Research Handbook On Legal Pluralism And Eu Law

The Research Handbook on Legal Pluralism and EU Law explores the diversity of phenomenon of overlapping legal systems within the European Union, the nature of their interactions, and how they deal with the difficult question of the legal hierarchy between them. The contributors reflect on the history, sociology and legal scholarship on constitutional and legal pluralism, and develop this further in the light of the challenges currently facing the EU.

Offering a wealth of thought-provoking insights, this topical Research Handbook analyses the interplay between the law and politics of the EU and examines the role of law and legal actors in European integration.

This innovative Research Handbook explores judicial, scholarly, and theoretical approaches to general principles in the EU legal order against the backdrop of considerable uncertainty about the concept. It does so by analysing both a diverse range of general principles in discrete areas of EU law ('zooming in') and external, wider perspectives on the notion of a general principle of law from international law, comparative law, and legal theory ('zooming out'). Rather than arguing for a single closed definition of what a general principle of law in the EU legal order must look like, this Research Handbook identifies conceptual, theoretical, and legal parameters within which the doctrine of general principles can be meaningfully discussed and contested in EU law. The different analytical layers built into this Research Handbook shed light on whether general principles are defined by the different contexts in which they apply; whether general principles are in practice leading to more coherence between different areas of EU law; and what challenges they create for the EU legal order. Chapters thus contribute to a more refined methodological and doctrinal understanding of general principles in the EU legal order. Opening up new spaces to critically reflect on the concept, role, significance, and limitations of general principles, the Research Handbook on General Principles in EU Law will be a key resource for scholars and students of European law, politics, and theory of integration and internationalisation.

This pioneering Research Handbook provides an in-depth scholarly overview of the field of soft law, exploring the scope of current thinking in the field as well as proposing future pathways for soft law research. Through theoretical and empirical analyses by established voices in the field, the Research Handbook offers important insights and much-needed clarity into the dynamic and complex nature of soft law. This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.

The place of human rights in EU law has been a central issue in contemporary debates about the character of the European Union as a political organisation. This comprehensive and timely Handbook explores the principles underlying the development of fundamental rights norms and the way such norms operate in the case law of the Court of Justice. Leading scholars in the field discuss both the effect of rights on substantive areas of EU law and the role of EU institutions in protecting them.

Research Handbook on EU Institutional Law offers a critical look into the European Union: its legal foundations, competences and institutions. It provides an analysis of the EU legal system, its application at the national level and the prevalent role of the Court of Justice. Throughout the course of the Handbook the expert contributors discuss whether the European Union is well equipped for the 21st century and the numerous crises it has to handle. They revisit the call for an EU reform made in the Laeken Conclusions in 2001 to verify if its objectives have been achieved by the Treaty of Lisbon and in daily practice of the EU institutions. The book also delves into the concept of a Europe of different speeds, which - according to some - is inevitable in the EU comprising 28 Member States. Overall, the assessment of the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty is positive, even if there are plenty of suggestions for further reforms to re-fit the EU for purpose.

While the internal market has been at the heart of the European project from the very beginning, it has rarely been the subject of sustained and comprehensive scholarly examination in its entirety. In the face of profound legal, political and policy pressures, this timely Research Handbook reflects on the cutting-edge issues, horizontal themes and the big questions which illuminate the shape of the internal market. It places the law and policy of the internal market within the context of the financial crisis and the existential questions this has raised for future European integration.

European private law has hitherto tended to be conceptualised firmly around ideas of unity and harmony. Yet the discourse within other areas of European law, notably constitutional law scholarship, visibly adopts pluralist perspectives. This book seeks to bridge the gap between 'public' and 'private' law by looking at European private law from various pluralist positions and by investigating old and new ways in which to understand legal pluralism in general. It fills a gap in the wide literature on legal pluralism, as the first book entirely dedicated to offering an insight into legal pluralism from the vantage point of the private law domain. The book addresses critically issues such as what pluralism really means in private law and what conceptions of pluralism it embodies, including discussion about the outer boundaries of any of the pluralist understandings. Contributions address comparative, critical, historical, theoretical and normative aspects. The book provides an opportunity to engage innovatively with problematic conceptual issues which inform the work of European private law scholars, including the debate on the Common Frame of Reference Poject of the European Commision.