Henry Schermers – författare

Where rights are conferred and duties imposed, where powers are exercised and obedience to rules of law required, judicial remedies are an absolute necessity. This statement was valid in 1969 when the first edition of this book appeared, it is even more so now. Though the political dynamism of the Communities has slackened, the number and effect of their legal rules is still growing. Practising lawyers need to be familiar with the possibilities for legal redress when rules of Community law are violated. But interest in the judicial remedies available in the European Communities is not confined to them alone. Many of the legal problems of the European Communities are problems which any supranational organization will encounter. Any student of international institutional law will benefit from a study of the judicial remedies available in the European Communities. Furthermore, the subject forms a fascinating branch of comparative law. Many of the solutions adopted in the European Communities can be regarded as resulting from a long development of administrative law.

I. Purpose of the book § 1. The Court of Justice plays a significant role in the development of the European Communities, to some extent comparable with the role of the Supreme Court in the early years of the United States of America. Both are constitutional courts charged with the preservation and the development of the law in a new society. The powers of both are in fact limited by the 1 existing political situation. Each court plays a vital role in the protection of the individual against a vast and increasingly influential administration. In the present book the attempt is made to describe the nature of the ju­ dicial protection within the sphere of European Community law, that is available to individuals and undertakings as well as to the Member States. The study is heavily based on the case-law of the Court of Justice, which in principle is described rather than criticized, mainly for three reasons. (I) The author has great admiration for the Court of Justice and for the manner in which it operates. He considers that a detailed description of the Court''s case-law portrays a fine legal system that is not susceptible to a great amount of fundamental criticism.