Associate Professor Lorne Neudorf delivered an online guest lecture to Amity University’s Law School on The Legal Regulation of a Pandemic

During the lecture, Lorne discussed different models of lawmaking and accountability controls on executive power in the context of a public health emergency. COVID-19 has necessitated urgent responses by governments around the world to manage the crisis and its economic and social effects. During a public health crisis, special legislation is activated to confer exceptionally broad legal powers on the executive government. These delegated powers allow governments to quickly respond to changing circumstances as compared to the ordinary parliamentary process, but raise important questions about accountability in a democracy based on rule of law values. In particular, what is the right balance between equipping the government with the tools it needs to combat COVID-19 versus accountability in the exercise of public power?

Through a comparative analysis, Lorne shed light on the different approaches that have been taken in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, and offered his conclusions on what is needed to ensure adequate accountability in the government’s exercise of delegated power in a public health emergency.

The lecture was chaired by Professors Aditya Tomer and DK Bandyopadhyay of Amity University, and streamed live to 11 different Amity campuses across India and the Middle East. Lorne recently returned from New York University, where he spent several months as a Visiting Scholar working on a comparative study of delegated legislation.