scholarly journals National identity as a path towards the compatibility of the opposite standpoints

2020 ◽  
pp. 40-47
Author(s):  
Paulius Griciūnas

Both the unconditional primacy of the EU law (even over all the national constitutional norms), and the supremacy of any national constitutional rule over EU law, couldn’t be considered as a solution to the accommodation of the constructive interaction between two autonomous legal systems. The pluralistic models come up with a solid explanation on how legal systems interact. However, they fail to provide a solution when it comes to the potential collision of the EU and national constitutional norms. In the last decade, discourse on the notion of national identity has been developing. This concept could be a viable approach in resolving situations (as researched in this article2) bordering on conflict in the pluralistic models.

Author(s):  
Tetjana Humeniuk

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to analyze topical issues of divergence of the Romano-Germanic and Anglo-American legal systems on the example of Brexit. Methodology. The methodology involves a comprehensive study of theoretical and practical material on this subject, as well as formulation of relevant conclusions and recommendations. The following methods of scientific cognition were used in the research process: dialectical, terminological, formal and logical, comparative and legal, system and functional methods. Results. The study found that an important role in resolving conflicts between EU law and UK national law was played by the Court of Justice of the European Union which declared British legislation invalid since it was not in line with EU law. Thanks to the case law of the CJEU and the national courts of the United Kingdom, it has been possible to adjust and harmonize the interaction between EU law and the national law of this country. As European integration is formed on the basis of a supreme legal force created by external (supranational) bodies, the national bodies that form the national rules of British law inevitably give up part of their powers in favor of EU law. Brexit is just the beginning of a long series of problematic issues that will arise in the EU as a result of member states’ more or less serious objections to a radical course to deepen European integration. And under such conditions, there is a widespread understanding that finding clear and effective answers to new challenges requires finding new conceptual (and most importantly, effective) approaches to the future functioning of the EU, as old mechanisms and methods no longer work properly and do not resolve contradictions spreading and becoming more acute. Scientific novelty. The study shows that the withdrawal of Britain from the European Union initiates a large-scale process of mutual transformation of the legal systems of both parties, the effectiveness of which will be determined by the realities of European geopolitical environment as well as domestic political processes within Great Britain itself. Practical importance. Research materials can be used for comparative law studies.


2021 ◽  
pp. 21-47
Author(s):  
Michael Dougan

This chapter sets out the basic constitutional framework, under EU law, governing the withdrawal of a Member State. Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union recognizes the sovereign right of any State to leave the EU and sets out a process for agreeing the terms of an orderly departure. But Brexit also required the EU and the UK to undertake extensive internal preparations, to ensure their own legal systems were ready for the UK’s departure. Moreover, Article 50 itself is drafted in only brief and sketchy terms, leaving many important decisions about Brexit to be worked out in practice. And EU law allows for other final outcomes to the withdrawal process—including a ‘no deal Brexit’; or the UK’s right to ‘revoke and remain’ under the Wightman ruling.


Author(s):  
Theodore Konstadinides

The object of this chapter is to examine the way in which competences are designed and delineated in EU law at the vertical level between the EU and the Member States and discuss their salient features. Over the years, EU competences have expanded, although not as meteorically as one may think. To alleviate concerns among Member States about the impact of EU competence enlargement upon national legal systems, a number of principles were designed to limit the powers of the EU. Having said that, there is hardly today an area of regulation in which the EU does not play an active part—from trade and energy to sport and fundamental rights protection.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michiel Poesen

Abstract Specific jurisdiction in the European Union (EU) is in a state of flux. While its theoretical foundation varies among legal systems, the explanatory model in EU law—established by the Brussels Ia Regulation—is the close geographical connection between a dispute’s subject matter and a court. It is believed that the court with such a connection is best positioned to judge the matter. Therefore, Article 7 of the Brussels Ia Regulation allocates jurisdiction over subject matters as broadly defined as contracts and torts to the court of an array of predetermined locations. However, in reality the courts so identified will not always have a close connection to the dispute. Nonetheless, the court of that place has jurisdiction. This article will evaluate the legitimacy of denying a more concrete role to the linkage between a forum and a dispute. It will also contrast the current state of play in the EU with the approach taken in the jurisdictional filters featuring in the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention.


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-74
Author(s):  
Aneta Wiewiórowska-Domagalska

The main aim of this article is to present the process of how the Unfair Contract Terms Directive was accepted into the Polish legal system. In order to do so, it first briefly explains, how the problem that allowed the massive testing of the Unfair Contract Terms Directive, i.e. the vast amount of consumer mortgage-secured loans for housing purposes, indexed or denominated in CHF (further: the CHF loans) came into existence in Poland. The story of the CHF loans also perfectly illustrates how the Polish legal system, which had taken a very liberal turn after 1989, struggles with the EU consumer protection concepts (which might also be representative for other countries of young democracies). It shows how the lack of adequate reactions of the governmental agencies led to burdening the judiciary system with the weight of the CHF loans problem, and how the Polish courts have not been sufficiently prepared for applying EU law. As an example, the article presents three issues that are at different stages of development when it comes to the completeness of the dogmatic construction, and which vary, when it comes to the degree of their intertwining with EU law.


