Collected Courses of the Academy of European Law – serie

The idea that international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) are complementary, rather than mutually exclusive regimes generated a paradigmatic shift in the international legal discourse. The reconciliation was driven by a humanistic ethos and its purpose was to offer greater protection of the rights to life, liberty and dignity of all individuals under all circumstances. The complementarity of both regimes currently enjoys the status of the new orthodoxy and simultaneously invites critical reflection. This collection of essays accepts the invitation, offering diverse assessments of the merits of taking human rights to the battlefields of the twenty-first century. The book comprises three parts: part I focuses on the paradigmatic (security based "armed conflict" vs. human rights centered "law enforcement" paradigms) and the normative complexities of the interaction between both regimes in the "fight against terror" and in other, allegedly new, types of wars. Part II discusses the interplay between IHRL and IHL in the context of three specific regimes: belligerent occupation; the European Court of Human Rights and the protection of cultural heritage. Part III explores the potential fusion of IHL and IHRL into a new paradigm in two areas: post-bellum accountability and compensation to victims of war crimes. The range of issues, multitude of competing norms and narratives, and shifting paradigms explored in this collection, converse with each other. This conversation mirrors the process through which international law - paying deference to political realities while simultaneously seeking to transcend them - charts new pathways to advance its humanizing project.

This title explores the normative foundations of European contract law. It addresses fundamental political questions on contract law in Europe from the perspective of leading contemporary political theories. Does the law of contract need a democratic basis? To what extent should it be Europeanised? What justifies the binding force of contract and the main remedies for breach? When should weaker parties be protected? Should market transactions be considered legally void when they are immoral? Which rules of contract law should the parties be free to opt out of? Adopting a critical lens, this book interrogates utilitarian, liberal-egalitarian, libertarian, communitarian, civic republican, and discourse-theoretical political philosophies and analyses the answers they provide to these questions. It also situates these theoretical debates within the context of the political landscape of European contract law and the divergent views expressed by lawmakers, legal academics, and other stakeholders. This work moves beyond the acquis positivism, market reductionism, and private law essentialism that tend to dominate these conversations and foregrounds normative complexity. It explores the principles and values behind various arguments used in the debates on European contract law and its future to highlight the normative stakes involved in the practical question of what we, as a society, should do about contract law in Europe. In so doing, it opens up democratic space for the consideration of alternative futures for contract law in the European Union, and for better justifications for those parts of the EU contract law acquis we wish to retain.

This title explores the normative foundations of European contract law. It addresses fundamental political questions on contract law in Europe from the perspective of leading contemporary political theories. Does the law of contract need a democratic basis? To what extent should it be Europeanised? What justifies the binding force of contract and the main remedies for breach? When should weaker parties be protected? Should market transactions be considered legally void when they are immoral? Which rules of contract law should the parties be free to opt out of? Adopting a critical lens, this book interrogates utilitarian, liberal-egalitarian, libertarian, communitarian, civic republican, and discourse-theoretical political philosophies and analyses the answers they provide to these questions. It also situates these theoretical debates within the context of the political landscape of European contract law and the divergent views expressed by lawmakers, legal academics, and other stakeholders. This work moves beyond the acquis positivism, market reductionism, and private law essentialism that tend to dominate these conversations and foregrounds normative complexity. It explores the principles and values behind various arguments used in the debates on European contract law and its future to highlight the normative stakes involved in the practical question of what we, as a society, should do about contract law in Europe. In so doing, it opens up democratic space for the consideration of alternative futures for contract law in the European Union, and for better justifications for those parts of the EU contract law acquis we wish to retain.

