The European Court Of Justice

This book analyses the European Court of Justice's power from a political-science perspective. It argues that this power can be assessed through studying the policy implications of there being a supranational constitution that was drafted as an international treaty. An international treaty contains a set of policy goals for future cooperation. Direct effect and supremacy give constitutional status to these policy goals, allowing the Court to develop the Treaty's implications for policymaking at the European and the member-state levels. By focusing on the four freedoms (of goods, services, persons, and capital) and citizenship rights, the book analyses the implications of case law for policymaking in different case studies. It shows how major EU legislation (for instance, the Services and Citizenship Directives) are significantly influenced by case law and how controversial policies, such as EU citizens' access to tax-financed social benefits, are closely linked to the Court.

This book provides a broad-ranging assessment of the Court's contribution to the integration process. It shows how the Court has taken advantage of opportunities when they have arisen in the European political process to "constitutionalize" the founding treaties and to exert a strong influence on policy decisions. It also examines challenges confronting the European Union and examines why the Court's active role has not encountered greater opposition and analyzes the implications for the Court of current issues.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has played a vital role in promoting the process of European integration. In recent years, however, the expansion of EU law has led it to impact ever more politically sensitive issues, and controversial ECJ judgments have elicited unprecedented levels of criticism. Can we expect the Court to sustain its role as a motor of deeper integration without Member States or other countervailing forces intervening? To answer this question, we need to revisit established explanations of the Court’s power to see if they remain viable in the Court’s contemporary environment. We also need to better understand the ultimate limits of the Court’s power – the means through which and extent to which national governments, national courts, litigants and the Court’s other interlocutors attempt to influence the Court and to limit the impact of its rulings. In this book, leading scholars of European law and politics investigate how the ECJ has continued to support deeper integration and whether the EU is experiencing an increase in countervailing forces that may diminish the Court’s ability or willingness to act as a motor of integration. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

The Court of Justice of the European Union holds exclusive jurisdiction that extends to many international treaties, which can result in conflict of interpretation. This book compares the relationship of the Court of Justice to other courts and treaties, and examines how conflict of interpretation is largely avoided.

Presents a new approach to prominent judgments of the European Court of Justice drawing on the writings of Judge Robert Lecourt.

ÔThis well-constructed, and well-written, collection fills a gap in the scholarship. It offers a rounded and plausible picture of the CourtÕs role in Europe, engaging with the complexity of the law without losing sight of the bigger political picture. Well-contextualised, critical, but nuanced, discussions of the role of rights, economics, science, and institutions, and of the important particularities of EU adjudication, will make this volume unmissable for those interested in the political role of the Court of Justice of the EU.Õ Ð Gareth Davies, VU University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands This book delves into the rationale, components of, and responses to accusations of judicial activism at the European Court of Justice. Detailed chapters from academics, practitioners and stakeholders bring diverse perspectives on a range of factors Ð from access rules to institutional design and to substantive functions Ð influencing the European CourtÕs political role. Each of the contributing authors invites the reader to approach the debate on the role of the Court in terms of a constantly evolving set of interactions between the EU judiciary, the European and national political spheres, as well as a multitude of other actors vested in competing legitimacy claims. The book questions the political role of the Court as much as it stresses the opportunities Ð and corresponding responsibilities Ð that the CourtÕs case law offers to independent observers, political institutions and civil society organisations. Judicial Activism at the European Court of Justice will appeal to researchers and graduate students as well as to EU and national officials.

Marc Jacob analyses in depth the most important justificatory and decision-making tool of one of the world's most powerful courts.