Emergencies and the Limits of Legality [Paperback]

An examination of the ability of law and the courts to constrain state power exercised in the course of an emergency.The essays in this book examine the ability of law and the courts to constrain state powers (e.g. of preventive detention and torture) exercised in the course of an emergency such as the aftermath of a terrorist attack.The essays in this book examine the ability of law and the courts to constrain state powers (e.g. of preventive detention and torture) exercised in the course of an emergency such as the aftermath of a terrorist attack.Most modern states turn swiftly to law in an emergency. The global response to the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States was no exception, and the wave of legislative responses is well documented. Yet there is an ever-present danger, borne out by historical and contemporary events, that even the most well-meaning executive, armed with extraordinary powers, will abuse them. This inevitably leads to another common tendency in an emergency, to invoke law not only to empower the state but also in a bid to constrain it. Can law constrain the emergency state or must the state at times act outside the law when its existence is threatened? If it must act outside the law, is such conduct necessarily fatal to aspirations of legality? This collection of essays - at the intersection of legal, political and social theory and practice - explores law's capacity to constrain state power in times of crisis.1. No doctrine more pernicious? Emergencies and the limits of legality Victor V. Ramraj; Part I. Legality and Extralegality: 2. The compulsion of legality David Dyzenhaus; 3. Extralegality and the ethic of political responsibility Oren Gross; Part II. Conceptual and Normative Theories: 4. Emergency logic: prudence, morality, and the rule of law Terry Nardin; 5. Indefinite detention: rule by law or rule of law? R. Rueban Balasubramaniam; Part III. Political and Sociological Theories: 6. The political constitution of emergency pol£(