The traditionally top-down focus in human rights scholarship on laws, institutions, and courts has begun to turn towards a bottom-up focus on activists, advocacy groups, affected communities, and social movements. The essays collected in Legal Mobilization for Human Rights examine a range of issues including which groups claim rights, what they are mobilizing to protect, the goals they pursue, the forums they use, the obstacles they encounter, and the extent of their success or failure. Case studies reveal key themes such as: the importance of human rights to marginalized communities; how political and societal authoritarianism shapes opportunities for effective mobilization; the importance of the choice of forum for instigating change; the role intermediary actors such as NGOs play in innovating strategies to address challenges; the possibilities for subaltern mobilization to reshape human rights law; and the importance of supporting genuinely community-led legal mobilization.

This volume on the law of the European Union focuses on contemporary challenges to EU legality. Such challenges include actions or activities that cast doubt on, or sit uncomfortably with, the premises, principles, and norms that underpin the EU's legal order as proclaimed by the Treaties and the authoritative judgments of the European Court. These premises, principles, and norms range from the precisely formulated to the noticeably vague. The book develops a broader theoretical perspective as well as delving into a range of substantive areas including the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU's relationship with international law, migration, the sovereign debt crisis, and Brexit.

EU Administrative Law covers all dimensions of the administrative system in the EU and the principles of judicial review that apply in this area. Part I is entitled 'Foundations' and has two chapters, the first dealing with the historical development of the administrative system and administrative typology, the second dealing with the foundations of judicial review. Part II, which has seven chapters, is entitled 'Administration and Law', the focus being on the different ways in EU policy is administered, and the role of law and politics therein. There are chapters on Crisis, Reform and Constitutionalization; Centralized Management; Shared Management; Comitology; Agencies; Open Method of Coordination; and Social Partners. Part III has seventeen chapters, and is concerned with 'Law and Administration'. The precepts of judicial review are explicated, and set within the broader frame of the workings of the EU. The chapters are as follows: Courts; Access; Process; Transparency; Competence and Subsidiarity; Law, Fact and Discretion; Rights and Values; Equality; Legitimate Expectations and Legal Certainty; Proportionality I: EU; Proportionality II: Member States; Precautionary Principle; AI Systems and Automated Decision-Making; Internal Review and Appeal; Ombudsman; Judicial Remedies I: The EU; Judicial Remedies II: Member States.The approach throughout the book is to provide accessible and informed analysis of the law (in terms of Treaty provisions, EU legislation, and case law), relevant documentation from EU institutions and national institutions, and related academic commentary.

EU Administrative Law covers all dimensions of the administrative system in the EU and the principles of judicial review that apply in this area. Part I is entitled 'Foundations' and has two chapters, the first dealing with the historical development of the administrative system and administrative typology, the second dealing with the foundations of judicial review. Part II, which has seven chapters, is entitled 'Administration and Law', the focus being on the different ways in EU policy is administered, and the role of law and politics therein. There are chapters on Crisis, Reform and Constitutionalization; Centralized Management; Shared Management; Comitology; Agencies; Open Method of Coordination; and Social Partners. Part III has seventeen chapters, and is concerned with 'Law and Administration'. The precepts of judicial review are explicated, and set within the broader frame of the workings of the EU. The chapters are as follows: Courts; Access; Process; Transparency; Competence and Subsidiarity; Law, Fact and Discretion; Rights and Values; Equality; Legitimate Expectations and Legal Certainty; Proportionality I: EU; Proportionality II: Member States; Precautionary Principle; AI Systems and Automated Decision-Making; Internal Review and Appeal; Ombudsman; Judicial Remedies I: The EU; Judicial Remedies II: Member States.The approach throughout the book is to provide accessible and informed analysis of the law (in terms of Treaty provisions, EU legislation, and case law), relevant documentation from EU institutions and national institutions, and related academic commentary.

