5.8 Principles of European Community law Like all legal systems the legal order of the Community has developed certain principles that inform the interpretation and, to a certain extent, the creation of law. These principles are set out in diagrammatic form in Figure 5.20, below. 5.5.9 Legislative competency of European Community law The legal order only has the power to make law in the areas given to it. This is its area of legal competency. Figure 5.20, below, sets these out in diagrammatic form. Figure 5.19: legislative competency of the EC (now EU)

2012 ◽  
pp. 162-162
Keyword(s):  
European Community ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Community Law ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Legal Competency ◽  
European Community Law

The Union is the direct successor to the three communities that were set up in the 1950s by six European States. Just as over time the references to the three Communities became one reference to the ‘European Community’, now the supranational organisation that is referred to has grown since 1992 and the general name by which it is known is no longer the European Community, but the European Union. Clearly the Union is a much larger entity than the Community, as can be seen from the list of the three areas covered by the Union set out above. But the idea of a large Union had always been within the documents setting up the European Community. The Community remains intact—but as one of three spheres of activity. However, concentrated within the Community are the lawmaking powers of the Union. The Union was established by the Treaty of Maastricht 1992 and the Treaty of Amsterdam 1997 (both formally called the Treaty on European Union (TEU)). The same institutions that had served the three Communities were enlarged to serve the Union. The Treaty of Nice in 2000 made further steps towards altering aspects of the institutions of the Union to be ready for enlargement of the number of Member States who were to become part of the Union from 2004. In coming years, the nature of the Union will become increasingly streamlined as it grows in size. The Treaty of Nice reached major agreement on the simplification of the voting procedures for the enactment of secondary legislation, and declared adherence to the Union’s proposed Charter on Fundamental Rights. The terms of reference for the next inter-governmental conference on the Union will consider the simplification of the founding treaties into one new treaty. There are therefore more changes ahead that will affect law students! For all public intents and purposes, there is now only the Union. The official website http://europa.eu.int only refers to European Union and within its legal pages speaks of European Union law. However, it remains true to say that to use that term is technically incorrect. The Union has no law making powers outside those conferred by the founding treaties of the Community, so the appropriate phrase is Community law or European Community law (EC law), not Union law. The next section will deal with the basic consideration of the historical development of the European Community and European Community law. It will lay out the treaties of importance and note the different types of law, and the mechanisms for Community law having an effect within the legal systems of Member States. The legal systems of the Member States are often referred to by the term ‘domestic law’, a metaphoric use of ‘domestic’ linking it to ‘home’. The courts in Member States tend to be referred to by two phrases: ‘domestic courts’, or ‘national courts’. As already noted, whilst much smaller than the ever-growing Union, the Community contains the law making powers of the Union, and therefore it determines its legislative competency. The next section will also attempt to draw attention to areas where name changes have lead to confusion. Despite the wholesale use of the term ‘European Union’ it is useful to deal with name changes incrementally by going back to the creation of the Community and tracing its development into the Union. Those matters chosen for discussion are those most likely to be problematic and necessary to properly understand from the perspective of legal method.

2012 ◽  
pp. 145-145
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Community ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Member States ◽  
Community Law ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Name Changes ◽  
Law Making ◽  
European Community Law

There have been changes to institutions: some have had name changes (such as the ‘Assembly’ to ‘European Parliament’); some have had powers removed or added, and some have been relatively recently created (for example, the Committee of the Regions). It is therefore important to be clear about the construction of the EU, the place of the EC, its areas of legal competency and the extent and limits of EC law, name changes of institutions and treaties, and changes to the numbering of articles in the treaties. This introduction sets out the approach taken, and the terms to be used in this section with the reasons for their use explained. The section will also give a historical and chronological review of the development of the Union and the current place of the Community. This should enable you to read most texts in the area with a reasonably clear map of your own of the interconnections between the EU, the EC, EC law and their effects on the English legal system. For the rest of this section the following abbreviated terms will normally be used: • ‘Union’ when referring to the European Union; • ‘Community’ when referring to the European Community; • ‘Community law’ or ‘EC law’ when referring to European Community law. The relationship between the English legal system, the Union and the Community is complex. But then the very concept of the Union itself is complex. The Union was established in 1992 and currently there are 15 Member States, with 13 more candidate States waiting to join. There are three spheres of activity in the Union customarily referred to as the three ‘pillars’ of the Union. Pillar 1: the three founding Communities established in the 1950s: (a) the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC); (b) the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom); (c) European Economic Community (EEC), since 1992 called the European Community, which was set up by the EEC Treaty. Pillar 2: agreed co-operation in the area of foreign affairs and security. Pillar 3: agreed co-operation in the areas of home affairs and justice. It is a Union that is joined together not as a federal system of States, such as the United States of America, nor as a range of States contracting at only the political level. The Union is a supra-national Union of States agreeing to be bound together in part politically, in part co-operatively and socially and in large part through a unique legal order—the acquis communautaire (‘community patrimony’) or ‘Community law’. A legal order that has effect by being incorporated into the legal systems of every Member State, and the English legal system is no exception. The legal order of the Union remains rooted in that part of the Union that is the Community. It is the nature of the legal order that makes the Union unique. For although the Union is established by treaties, it is not just governed by international law and political relationships based on agreement at intergovernmental level. The founding treaties of the Union which date back to the inception of the Communities in the 1950s insist that the law of the Union (which technically remains Community law) becomes part of the legal systems of all of the States who are members of the Union.

2012 ◽  
pp. 144-144
Keyword(s):  
European Community ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Community Law ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Ec Law ◽  
Name Changes ◽  
The Eu

Aux origines du droit de l'Union Européenne: Ie "ius commune" national dans les conclusions des avocats généraux: Karl Roemer et Maurice Lagrange (1954–1964)

2008 ◽  
Vol 76 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 155-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Grilli
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
European Community ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Community Law ◽  
Legal Traditions ◽  
Ius Commune ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Community Law

AbstractThe beginnings of EU law: national ius commune in the opinions of the Advocates General Karl Roemer and Maurice Lagrange (1954–1964). – During the first decade of the European Communities' Court of Justice, Karl Roemer and Maurice Lagrange developed the principles of a European common law by borrowing from the Member States' national legal systems. Thus, many of the foundations of European Community law were rooted in a careful comparative analysis of the distinct national legal traditions.

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