Would John Locke Take the Jab?
Augusto Zimmermann and Gabriël Moens (Quadrant, October 2021) present us with an erudite analysis of a rule of law founded on Natural Law, and how it might be applied to emergency measures associated with the Covid epidemic. Eminent jurists and legal academics are enlisted in support, and especially the writings of John Locke. They give confident advice to the High Court on the application of the Constitution to the legality of emergency powers. In Australia, vaccination is by consent, but they want absolute freedom, and oppose any mandated vaccination or other indirect restriction on the unvaccinated, asserting that this would violate the democratic principle of equality before the law.
In their analysis Zimmermann and Moens have ignored important aspects of John Locke’s writings and his life. John Locke arrived at Oxford in 1652 to pursue a vocation of medicine, as well as to study philosophy. At Oxford he was a contemporary of Robert Hooke, and other young students of…
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