The threats to human rights posed by non-state actors are of increasing concern. Human rights activists increasingly address the activity of multinational corporations, the policies of international organizations such as the World Bank and the World trade Organisation, and international crimes committed by entities such as armed opposition groups and terrorists. This book presents an approach to human rights that goes beyond the traditional focus on states and outlines the human rights obligations of non-state actors. Furthermore, it addresses some of the ways in which these entities can be held legally accountable for their actions in various jurisdictions.The political debate concerning the appropriateness of expanding human rights scrutiny to non-state actors is discussed and dissected. For some, extending human rights into these spheres trivializes human rights and allows abusive governments to distract us from ongoing violations. For others such an extension is essential if human rights are properly to address the current concerns of women and workers. The main focus of the book, however, is on the legal obligations of non-state actors. The book discusses how developments in the fields of international responsibility and international criminal law have implications for building a framework for the human rights obligations of non-state actors in international law. In turn these international developments have drawn on the changing ways in which human rights are implemented in national law. A selection of national jurisdictions, including the United States, South Africa and the United Kingdom are examined with regard to the application of human rights law to non-state actors. The book's final part includes suggestions with regard to understanding the parameters of the human rights obligations of non-state actors. Key to understanding the legal obligations of non-state actors are concepts such as dignity and democracy. While neither concept can unravel the dilemmas involved in the application of human rights law to non-state actors, a better understanding of the tensions surrounding these concepts can help us to understand what is at stake.

The starting point of this book is the coexistence of the overlapping regimes of the WTO, the EU and the NAFTA. On this basis it explores the emergence of a nascent Common Law of International Trade. This exploration is rooted in three phenomena: Firstly, the fact that the very same regulatory measure may come simultaneously within the jurisdictional reach of more than one trade regime and may even be adjudicated simultaneously. Some regimes offer alternatives. The NAFTA, for example, offers GATT dispute resolution as an option for many of its own disputes. Secondly, convergence in the material law of the disparate international trade regimes. This, of course, is the heart of the emergent Common Law. Thirdly, the strengthening of private parties in all regimes. Once a preserve of the EU, the NAFTA allows private party dispute resolution of different types in relation to various matters and in the case of the WTO, although it is still an intergovernmental preserve, private actors are learning to manipulate the system. This volume, built on a recent series of courses at the Academy of European Law, is a reflection of this conviction. The various contributions deal with discrete areas in the double sense of the international trading system but each placing considerable emphasis on the interlocking nature of the various components of that system. It is our conviction that this is the appropriate way to understand and to teach this branch of the law.

The right to self-determination has been a driving force in international law and politics through much of the post World War II period. In the 1970s it was joined by a number of other human rights attributed to peoples rather than to individuals, including rights to development, peace, a clean environment, and humanitarian assistance. These so-called "third generation solidarity rights" have attracted considerable attention, especially from developing country governments, activists and scholars. In this volume, a group of leading experts examines the current status of the various rights and reflects upon their likely significance in the twenty-first century.

In recent years, human rights have come under fire, with the rise of political illiberalism and the coming to power of populist authoritarian leaders in many parts of the world who contest and dismiss the idea of human rights. More surprisingly, scholars and public intellectuals, from both the progressive and the conservative side of the political spectrum, have also been deeply critical, dismissing human rights as flawed, inadequate, hegemonic, or overreaching.While acknowledging some of the shortcomings, this book presents an experimentalist account of international human rights law and practice and argues that the human rights movement remains a powerful and appealing one with widespread traction in many parts of the globe. Using three case studies to illuminate the importance and vibrancy of the movement around the world, the book argues that its potency and legitimacy rest on three main pillars: First, it is based on a deeply-rooted and widely appealing moral discourse that integrates the three universal values of human dignity, human welfare, and human freedom. Second, these values and their elaboration in international legal instruments have gained widespread - even if thin - agreement among states worldwide. Third, human rights law and practice is highly dynamic, with human rights being activated, shaped, and given meaning and impact through the on-going mobilization of affected individuals and groups, and through their iterative engagement with multiple domestic and international institutions and processes.The book offers an account of how the human rights movement has helped to promote human rights and positive social change, and argues that the challenges of the current era provide good reasons to reform, innovate, and strengthen that movement, rather than to abandon it or to herald its demise.

