Assimilation of National Laws as a Function of European Integration

In more than one sense the European Communities are a frontier land of modern international organization. One aspect of the work of the European Economic Community which has thus far escaped the attention lavished on other facets is the multi-pronged effort to reduce the differences among the national laws of the member states. Stated more affirmatively, this is an effort to make the national legal systems of the member states more similar, to “assimilate” them. This effort has much in common with the “uniform law” movement in the United States and with the “unification-of-law” movement which has flourished on the Continent in this century. But it differs from these “uniformity” and “unification” movements in at least two respects