The essays selected for this volume provide a comprehensive overview of the philosophical, ethical, historical, legal and practical issues in the diverse field of emergency law. The essays focus on terrorist attacks and natural disasters and highlight the roles of a vast variety of actors, such as the military, fire services, health services, police, volunteers and many more. The volume reveals legislative trends in emergency law by combining different national, international and comparative legal perspectives on a number of different types of emergency situations. In addition, essays taken from a practitioner perspective provide insight into civilian and military emergency management on the ground and the frequently reoccurring legal challenges. By comparing different national approaches to emergency law and emergency management, this collection of essays goes beyond the narrow view of one political system and draws instructive conclusions relating to the similarities and differences between a variety of common law and civil law systems and constitutional set-ups.