Economic interaction has enlarged the international trade in goods and services, but the safe and humane flow of persons across international borders remains a challenge in a State-based model of territorial jurisdictions. Once an immigrant enters a new host country the guarantee of respect for their human rights comes into question. Indeed, the legal and political constructions of inclusion or exclusion of migrants from the political community touch at the very heart of the cosmopolitan spirit of universal human rights.This book brings together leading experts in the fields of migration and human rights law to examine central problems in the protection of the human rights of migrants. They explain the theoretical background of present issues in the area including, immigrant integration policies in Europe, the social and labour rights of migrants, the conditions and legal frameworks affecting migrant women, asylum seekers and refugees worldwide among many others. It explains in a clear and critical manner the legal and political implications of migration today in the context of an evolving globalized world.

Large-scale migration constitutes an unavoidable social reality within the European Union. A European polity is made possible and tangible by the individual acts of migrants crossing the internal borders, developing a transnational life and integrating into European societies.Consequently, migration has become a special feature of the self-understanding of the European Union: its existence depends upon a continuing flow of persons crossing the borders of the Member States, and also upon the management of the flows of third-country nationals knocking at its doors. To respond to this challenge, the Union has developed common European migration policies. This book is a collection of essays which aim to explore a selected number of issues related to the development of these policies. It presents the current state, and the future of European immigration law discussing the political rationales and legal competences driving the action of the Union in this area. It reflects on the cooperation of the Union with third countries and on the emergence of international migration legal norms. It illustrates the role of the European Courts and the emergence of new actors through the adoption of EU instruments.

In recent years the impact of human rights and fundamental rights on private law has risen in prominence and led to a whole series of detailed investigations. 'Constitutionalization of private law' is the flag under which most of the research on the increasing impact of national constitutional rights on national private legal orders is sailing. In the absence of a European Constitution, the constitutionalization of European private law suggests a process: constitutionalization instead of constituent power, demos, and the magic constitutional moment. The Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights constitute the two pillars on which the transformation of European private law rests. This volume clearly demonstrates the change that has taken place, at the national and at the European level. Private law is no longer immune to the intrusion of fundamental and human rights. Whilst member states and the EU are driving the process by adopting ever more concrete and more comprehensive lists of human and fundamental rights, at the national, the European, and international level with overlapping contents, the true and key players in this development are the national and European courts. Contributions to this volume give this process a face and a direction, which is highlighted in the introduction by Hans-W. Micklitz.

How can we guarantee a right to life or a right to health without also guaranteeing a decent environment in which to exercise these rights? It is becoming increasingly obvious that a high quality environment is key to the fundamental human rights of life and health, and associated rights such as the right to clean water, adequate housing, and food. This book canvasses a range of law and policy issues concerning human rights and the environment. Each chapter examines an aspect of the links between environmental law and human rights in substantive and/or procedural terms, loosely falling into four themes: human rights and the environment in the context of the private sector; analysis of decisions of the European and Inter-American courts in respect of substantive and procedural aspects; human rights and the environment in the Asian region, including the issue of human displacement; and the future direction of human rights and environment law.

In an epoch of transnational armed conflict, global environmental harm, and rising inequality, the extraterritorial application of human rights law has become a pressing and controversial legal issue. Human rights are invoked to address a number of global-scale problems, such as trans-border environmental harm, social and economic development, global inequality, the repression of piracy in ungoverned spaces, and military occupation and armed conflict in the territory of a third state. The chapters collected in this volume grapple with the promise and the dilemmas of the extraterritorial application of human rights law through an analysis of the legal, theoretical, and practical questions raised by extending states' human rights obligations beyond their national territories.

