Creative non-compliance: complying with the "spirit of the law" not the "letter of the law" under the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions

Jed Meers; Simon Halliday; Joe Tomlinson

doi:10.1080/01639625.2021.2014286

Creative non-compliance: complying with the "spirit of the law" not the "letter of the law" under the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions

Jed Meers, Simon Halliday, Joe Tomlinson

Law

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

42 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper identifies a form of non-compliance with COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in the UK: “creative non-compliance”. Here, individuals justify breaking restrictions as meeting the “spirit of the law” if not the “letter of the law”. Drawing on interview and focus group data collected between April and August 2020 in the UK, we outline this concept of “creative non-compliance”, detailing how: (i) our participants undertook a purposive construction of rules, (ii) balanced their behaviour against these aims, and (iii) how Government messaging informed these rationalizations. We conclude by outlining the implications of our “creative non-compliance” theory both for studies of compliance and rationalizations for deviant behaviour under the COVID-19 restrictions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	93-111
Number of pages	19
Journal	Deviant Behavior
Volume	44
Issue number	1
Early online date	13 Dec 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2021.2014286
Publication status	Published - 30 Jan 2023

Keywords

non-compliance
Covid-19
Covid-19 lockdown

Access to Document

10.1080/01639625.2021.2014286Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Meers-etal-DB-2023-complying-with-the-spirit-of-the-lawFinal published version, 1.07 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Law and Compliance During COVID-19
Halliday, S. (Co-investigator), Tomlinson, J. (Principal Investigator) & Meers, J. (Co-investigator)
1/04/20 → 31/10/21
Project: Projects from Previous Employment

Researching Legal Consciousness and the Rule of Law
Halliday, S. (Speaker)
27 Apr 2023
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk

Cite this

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Creative non-compliance: complying with the "spirit of the law" not the "letter of the law" under the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

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Projects

Law and Compliance During COVID-19

Activities

Researching Legal Consciousness and the Rule of Law

Cite this