Anti-Epidemic Emergency Regimes under Polish Law in Comparative, Historical and Jurisprudential Perspective

The SARS-CoV-2 crisis of 2020 triggered a number of unprecedented reactions of European states, in particular in the form of either constitutional emergency measures or statutory anti-epidemic emergency measures. Poland chose to deal with the crisis by delegating powers to the executive by ordinary legislative means and declared a nationwide state of epidemic emergency on 13 March 2020 and a week later a state of epidemic on the basis of the Act of 5 December 2008 on preventing and combating infections and infectious diseases. For a century, Poland has been dealing with epidemics by delegating powers to the executive by ordinary legislative means. Anti-epidemic emergency measures were developed under the relevant acts of 1919, 1935, 1963, 2001, 2008 and now form an autonomous normative model authorised directly by Article 68 (4) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997. The Constitution of 2 April 1997 authorises also extraordinary measures in situations of particular danger, "if ordinary constitutional measures are inadequate". This article analyses anti-epidemic emergency regimes under Polish law in a comparative, historical and jurisprudential perspective.