As EU non-majoritarian bodies such as the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the European Central Bank grow in political influence, many have identified the pressing need to keep these bodies accountable to the repositories of the EU's democratic legitimacy. This collection of essays sheds light on the inherent tension between independence and legitimacy in the EU's institutional system and explores the options of reconciling the two. Featuring analysis from both legal and political perspectives, the volume assesses whether, to what extent, and how it is possible to control the various EU independent bodies and make them answerable for what they do, while at the same time upholding their independence.

What does the 'internal market' mean? The EU is committed to the construction of an internal market, and in this analysis Stephen Weatherill explains that the EU's internal market is an ambiguous legal concept. One may readily suppose that the United Kingdom possesses an internal market. So does Germany, so does France, so does Australia, and Canada, and the United States of America. The European Union aspires to an internal market, but the detailed patterns governing these several internal markets are not uniform; in fact they vary according to the extent to which the constituent units are permitted to pursue different regulatory policies. They vary according to the scope of law-making competence and powers allocated to the central authority. They vary according to the governing institutional (judicial and political) arrangements. The quality and intensity of the regulated environment varies according to the choices made. There is a broad band of possible internal markets, ranging from one that is radically decentralized as a result of a choice in favour of unrestricted inter-jurisdictional competition to, at the other extreme, one that is radically centralized in the sense that law-making competence has been completely stripped away from the constituent units in favour of the central authority. Within that spectrum there is a huge range of options.In this inquiry into the limits and ambiguities of the internal market as a legal concept, Weatherill examines and explains the choices made by the EU and demonstrates what they entail for the shape of the EU's internal market. This book is not about 'Brexit', but it shows that one of the claims commonly made by Brexiteers - that the internal market can be confined merely to a deregulatory exercise in free market economics - has no support whatsoever in either EU constitutional law or in EU legislative and judicial practice.

What does the 'internal market' mean? The EU is committed to the construction of an internal market, and in this analysis Stephen Weatherill explains that the EU's internal market is an ambiguous legal concept. One may readily suppose that the United Kingdom possesses an internal market. So does Germany, so does France, so does Australia, and Canada, and the United States of America. The European Union aspires to an internal market, but the detailed patterns governing these several internal markets are not uniform; in fact they vary according to the extent to which the constituent units are permitted to pursue different regulatory policies. They vary according to the scope of law-making competence and powers allocated to the central authority. They vary according to the governing institutional (judicial and political) arrangements. The quality and intensity of the regulated environment varies according to the choices made. There is a broad band of possible internal markets, ranging from one that is radically decentralized as a result of a choice in favour of unrestricted inter-jurisdictional competition to, at the other extreme, one that is radically centralized in the sense that law-making competence has been completely stripped away from the constituent units in favour of the central authority. Within that spectrum there is a huge range of options.In this inquiry into the limits and ambiguities of the internal market as a legal concept, Weatherill examines and explains the choices made by the EU and demonstrates what they entail for the shape of the EU's internal market. This book is not about 'Brexit', but it shows that one of the claims commonly made by Brexiteers - that the internal market can be confined merely to a deregulatory exercise in free market economics - has no support whatsoever in either EU constitutional law or in EU legislative and judicial practice.

What is the nature of the relationship between the fields of new technology and EU law? What challenges do new technologies pose for the internal market and the fundamental principles of the EU? The first part of the collection explores the EU's approach to the regulation of scientific and technological risk, and the link between the regulation of technology and the internal market. In detail, the chapters analyse the interaction between EU law, bioethics and medical and health technologies. The second part of the collection enhances on this, and the chapters scrutinize specific policy areas in order to explain the alternate ways in which EU policy and technology cooperate.

This interdisciplinary volume examines the relationship between secularism, freedom of religion and human rights in legal, theoretical, historical and political perspective. It brings together chapters from leading scholars of human rights, law and religion, political theory, religious studies and history, and provides insights into the state of the debate about the relationship between these concepts. Comparative in orientation, its chapters draw on constitutional and political discourses and experience not only from Western Europe and the United States, but also from India, the Arab world, and Malaysia.

