新冠肺炎肆虐全球,成為全球性的大型緊急疫病,考驗國際與各國的承受與因應能力。面對疫情衝擊,當代國家普遍建立的民主、人權與法治是否受到衝擊,也廣受關注。憲法在疫情的影響與因應動態中,將可或應扮演何等角色,值得檢討關注。本文取徑憲政主義的發展與流動,尤其從自由憲政主義的演變,以及跨國憲政主義與公民憲政主義的發展作為視角,嘗試分析新冠肺炎的治理動態,呈現當代憲法在面對全球大型緊急疫病的作用與影響。基於臺灣民主憲政轉型的脈絡,以及新冠肺炎因應上具有特色的模式,本文更聚焦臺灣的疫情因應,並延伸分析其於憲政主義上的意義與流動。本文發現,臺灣在國際參與欠缺的現實下,運用民主體制與公民憲政主義的量能,充分發展民主轉型後的民主空間於疫情的因應。公民憲政主義下臺灣的疫情因應,呈現了三個值得關注的相對化。其一是緊急憲法與常態憲法的相對化,其二是政府與人民公共監督與信任的相對化,最後則是內國治理正當性與國際外交的相對化。臺灣因應新冠肺炎疫情的憲法實踐,對當代憲政主義的發展與演變,提供許多豐富的素材與養分。
The Covid-19 pandemic has spread around the globe, testing the resilience and capacity of each nation states. While there are commonalities in facing the threat, constitutional democracies have shown a great deal of divergence in casualties and particularly in the measures taken to fight against the spread of the virus. One may concern possible impacts to the function of democracy, human rights and rule of law for most of the constitutional democracies in the midst of the pandemic. It is thus particularly intriguing to explore what constitutional order could function in the fight against the pandemic. Constitutional discourse has been advanced traditionally in a limiting function, in a way to protect the rights, constrain the powers and mainly through judicial review, showing little engagement with the sudden spike of the pandemic globally. This paper seeks to explore the function of the constitution in action in the lens of evolving constitutionalism, including liberal, transnational, and civic constitutionalism, taking Taiwan as a case to exemplify the constitutional foundation in fighting the global spread of Covid-19.While excluded by the WHO for decades, Taiwan nevertheless stands strong, upholding democracy, human rights and rule of law, in fighting the pandemic with a strong motivation to work with the international community. This paper finds Taiwan's impressive success in fighting the pandemic lies in a practice of civic constitutionalism, in which vibrant civil society is engaged and the government shows a great deal of confidence to democratic constitutionalism, particularly in openness, transparency and equality. A green-light thesis as shown by general trust of people to governmental control measures has been prevailing against the backdrop of democratic solidarity. This Taiwan model could be of great reference to other Asian democracies and beyond.