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The European Union Legislature as an Agent of the European Court of Justice

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  • Gareth Davies

Abstract

The European Union is unique among jurisdictions in having constitutionalized its policy goals and methods, by embedding these in the Treaties. As a result, the legislature is far more constrained in its activities than is the case in other constitutional orders. Yet the Treaties are indeterminate, and it is the Court of Justice which interprets and delimits them, and instructs the legislature on how and to what extent it may pursue them. There is, in substance, a principal–agent relationship between the Court and the EU legislature, enforceable by the Court's capacity to annul legislation contrary to its preferences. An examination of internal market legislation shows that indeed it consists of codification of prior case law. The judicial constraints on the EU legislature are sufficiently tight that the legislature is more akin to a subordinate implementing regulator than to an autonomous political policy‐maker.

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  • Gareth Davies, 2016. "The European Union Legislature as an Agent of the European Court of Justice," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 846-861, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:54:y:2016:i:4:p:846-861
    DOI: 10.1111/jcms.12353
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Zglinski, Jan, 2023. "The end of negative market integration: 60 years of free movement of goods litigation in the EU (1961–2020)," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117599, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Ninke Mussche & Dries Lens, 2018. "The EU Free Movement of Services and the growing mobility of Third-Country Nationals as posted workers," Working Papers 1813, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    3. Michal Ovádek, 2021. "Supranationalism, constrained? Locating the Court of Justice on the EU integration dimension," European Union Politics, , vol. 22(1), pages 46-69, March.
    4. Scharpf, Fritz W., 2016. "De-constitutionalization and majority rule: A democratic vision for Europe," MPIfG Discussion Paper 16/14, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    5. José Luis Castro-Montero & Edwin Alblas & Arthur Dyevre & Nicolas Lampach, 2018. "The Court of Justice and treaty revision: A case of strategic leniency?," European Union Politics, , vol. 19(4), pages 570-596, December.
    6. Joshua C Fjelstul, 2019. "The evolution of European Union law: A new data set on the Acquis Communautaire," European Union Politics, , vol. 20(4), pages 670-691, December.

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