In this collection of essays, originally presented at the Academy of European Law in Florence, the changing landscape of the EU's legal acts is explored. Further to this, the changing boundaries between legal acts and processes which may create norms but do not create 'law' in the traditional sense are analysed. This landscape is presented in two ways. Firstly, by focusing on the transformations and challenges to the EU's traditional legal acts, in particular since the reconfiguration of the categories of legal acts and the procedures for which they are adopted by the Lisbon Treaty. Secondly, the collection focuses on those acts found at (or beyond) the margin of classic EU legal acts, including acts of Member States such as inter se treaties; self-regulation and collective agreements; so-called soft law; and decision-making outside the normal legislative procedures. The volume endeavours to explain the adaptability of the EU legal order despite the fact that the legal instruments at the Union's disposal have not fundamentally changed since the Treaty of Rome came into force 60 years ago. It explores the challenges that new decisional procedures and variations in the legal quality of EU acts pose for the EU's legal order, including alterations to institutional balance and the roles of the different institutional actors and challenges to the rule of law.

Born from the ashes of the Second World War as one of the most ambitious and successful parts of the plan for the reconstruction of Western Europe, European integration has been immersed in a deep economic and institutional crisis for more than a decade. This difficult situation is also threatening to erode one of its most original and valuable elements: the establishment of a supranational rule of law among the Member States of the European Union that provides a solid framework for their peaceful, ordered, and fair relations.This book, which is based on the general course given at the Academy of European Law in Florence in July 2015, puts the innovative initial choices made by the drafters of the Treaties and by the Court of Justice of the Union in their proper historical perspective, understanding Union law as a tool of civilisation. Its current decline is explained as a consequence of the waning of the initial impetus behind integration, of the growing complexity and challenges of the Union system, and of the ambivalent attitude of the Member States regarding their common creation.These themes are explored focusing on a number of fundamental structural issues: the principle of primacy, the national limits to it and the theory of constitutional pluralism; the state of health of the preliminary rulings procedure; Union citizenship, equality and human dignity; the scope of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the standard of protection of those rights; and the rigidity and fragmentation of the Union system in connection with the increasing use of international law as a softer alternative to Union law.In all these areas, the book presents a fascinating story of decay and resistance, a story that is unfolding at present, and whose fate is closely linked to the future political shape of Europe.

The third edition of EU Administrative Law provides comprehensive coverage of the administrative system in the EU and the principles of judicial review that apply in this area. This revised edition provides important updates on each area covered, including new case law; institutional developments; and EU legislation. These changes are located within the framework of broader developments in the EU. The chapters in the first half of the book deal with all the principal variants of the EU administrative regime. Thus there are chapters dealing with the history and taxonomy of the EU administrative regime; direct administration; shared administration; comitology; agencies; social partners; and the open method of coordination. The coverage throughout focuses on the legal regime that governs the particular form of administration and broader issues of accountability, drawing on literature from political science as well as law.The focus in the second part of the book shifts to judicial review. There are detailed chapters covering all principles of judicial review and the discussion of the law throughout is analytical and contextual. It begins with the principles that have informed the development of EU judicial review. This is followed by a chapter dealing with the judicial system and the way in which reform could impact on the subject matter of the book. There are then chapters dealing with competence; access; transparency; process; law, fact and discretion; rights; equality; legitimate expectations; two chapters on proportionality; the precautionary principle; two chapters on remedies; and the Ombudsman.

