scholarly journals Competing Competences in Adjudication: Reviewing the Relationship between the ECOWAS Court and National Courts

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edefe Ojomo
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Community Court ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
West Africans ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This article argues that regional access to justice in West Africa provides an alternative to national access to justice through the institution of the ecowas Community Court of Justice. This gives West Africans the option of pursuing justice in national judicial institutions or in the ecowas Court. Therefore, it reveals a situation where both systems compete for effectiveness in meeting the justice demands of citizens while also encouraging greater complementarity in their institutional activities.

Effective Judicial Remedies: The Limits of Direct and Indirect Access to the European Community Courts

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-304
Author(s):  
Liz Heffernan
Keyword(s):  
European Community ◽  
Direct Access ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
Community Law ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Judicial Remedies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Community Courts

AbstractThis article focuses on the relationship between two perennial items on the reform agenda, direct access to the Community courts for private applicants, and requests by the national courts for preliminary rulings from the Court of Justice on questions of Community law. Ongoing developments suggest that the time is ripe for renewed debate concerning the ability of existing mechanisms to secure effective access to justice for the European citizenry.

III. Competition

1996 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 226-230
Author(s):  
Karl Newman ◽  
Christopher Harding
Keyword(s):  
Competition Law ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Transport Services ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
National Competition ◽  
Sharing Responsibility ◽  
Group Exemption ◽  
Court Of First Instance ◽  
The Relationship

In the period covered by this note (early 1994 to the middle of 1995) some signifi cant and interesting judgments have been handed down by the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance on both substantive and procedural issues of competition law, in particular that of the Court of Justice in the Magill case, which deals with the relationship between Article 86 and intellectual property rights. In the legislative field there is now a group exemption on the operation of liner transport services. As regards general problems of enforcement, the Commission's 1993 Notice on Co-operation between National Courts and the Commission1 has provoked a good deal of discussion and a number of commentators and also the Commission itself are now advocating sharing responsibility for enforcement with national competition authorities rather than relying on the direct effect of Articles 85(1) and 86 being invoked before national courts.2

9. The Relationship Between EU Law and National Law:

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Craig ◽  
Gráinne de Búrca
Keyword(s):  
Legal Order ◽  
Common Market ◽  
European Court Of Justice ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Academic Debate

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter discusses the doctrine of supremacy of EU law, which was developed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) based on its conception of the ‘new legal order’. The ECJ ruled that the aim of creating a uniform common market between different states would be undermined if EU law could be made subordinate to national law of the various states. The validity of EU law can therefore, according to the ECJ, never be assessed by reference to national law. National courts are required to give immediate effect to EU law, of whatever rank, in cases that arise before them, and to ignore or to set aside any national law, of whatever rank, which could impede the application of EU law. Thus, according to the ECJ, any norm of EU law takes precedence over any provision of national law, including the national constitutions. This broad assertion of the supremacy of EU law has not however been accepted without qualification by national courts, and the chapter examines the nature of the qualifications that have been imposed by some national courts.

Reflections on the ECOWAS Community Court Protocol and the Constitutions of Member States

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-137
Author(s):  
A.O. Enabulele
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal System ◽  
West African ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Community Court ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Human Rights Violation ◽  
Community Legal Order

AbstractOnly recently, the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States, which was hitherto opened only to Community States, was expanded to allow direct human rights violation claims by individuals. Though the court has since started to function, its impact is yet to be felt ‐ citizens of recalcitrant Community States still live in wanton violation of their rights in most of the States, where national courts are weak and effective remedies for rights violations largely nonexistent. This is consequent upon the failure of Community States to align their national laws with the new legal order represented by the Community Court; national laws and indeed national courts are still very hostile to the court and its judgements, thereby discouraging citizens from attending the court. This Article takes a look at the relevant provisions of the constitutions of Community States and advocates an urgent need for the cooperation to be forged between national legal systems and the community legal system through the amendment of hostile laws, as a prerequisite to the achievement of the virile community legal order.

10. The Relationship Between EU Law and National Law: Supremacy

EU Law ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 303-352
Author(s):  
Paul Craig ◽  
Gráinne de Búrca
Keyword(s):  
Legal Order ◽  
Common Market ◽  
European Court Of Justice ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Academic Debate

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter discusses the doctrine of supremacy of EU law, which was developed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) based on its conception of the ‘new legal order’. The ECJ ruled that the aim of creating a uniform common market between different states would be undermined if EU law could be made subordinate to national law of the various states. The validity of EU law can therefore, according to the ECJ, never be assessed by reference to national law. National courts are required to give immediate effect to EU law, of whatever rank, in cases that arise before them, and to ignore or to set aside any national law, of whatever rank, which could impede the application of EU law. Thus, according to the ECJ, any norm of EU law takes precedence over any provision of national law, including the national constitutions. This broad assertion of the supremacy of EU law has not however been accepted without qualification by national courts, and the chapter examines the nature of the qualifications that have been imposed by some national courts. The UK version contains a further section analysing the relevance of the supremacy of EU law in relation to the UK post-Brexit.

