexibility of norms but also the capacity of institutions for internal restructuring, maintaining functionality in times of crisis, and incorporating new actors and meanings into the legal framework.

COVID-19, leadership and lessons from physics.

Comparative law or legal system is a scientific activity in comparing one legal system with another legal system, both the legal system between countries and the legal system in a particular country by comparing the legal system that used to apply with the legal system that is currently in force in a particular country, to find and find similarities and differences both in terms of its advantages and disadvantages in the legal system. In order to get an explanation to assess the effectiveness of the legal system. The legal aid system for the poor in Indonesia to access justice, until now, still felt not practical to provide meaningful benefits for the poor in Indonesia when facing legal problems.

In times of crisis, there is reduced demand for consumer durables and the manufacturing industry tends to suffer from excess capacity. Due to liquidity problems, the banking sector too suffers critically. Generally, one observes an accelerated merger control activity across all the sectors, but banking and manufacturing, tend to be most active in terms of merger and acquisitions during times of economic and financial crisis. The present article discusses the substantive and procedural issues in merger control and how the competition authorities respond to crisis by showing flexibility in merger control. The present article presents a critical analysis of treatment of efficiencies and the failing firm defence, with examples of case laws from both sides of the Atlantic. The article concludes by contemplating how merger control can be a constructive instrument to drive the economy towards better macroeconomic fundamentals, without itself being a subject of abuse in the hands of opportunistic enterprises.

This paper draws on new comparative data from these three cycles of Crimean constitutional process (1992-1994, 1995-1998 and 2014-2018) to provide evidence for a novel approach to changes in political and legal systems - an approach that explains both the impact of constitutional crises as well as the robustness of the systems themselves to a more serious destabilization. Our analyses suggest that the political and legal systems have an inbuilt mechanism that saves them from overheating in times of crisis. The mechanism operates simultaneously on the level of law enforcement and at the level of lawmaking. It is based on the assumption that the political elites are risk-averse. While they react to constitutional crises by looking for new solutions, they mostly do so in “restrained” forms of legal regulation where the consequences of change are easily comprehensible. In political and legal systems that are already relatively complex internal structure, however, the political elite shy away from experimentation and rather rely on tested strategies. Constitutional crises therefore tend to stabilize unstable systems and to destabilize stable ones. They rarely push complex systems over a critical threshold of no return. Based on a positive and contrasting comparison of the three different phases of Crimean constitutional process the period 1992-1994 considered as a transformative constitutional regime in statu nascendi (in the formation stage) with signs of restrained independence in rulemaking. Content analysis of the Crimean constitutions in times of Ukraine (1992, 1995, 1998), fundamental amendments to them and changes in the current legislation, revealed the so-called "negative integration" of the autonomous region into Ukraine (1995-1998). As a result, the legal space of post-2014 was characterized by the presence of both new, not yet tested, and the former, several modified institutions, on the basis of which the current Constitution of the Republic of Crimea 2014 was created. The article presents quantitative data and qualitative "illustrations" of various indicators of the legislation of the Republic of Crimea as a normative component of the legal system using a functional research method.

“Something has to change”

ResponseIt is good for the further development of historical research into the police force that the reviews not only extol the virtues of the study in question, but also ask pertinent questions about the basic principles behind the research, the way in which the subject was methodically examined, and how the findings were edited. The question in the critique written by Van Doorslaer concerning the magistrature’s role in how the Dutch police operated during the German Occupation, is a matter that certainly deserves more attention than it received in this study. However, anyone wishing to give an informed answer to this question would not only have to scrutinize the relationship between the magistrates and the police, but would also have to closely examine the relationship between the government and the police as well. This is because in the Netherlands the government traditionally has a lot to say with regard to the police. The question, therefore, is how did both of these institutions function towards the police during the German Occupation. The core question in the comments made by Jansen is whether enough attention was given to the position of the police in the constitutional state. He is of the opinion that the problematic matter of police authority was inadequately dealt with. Indeed, this issue was largely bypassed, although this was not the case with regard to the position of the police in the constitutional state. Its relationship with government and the legal system, in other words, how the police force is embedded within the state system, is traditionally seen as one of the key questions in this context. Spierenburg argues in his critique that the politicalorganisational developments are dealt with in too biased a fashion in this study and so the professional developments in the police machinery and the changes in the monopoly on the use of force are skirted over. This statement cuts no ice for a variety of reasons. The main one is that the changes in the monopoly on the use of force and in the police profession take shape, first and foremost, in the organisational development of the police. This link between them is continuously and rigourously examined in this study. This review is part of the discussion forum 'De geschiedenis van de Nederlandse politie' (Cyrille Fijnaut).