Legal Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Barry Rodger ◽  
Imelda Maher ◽  
Rónán Riordan

Abstract This paper presents the findings of a comparative statistical study examining the application and trends in the deployment and utilisation of European Union (EU) law before the Scottish and Irish courts over a 10-year period from 2009–2018. The paper poses the question, how does European integration impact on the domestic legal systems of EU Member States due to the increasing volume, and significance, of cases where EU law is raised and applied within domestic legal systems? The research presented is of particular relevance in light of Brexit. It allows prescient reflection on the significant disruption and impact the United Kingdom's exit from the EU is likely to have on areas of domestic law which are highly integrated with EU law. It highlights the potential difficulties implicit in attempting to unpick over 40 years of assimilation of EU law and principles into Scots law. These research outcomes should lead to further reflection and debate on the role of EU law and its impact on judicial decision-making in the Scottish and Irish legal systems in general.


Author(s):  
Vlad Constantinesco

La construcción de la Unión Europea ha interactuado sistemáticamente con los ordenamientos jurídicos nacionales, de los que procede. El conjunto de reglas que vienen del Derecho de la UE ha desafiado las nociones básicas y las viejas categorías jurídicas construidas por los sistemas jurídicos nacionales. Este artículo analiza el impacto de la legislación de la UE sobre la importante noción de la soberanía-consustancial, en Francia, a la noción de Estado y, en segundo lugar, se examinan las consecuencias que la legislación de la UE podría producir sobre la situación de los nacionales franceses, que se han convertido, desde el Tratado de Maastricht, en ciudadanos de la Unión Europea. Los dos términos de la importante relación política, Estado y ciudadanos, se encuentran sin duda bajo la influencia del Derecho de la Unión Europea.The construction of the European Union has consistently interacted with national legal orders which it proceeds. The set of rules coming from EU Law has challenged the basic notions and the old legal categories built by national legal systems. This article considers the impact of EU law on the important notion of sovereignty - consubstantial, in France, to the notion of State and, secondly, examines what consequences the EU law could produce regarding the status of French nationals, which have become, since the Treaty of Maastricht, citizens of the European Union. The two terms of the major political relation: State and citizen, are definitely under EU Law influence.


Author(s):  
Caroline Naômé

This chapter describes the characteristics of the ECJ appeal system, distinguishing it from comparable judicial remedies in national legal systems. One distinguishing feature is that it is a new remedy, created with a few rules that were not always clear. Lawyers working for the Court or pleading before it are not specialised in appeals and are influenced by national laws. Referral of a case back to the same judges as those who decided the quashed judgment is a possibility absent in many national systems. Judgments of the EU Courts have a specific style and content. The interpretation of EU law seems sometimes more important than a limited resolution of a dispute. The second section recalls the objectives underlying the creation of the Court of First Instance (General Court/GCEU) and assesses whether those objectives have been met as regards the ECJ’s caseload and the judicial protection of individuals.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 1395-1428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Bobić

The theory of constitutional pluralism as advanced by MacCormick and Walker witnessed immense success in its attempt to explain the relationship between courts of Member States performing constitutional review and the Court of Justice. Despite its success, the theory has often been criticized for its lack of normative prescriptions and legal certainty in resolving the question of the final arbiter in the EU. It is the aim of this Article to address and move beyond these criticisms by introducing and exploring the auto-correct function necessary for the proper and balanced functioning of the pluralist system.The auto-correct has the function of preventing an outbreak of conflict between the constitutional jurisdictions involved—in the EU judicial architecture, an awareness on the part of all the actors involved of the benefits of a pluralist setting results in conflict management and control. The auto-correct function operates as follows: in the EU as we know it, issues prone to constitutional conflict arise regularly, and both the Court of Justice and national constitutional jurisdictions are able, through their respective procedural avenues, to control the extent of the conflict. There are also two legal imperatives driving this dynamic in two opposite directions—the principle of primacy of Union law on the one hand, and the obligation to respect the national identity of Member States on the other.As analyzing judicial behaviour shows, the application of self-restraint and mutual accommodation avoids a clash between parallel sovereignty claims on EU and national levels. In particular, national and EU law interaction demonstrates the existence of in-built conditions for the auto-correct function's application, such as the principle of EU-friendly interpretation in national constitutional law, or the national identity clause in primary EU law. The auto-correct function manifests itself and brings about a balance between the different constitutional orders only through the interaction of parallel claims to sovereignty.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 1703-1720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kriszta Kovács

The recent trend in East Central European jurisprudence is that courts apply an ethnocultural understanding of identity, thereby putting European integration in peril. Although the EU is clearly committed to shared values and principles, Article 4(2) of the Treaty on European Union emphasizes that “the Union shall respect the national identities of the Member States.” Due to the recent migration flow in Europe, the Member States are currently attempting to (re)define themselves and offer a legal definition of identity. East Central European Member States, by labelling ethnocultural national identity as constitutional identity, apply Article 4(2) as a means of derogating from some of their obligations under EU law. Despite the vast literature available on national identity and its role in EU law, little attention has been paid to the recently emerging trend of judicial reinvention of identity in East Central Europe. This is what this Article offers. It focuses on the Visegrád Group, which consists of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The Visegrád countries (V4) are united in their views on rejecting migrant relocation quotas in the EU and define their exclusionary constitutional identities accordingly. The main subject of the Article is the relevant case law of the V4 constitutional courts. These courts have the authoritative role in enforcing nation-state policies based upon ethnocultural considerations. The Article provides a comparative-analytical description of the judicial interpretations of constitutional identity in these countries based on which we can better understand the recent East Central European trend of disintegration.


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