10. The preliminary ruling procedure

2020 ◽  
pp. 225-250
Author(s):  
Marios Costa ◽  
Steve Peers
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Preliminary Ruling ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Gain Access

This chapter examines the relationship between the Court of Justice (CJ) and the national courts in the context of the preliminary ruling procedure provided by Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The chapter focuses on the text of Article 267 TFEU. It analyses the extent to which national courts are willing and able to gain access to the CJ in order to resolve the questions of European Union (EU) law before them. The chapter also explains the concept of acte clair. The analysis reveals that the CJ has rarely refused its jurisdiction and has interpreted broadly the term ‘court or tribunal’. The CJ has also rarely attempted to interfere with national courts’ discretion in matters of referral and application of EU law, while national courts have generally been ready to refer cases to the CJ.

SOURCES OF THE LAW OF THE ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS)

2001 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunday Babalola Ajulo
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Economic Integration ◽  
West African ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Member States ◽  
Community Court ◽  
Legal Problems ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Law

Articles 6(e) and 15(1–4) of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty (1993) provide for the establishment of a Court of Justice of the Community. These provisions should, however, be read along with those of the Protocol on the Community Court of Justice initialled in 1991. Attempts have been made to analyse various aspects of the institutions of the Community, including the Court of Justice. While Bankole Thompson examined the legal problems of the economic integration in West Africa, Kofi Oteng Kufuor attempted to look at the Court of Justice from the angle of compliance with its judgments by member states. Denakin, for his part, appraised generally the prospects of the Court.

Revisiting the European Court of Justice

1998 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Mattli ◽  
Anne-Marie Slaughter
Keyword(s):  
European Court Of Justice ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
Lively Debate ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Supranational Institutions ◽  
The Eu

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is widely recognized not only as an important actor in the process of European integration but also as a strategic actor in its own right. In the last four years the literature on the Court has dramatically expanded, nourishing a lively debate between neofunctionalists and intergovernmentalists. But this debate has now reached the limits of its usefulness. Both neofunctionalism and intergovernmentalism neglect the range of specific motives and constraints shaping the behavior of individual litigants and national courts; further, both insist on modeling the state as a unitary actor. New scholarship on public interest and corporate litigants in the EU and on the relationship between the ECJ and national courts highlights these failings. Reviewing the literature, this essay develops a model of the legal integration process that encompasses disaggregated state actors—courts, regulatory agencies, executives, and legislatures—interacting with both supranational institutions and private actors in domestic and transnational society. It distills new data and theoretical insights to specify the preferences of some of these actors and the constraints they face in implementing those preferences.

scholarly journals A New International Human Rights Court for West Africa: The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 737-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen J. Alter ◽  
Laurence Helfer ◽  
Jacqueline R. McAllister
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Niger Delta ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
West African ◽  
Education For All ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Community Court ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Right

The Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Court) is an increasingly active and bold adjudicator of human rights. Since acquiring jurisdiction over human rights complaints in 2005, theECOWASCourt has issued numerous decisions condemning human rights violations by the member states of the Economic Community of West African States (Community). Among this Court’s path-breaking cases are judgments against Niger for condoning modern forms of slavery and against Nigeria for impeding the right to free basic education for all children. TheECOWASCourt also has broad access and standing rules that permit individuals and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to bypass national courts and file suits directly with the Court. Although the Court is generally careful in the proof that it requires of complainants and in the remedies that it demands of governments, it has not shied away from politically courageous decisions, such as rulings against the Gambia for the torture of journalists and against Nigeria for failing to regulate multinational companies that have degraded the environment of the oil-rich Niger Delta.

EU Copyright Harmonization and CJEU Role and Action

2019 ◽  
pp. 7-36
Author(s):  
Eleonora Rosati
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Individual Member ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Relationship

Following an overview of legislative harmonization, this chapter discusses the composition, role, and functioning of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) before providing some numbers regarding activity in the copyright field. It presents data on: the composition of the Court (Judges-Rapporteur and Advocates General (AGs)), the relationship between the Court and its Judges-Rapporteur, areas in which national courts have made referrals, data on EU Member States from which the relevant referrals have been made, and interventions of individual Member States. Employment of statistical analysis has allowed consideration of a number of questions, including whether the Court tends to agree (it does) with the (non-binding) Opinion of the AG appointed in a certain case more or less often when the interpretation provided of certain copyright provision is expansive or not, and whether the background of the AG (academic or non-academic) has had any relevance from a statistical standpoint (it has not).

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document