Justice in times of emergency: Lessons from the COIVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Justice is one of the fundamental and most cherished benefits of constitutional democracy in modern day governance systems. The legal restrictions in justice systems and other extraneous challenges, however, negatively impact on the accessibility of justice for all. To improve access to justice, these restrictions should be reduced by prioritising substantive justice over technicalities and traditions, especially where they have no substantive impact on justice delivery. During the COVID 19 pandemics, attempts were made to introduce approaches to reduce some of these restrictions in order to improve access to justice. This paper examined these approaches as more sustainable alternative initiatives to improving access to justice during the COIVID 19 experience. The paper adopts a critical analysis approach at examining the initiatives and the challenges they sought to resolve, their successes and limitations. The paper finds that abundant opportunities exist for improving access to justice. It further finds that what is mostly required is an approach of prioritising substantive justice over technicalities and traditions. The paper thus makes recommendations against each challenge and how to make each good initiative sustainable. The paper is useful for scholars in law and stakeholders in the justice system towards crafting universally effective justice promotion initiatives.