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8 Theory & Prac. Legis. 1 (2020)

handle is hein.journals/thorceleg8 and id is 1 raw text is: THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF LEGISLATION Routledne 2020, VOL. 8, NOS. 1-2, 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1080/20508840.2020.1818168 Taylor &Francis Group FOREWORD Foreword for special issue on legislatures in the time of Covkd-19 Tom Ginsburg University of Chicago Law School The COVID-19 pandemic which has swept the world this year is the greatest global public health crisis in over a century, since the Spanish flu of 1918- 1919. That virus was estimated to have infected a quarter of humanity and killed up to 50 million people. Like that pandemic, COVID-19 has reached nearly ever country on earth, sparing only a few small island nations in the Pacific. It is a truly global threat. Not only has the virus put much of humanity at risk, it has posed a grave challenge to governance systems everywhere. Indeed, it is hard to imagine that there has ever been a shock that affected all governments in the world in such a short period of time. This provides an interesting and unusual opportunity to understand how governments and constitutional systems respond to an unexpected sudden threat. The sheer range of responses has been remarkable, with some governments imposing sudden and comprehensive lockdowns, while others allowed much of ordinary life to go on. In some countries, execu- tives have used the virus as an excuse to crack down on opponents, while other leaders have denied that the virus even poses a threat. Some countries have seen their democracies weakened, while others have experienced robust checks and balances. The editors of this special issue made a timely decision to focus on legisla- tures. Legislatures are part of the script of modernity, found in most every pol- itical system, whether democratic or not. They are also institutions steeped in history, full of norms, venerable traditions and a good deal of pomp and ceremony. In the course of the past two centuries of constitutional history, legislatures have seen their roles transformed dramatically. Those who drafted the United States Constitution thought Congress would be the most powerful branch, and they were forced to add a Bill of Rights to protect people from legislative over-reach. In the nineteenth century, in many countries in Europe, parlia- ments were central in channeling popular demands, and in democratizing monarchic political systems. But in recent decades, scholars have come to CONTACT Tom Ginsburg tginsburg@uchicago.edu University of Chicago Law School © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

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