Current and past economic and financial crises have changed the behaviour of busi-ness leaders, managers, and investors, as well as accounting professionals (financial accountants, bookkeepers, management accountants, auditors). The fear of further financial crises has forced accounting reforms, the revision of auditing standards, and a restructuring of corporate governance systems in many countries to provide a relia-ble framework for companies’ activities and performance. The International Federa-tion of Accountants (IFAC) board founded the International Ethics Standard Board for Accountants (IESBA), which issued the Code of Ethics for Professional Account-ants (IFAC Code) as a set of globally accepted guidelines for ethical conduct. The first version was published in 1990, and it was recommended (but not mandatory) for IFAC members to adopt. Establishing a unified code of ethics was one of the major achievements of IFAC that provided solid guidelines for accounting professionals across the world. Prior research indicates that the IFAC Code has been moderately successful in the attempt to harmonise ethics standards for professional accountants worldwide. As globalisation continues to affect business culture and technology, and, consequently, the focus of business, the accounting profession must keep pace and reassess its role in the world economy, but also in society. This is especially important during economic and financial crises, when the classic entrepreneurial model is not sustainable. Not only can a code of ethics can provide a framework for appropriate employee behaviour and establish a better corporate culture, it can also improve lead-ership, help organisations to comply with government guidelines, and enable organisa-tions to be more socially responsible. Many ethical issues could be explored in the con-text of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), not only in times of crisis. The high-profile ethical failures of professional accountants in recent decades taught us the importance of ethics education. A professional accountant’s responsibility is not exclusively to satisfy the needs of an individual client or employing organization. All accountants should act in the public interest by complying with fundamental ethical principles (integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality, and professional behaviour) since these principles establish the standard of expected behaviour. Therefore, accounting ethics should be promoted much more in education and in practice. Accounting and business educators have a special responsibility to ex-amine and teach ethics in the broader context of globalisation. Regulations and volun-tary standards aim at minimizing fraud and manipulation of business information, but ethical behaviour is the key to achieving an honest business environment and sustaina-ble growth. The articles submitted for the special edition will be aimed at clarifying knowledge about ethics from the perspective of the accounting profession. Suggested topics Taking the above into consideration, it is of great importance to obtain answers to the following questions: 1. What are the cross-cultural influences of accounting-related ethical dilemmas? 2. How can accounting ethics affect capital markets? 3. What are the practical barriers for accountants that make ethical behaviour in times of crisis more difficult? 4. What affects the adoption and implementation of the IFAC Code? 5. What is the role of auditors in promoting a higher level of ethical behaviour? 6. Why is accounting education so important in the development of ethics awareness in business and accounting practice? 7. What are the approaches in accounting ethics education? 8. What can be done to improve the quality of accounting ethics education? 9. What measures should be used to enhance accounting ethics? 10. How do accountants deal with the situations and circumstances that might create threats to their compliance with the fundamental principles and can their behaviour be compromised? 11. Which are the safeguards that accountants apply as a way of addressing the threats? 12. What is the role of the codes of ethics for management accountants developed by IMA and CIMA in resolving ethical dilemmas in the area of management accounting? Articles (ca. 40,000 characters) may present the results of research conducted using different methods, e.g., theoretical approaches or empirical approaches (surveys, case studies). We want to underline that the articles should pertain to the theme of the special issue of ZTR and should not have been published earlier in hard copy nor electronic version, whether in magazines, books, or conference materials. The deadline for submitting papers is 31st March 2021. The deadline for the publication of ZTR is 31st October 2021. Each manuscript should be prepared in accordance with the guidance given in the sec-tion “Instructions for authors” of our website: http://ztr.skwp.pl/resources/html/cms/FORAUTHORS. Articles should be submitted through the online ICI Publishers Panel: http://ztr.skwp.pl/resources/html/cms/DEPOSITSMANUSCRIPT When submitting an article, please enter that your article is for Special Issue 2021 with Guest Editor in the additional comment in the Publishers Panel Index Copernicus system. Coordinator of the Special Issue of ZTR with Guest Editor: dr hab. Halina Waniak- -Michalak (ztr@skwp.pl)