The third edition of EU Administrative Law provides comprehensive coverage of the administrative system in the EU and the principles of judicial review that apply in this area. This revised edition provides important updates on each area covered, including new case law; institutional developments; and EU legislation. These changes are located within the framework of broader developments in the EU. The chapters in the first half of the book deal with all the principal variants of the EU administrative regime. Thus there are chapters dealing with the history and taxonomy of the EU administrative regime; direct administration; shared administration; comitology; agencies; social partners; and the open method of coordination. The coverage throughout focuses on the legal regime that governs the particular form of administration and broader issues of accountability, drawing on literature from political science as well as law.The focus in the second part of the book shifts to judicial review. There are detailed chapters covering all principles of judicial review and the discussion of the law throughout is analytical and contextual. It begins with the principles that have informed the development of EU judicial review. This is followed by a chapter dealing with the judicial system and the way in which reform could impact on the subject matter of the book. There are then chapters dealing with competence; access; transparency; process; law, fact and discretion; rights; equality; legitimate expectations; two chapters on proportionality; the precautionary principle; two chapters on remedies; and the Ombudsman.

Following a national referendum on 23rd June 2016, the UK announced its intention to end its decades-long membership of the EU, perhaps the most dramatic and important change in national policy since 1945. That decision initiated a process of complex negotiations aimed at making the arrangements required for an "orderly Brexit". The UK's Withdrawal from the EU explores the UK's departure from the EU from a legal perspective: Michael Dougan provides a critical analysis of the final EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, including explorations of the future protection of citizens' rights, the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the prospects for future EU-UK relations in fields such as trade and security. These explorations also include an analysis of the primary problems that arose during the Brexit negotiation process and various constitutional principles relevant to EU withdrawal law.

Following a national referendum on 23rd June 2016, the UK announced its intention to end its decades-long membership of the EU, perhaps the most dramatic and important change in national policy since 1945. That decision initiated a process of complex negotiations aimed at making the arrangements required for an "orderly Brexit". The UK's Withdrawal from the EU explores the UK's departure from the EU from a legal perspective: Michael Dougan provides a critical analysis of the final EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, including explorations of the future protection of citizens' rights, the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the prospects for future EU-UK relations in fields such as trade and security. These explorations also include an analysis of the primary problems that arose during the Brexit negotiation process and various constitutional principles relevant to EU withdrawal law.

Born from the ashes of the Second World War as one of the most ambitious and successful parts of the plan for the reconstruction of Western Europe, European integration has been immersed in a deep economic and institutional crisis for more than a decade. This difficult situation is also threatening to erode one of its most original and valuable elements: the establishment of a supranational rule of law among the Member States of the European Union that provides a solid framework for their peaceful, ordered, and fair relations.This book, which is based on the general course given at the Academy of European Law in Florence in July 2015, puts the innovative initial choices made by the drafters of the Treaties and by the Court of Justice of the Union in their proper historical perspective, understanding Union law as a tool of civilisation. Its current decline is explained as a consequence of the waning of the initial impetus behind integration, of the growing complexity and challenges of the Union system, and of the ambivalent attitude of the Member States regarding their common creation.These themes are explored focusing on a number of fundamental structural issues: the principle of primacy, the national limits to it and the theory of constitutional pluralism; the state of health of the preliminary rulings procedure; Union citizenship, equality and human dignity; the scope of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the standard of protection of those rights; and the rigidity and fragmentation of the Union system in connection with the increasing use of international law as a softer alternative to Union law.In all these areas, the book presents a fascinating story of decay and resistance, a story that is unfolding at present, and whose fate is closely linked to the future political shape of Europe.

This book addresses the impact of EU law beyond its own borders, the use of law as a powerful instrument of EU external action, and some of the normative challenges this poses. The phenomenon of EU law operating beyond its borders, which may be termed its 'global reach', includes the extraterritorial application of EU law, territorial extension, and the so-called 'Brussels Effect' resulting from unilateral legislative and regulatory action, but also includes the impact of the EU's bilateral relationships, and its engagement with multilateral fora and the negotiation of international legal instruments. The book maps this phenomenon across a range of policy fields, including the environment, the internet and data protection, banking and financial markets, competition policy, and migration. It argues that in looking beyond the undoubtedly important instrumental function of law we can start to identify the ways in which law shapes the EU's external identity and its relations with other legal regimes, both enabling and constraining the EU's external action.