About
The Oxford Compendium of National Legal Responses to Covid-19 is a global academic collaboration mapping legal responses to Covid-19 in dozens of participating countries and territories. Each entry is structured identically and explores the role of public law, institutional adaptation, public health measures, social and labour policy, and human rights measures introduced or applied as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The entries are updated periodically across 2021 and it is produced by the Lex-Atlas: Covid-19 (LAC19) project. Each participating country has its own landing page on the Oxford Compendium website, which may report further updates, critical analysis and comparative analysis.
The Oxford Compendium entries are written by teams of distinguished jurists from around the world participating in the Lex-Atlas: Covid-19 network. Individual entries cover the following subjects:
- Constitutional Framework (e.g., executive, legislative, division of powers)
- Applicable Legal Framework (e.g., constitutional, statutory, exec rule-making)
- Institutions and Oversight (e.g., legislatures, courts, press, scientific advice)
- Public Health Measures Imposed (e.g., quarantine, lockdown, travel, PPE)
- Social and Economic Measures Adopted (e.g. social security, labour, business)
- Human Rights and Vulnerable Groups (e.g. privacy, race, gender, migrants)
The selected jurisdictions are broadly representative across a range of factors, including geographical region, population size, legal tradition, political structure, income, inequality, rule of law performance, democratic performance, and variation in the public health response to Covid-19.
The Oxford Compendium is written in a neutral, non-judgmental tone, and in the main focuses on what legal measures and related policies have been adopted, as well as the political context in which they are situated.
