The Procedural and Organisational Law of the European Court of Justice: An Incomplete Transformation

by Christoph Krenn

Overview

How should judges of the European Court of Justice be selected, who should participate in the Court's proceedings and how should judgments be drafted? These questions have remained blind spots in the normative literature on the Court. This book aims to address them. It describes a vast, yet incomplete transformation: Originally, the Court was based on a classic international law model of court organisation and decision-making. Gradually, the concern for the effectiveness of EU law led to the reinvention of its procedural and organisational design. The role of the judge was reconceived as that of a neutral expert, an inner circle of participants emerged and the Court became more hierarchical. While these developments have enabled the Court to make EU law uniquely effective, they have also created problems from a democratic perspective. The book argues that it is time to democratise the Court and shows ways to do this.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009247948
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/22/2022
Series:	Cambridge Studies in European Law and Policy
Pages:	202
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.33(h) x 0.43(d)

About the Author

Christoph Krenn studied in Graz and Paris and received his Ph.D. in law from Goethe University Frankfurt. He is a research affiliate at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, where he was also a research and senior research fellow from 2011 to 2019. In 2019 he was awarded an APART-GSK-Fellowship by the Austrian Academy of Sciences to pursue a four-year research project on the rise of constitutional adjudication in Austria and Switzerland. He has been a visiting scholar at University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, at iCourts Centre in Copenhagen and at University of Zurich.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. What courts do: a normative theory of court decision-making; 3. On the template of the ICJ: the Court's liberal roots; 4. Luhmann in Luxembourg: the rise of the rule of law model; 5. Completing the transformation: proposals for democratising the ECJ; 6. Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

‘Krenn’s book stands as a precious compass. Not only does it offer a valuable conceptual framework to make sense of the Court’s changing roles and functions in the EU polity, but is also outlines a clear way forward, fit for the challenges ahead.’ Paul Dermine, European Constitutional Law Review

From the Publisher