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented an extreme challenge to legal and political structures around the globe. Institutions are struggling to cope with this new reality, none more strenuously than our legal systems which have rapidly introduced and frequently amended criminal and other sanctions in the hopes of curbing the spread of the virus. In such circumstances, the old adage that desperate times call for desperate measures rings true, prompting calls for a loosening or suspension of previously held legal norms. This paper explores the role that the concept of an emergency plays in our interpretation of fundamental constitutional principles such as the rule of law.

The Covid-19 pandemic has presented an extreme challenge to legal and political structures around the globe. Institutions are struggling to cope with this new reality, none more strenuously than our legal systems which have rapidly introduced and frequently amended criminal and other sanctions in the hopes of curbing the spread of the virus. In such circumstances, the old adage that desperate times call for desperate measures rings true, prompting calls for a loosening or suspension of previously held legal norms. This paper explores the role that the concept of an emergency plays in our interpretation of fundamental constitutional principles such as the rule of law.

Digital technology is an important part of the response to crises. Nevertheless, its use plays a major role in the disruption of the functioning of our legal system. Of course, the upheaval that digital technology causes in the legal system is not specific to times of crisis but what is specific to such times, is how digital tools are used during periods of unrest, and how its legitimisation makes the law forget its own foundations. The reason is above all because technology seems to constitute the very condition of the effectiveness of the regulatory measures taken by our governments, an effectiveness that runs the risk of negating certain collective or individual freedoms and definitively our democracies. Should the use of such effective tools therefore be abandoned? If the answer is ‘no’, undoubtedly it remains necessary to limit their implementation with a legal framework adapted to these exceptional times, in full respect of our democratic and constitutional values. The Belgian case will be assessed in that perspective, underlining the role of the Data Protection authority in that context and at the light of the article 15 of the Council of Europe Convention.

Islamic banking has the ability to survive (durable) in times of crisis, has competitiveness and is efficient in improving the national economy. The commercial aspect of the economy can be seen from the existence of the financial services sector and the halal industry, while in the legal aspect, Indonesia has legal pluralism - the customary law system, the Islamic legal system and the western legal system. The formulation of the problem is How are the steps and strategies for Indonesia so that Indonesian Islamic Banking becomes a leader in the world halal value chain? The method used in this research is normative juridical with quantitative analysis approach. The conclusion of this study is that the position of Islamic banks in the economic system and national legal system has a strong position to become a Muslim country to become a leader in the development of the world Islamic financial market and global halal value chain by utilizing regulatory and policy support that supports the development of a halal value-based economy and Islamic banking and support the development of the world's halal industry that meets the expectations of the community

The basic principles enshrined in the constitutions of many Southeast Asian states bear at least a superficial resemblance to those in their Western, liberal-democratic counterparts. Ostensibly, these principles guarantee fundamental freedoms and place general limits on the use of coercive powers by the state. And as in liberal democracies, emergencies – especially those involving political violence – occasionally pose a serious threat to the constitutional order. Liberal-democratic theories of emergency powers, it seems, should have some relevance for anyone seeking to understand the use of formal or informal emergency powers in Southeast Asia. Yet it is precisely in the context of an emergency that the profound differences between Southeast Asian states and established liberal democracies in the practice of constitutionalism – and, more generally, the aspiration of legality – are exposed.