Personal Rights and Public Health: Legal Basis of Balance in a Pandemic

Abstract

In a pandemic, it is not easy for many European countries to resolve new legal dilemmas based on values and individual freedoms. Therefore, the author have chosen as the object of this article the legal balance of private rights and public health in a pandemic, and the subject is justification of legal grounds for restricting some rights and freedoms for the implementation of others. The source base of the study is international and national regulations, expert judgments on human rights. The methodological basis of the study is a human-centered, value-oriented approach, which is a part of the concept of private law of the Western tradition. The main research goal of the article is to analyze the legal means chosen by the domestic authorities to influence the balance of private rights and public interests in a pandemic on the basis of comparing the values protected by law. As you know, a significant proportion of countries have applied restrictive measures at various levels, bans and restrictions have been imposed on the exercise of a number of citizens’ rights: freedom of movement, peaceful assembly (including religious), work, education, health care. During the discussion of the problem of limiting the share of human rights, two opposing theoretical doctrines were formed: the first doctrine insists on the observance of human rights under any circumstances, the second doctrine justifies the need to limit human rights by accepting the inconvenience. From the above analysis of international and domestic legal acts, the arguments of experts, an important intermediate conclusion follows that the value of health is a necessary component of a modern understanding of the well-being of both the individual and society as a whole. Thus, a socially significant goal of saving lives, as well as reducing risks to public health is a sufficient basis for legitimate interference in other private rights of citizens.  The study confirms the initial hypothesis that human life and health belong to the highest level of social values and take precedence over other personal goods and subjective rights. Although the human rights to education, work, freedom of movement, and peaceful assembly are fundamental and recognized in the European legal tradition as the basis for human development and self-esteem, the content of the public interest in saving lives and protecting them in a pandemic prevails. Therefore, the legislature has the right to formulate special rules of conduct for all subjects of law, including those that restrict to some extent human rights and freedoms.