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The construction of the rule of law, based on the separation of powers and the guarantee of fundamental rights, has been a long process. Faced with situations of crisis, the rule of law itself provides for derogations, with “extraordinary powers” that are closely circumscribed by law or jurisprudence, such as a state of siege or emergency, or even Article 16 of the French Constitution of 1958. This check is even more robust at the international level, in the search for a delicate balance between public order and individual autonomy. European jurisprudence puts forward the principles of legitimacy, legality, necessity, and proportionality. In spite of these legal safeguards born of the experience of the crises of the last century, in order to avoid any improvisation driven by the emergency, today, the public authorities appear tempted to approach crises in a headlong rush, by modifying the rules at the very moment they are put into effect. After the terrorism-induced “state of emergency,” the COVID-19 crisis has led to an unprecedented “health state of emergency,” while some are calling for a “climate state of emergency.” The growth of increasingly arbitrary constraints, born of such special regimes, undermines the free consent that forms the basis of collective self-discipline in healthy democracies.