The basis of the assessment:
The national effort to tackle the Coronavirus health emergency has resulted in UK ministers being granted some of the broadest legislative powers ever seen in peacetime. The Coronavirus Act 2020 and other Acts of Parliament have been used to greatly restrict the liberty of movement of people.
At the same time, Ministers have issued guidance on how its legal rules restricting liberty should be applied. Sometimes this guidance has seemed to increase the level of restrictions beyond those actually set out in law. For example, under the first national lockdown in England and Wales, the law prohibited you leaving your home except for essential purposes.
One of these essential purposes was daily exercise (The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020, s6(2)(b)). Government initial guidance suggested that this meant one could only leave their home once a day for such exercise.
Bearing the above in mind, address the following question under the TWO TASKS BELOW:
‘From the perspective of the constitutional principle of the rule of law, what is the problem with government ministers seeking to impose their interpretation of legal rules on individuals when the law underpinning their actions does not seem to provide for such an interpretation, strictly speaking?’
In order to do this, you need to do the following for this second part of the Assessment 010:
Part 2 The essay (up to 1300 words):
Address the question in essay form, applying appropriate legal academic writing skills such as providing an introduction, main body and conclusion, supporting your answer with law or legal commentary, ensuring there is no plagiarism and providing proper referencing using the OSCOLA referencing style.
Make use of what you have done in Part 1 to help you ensure your essay is relevant, well planned, well-structured and, above all, answers the question.
As an essay, there should be an introduction, main body and conclusion. Attention should also be paid to:
Quality of writing (concise, precise, attention to detail, well-structured);
Choice of sources (quality, non over reliance on internet sources;
Evidence (referencing/citation)
OSCOLA compliance (commensurate with Level 4 first trimester);
Utilisation of word count allowance
