European Union Law Research Guide

This Nutshell covers the history and growth of the European Union including BREXIT and Beyond. The EU's legislative procedures, litigating EU law and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice are reviewed. Free movement of goods, services, people (including mass migration), capital and technology, the EURO in crisis, and extensive internal Union policies are detailed. This Nutshell also examines EU international trade, foreign investment and business competition (antitrust) law.

This advanced, detailed guide provides a comprehensive review of laws and policies of the European Union, including BREXIT and Beyond. Chapter 1 examines the history and growth of the European Union. Chapters 2 and 3 focus on critical EU processes behind lawmaking and litigation. Chapter 4 examines the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people (including mass migration). Chapter 5 covers a broad selection of internal EU business law regimes ranging from taxation to agriculture. The EU's complex external trade, foreign investment and customs law is analyzed in Chapter 6. Antitrust law and regulation of business agreements are covered in Chapter 7. The Treaty on European Union, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the EU Charter of Fundamental Freedoms, and a summary of the EU-UK 2021 Trade and Cooperation Agreement post BREXIT are reproduced in Appendices.

Research Handbook on EU Institutional Law offers a critical look into the European Union: its legal foundations, competences and institutions. It provides an analysis of the EU legal system, its application at the national level and the prevalent role of the Court of Justice. Throughout the course of the Handbook the expert contributors discuss whether the European Union is well equipped for the 21st century and the numerous crises it has to handle.

'This innovative collection of essays offers a uniquely comprehensive exploration of the way in which the EU engages with other international organizations and bodies. While both EU law and international law perspectives are examined, this book goes beyond mere legal analysis to address political and practical issues the EU encounters on the internal and the external fronts. It forms a major contribution to the literature on the relationship between the EU legal order and public international law and on the EU's role in international relations more generally.' - Containing chapters by leading scholars, this Research Handbook presents a comprehensive and critical assessment of these relationships, examining both the EU's representation and cooperation as well as the influence of these external bodies on the development of EU law and policy.

This last decade has been particularly turbulent for the EU. Beset by crises - the financial crisis, the rule of law crisis, the migration crisis, Brexit, and the pandemic - European Law has had to adapt and change in a way not previously seen.

First published in 1999, the goal then was to reflect on the important developments that had been made since the creation of the EEC. That goal has not changed. From EU Administrative Law through to the Regulation of Network Industries, each chapter in this seminal work assess the legal and political forces that have shaped the evolution of EU law.

With new chapters covering the Rule of Law, Judicial Reform, Brexit, Constitutional and Legal Theory, Refugee and Asylum law, and Data Governance, this third edition of The Evolution of EU Law is a must read for any student or academic of EU law.

How has European Union developed since its origins in the reconstruction of Europe in the wake of the Second World War, and why has it developed in this fashion? The principal theme of this book maintains that the EU is a site for the management of the interdependence of the States that are its members. A whole host of challenges - from climate change to security to migration to economic reform - can be tackled more effectively through multilateral action than by unilateral State action and the EU has become the principal location for that action in common. Recommended for understanding the rationale for, and the mechanics of EU actions.

Joseph Weiler presents essays written during the 1990s on issues related to European constitutional law. In a series of discussions concerning the legal framework of the European Communities and the European Union, Professor Weiler describes the gradual strengthening of transnational European institutions at the expense of national legislators. Although individuals as legal consumers have been empowered by Community law, he writes, this has been at the expense of their rights as citizens. The Constitution of Europe thus provides from a legal perspective a balanced and authoritative critique of the attractions and demerits of the goal of European integration.

Important cases before the Court of Justice on supremacy of EU law and division of competences between the EU and member states.

This book offers an approach that concentrates on those aspects of European legal materials that are of constitutional interest. It takes the basic themes of constitutional law relevant in an established federal structure (principally the United States) as a "template" and then organizes analysis of the provisions of the various EU Treaties and the caselaw in order to bring out the degree to which they provide the building blocks of an EU Constitution. Perhaps the most radical aspect of this approach is to be found in Part III, where the authors view the Treaties' free movement provisions as constitutional restrictions on the Member States' ability to affect inter-State commerce. This enables those provisions to be examined in the context of the division of powers between the Union and the Member States in much the same way as one might study the U.S. Commerce Clause, and in particular the dormant commerce clause doctrine. Moreover, the authors add a new perspective on the impact of those restrictions by focusing on various areas of legislative activity rather than structuring the materials around the Treaty provisions as such.

The merit of this approach is that it relates the often complex and unfamiliar legal structures and concepts of the European Union to subject-matter that should be familiar to students who have already taken a course in Constitutional Law. It also avoids distractions that could otherwise arise from extensive probing into substantive areas of EU law that would be better addressed through discrete in-depth studies based on an entirely different course theme, such as corporation or antitrust (competition) law.


Other departures from conventional treatment of EU law include an extended treatment of Fundamental Rights, and unique approaches to the relationship of EU law with Member State law and with international law. The book also incorporates a final chapter on the Treaty of Lisbon—which includes most operative provisions of the "Constitution" rejected by referenda in France and the Netherlands—in anticipation of its ratification, and other initiatives that are shaping the future of the EU. It thus provides a bridge between the law as it existed at the end of 2007 and its likely evolution over the foreseeable future.

The Law of the European Union is a complete reference work on all aspects of the law of the European Union, including the institutional framework, the Internal Market, Economic and Monetary Union and external policy and action. Completely revised and updated, with many newly written chapters, this fifth edition of the most thorough resource in its field provides the most comprehensive and systematic account available of the law of the European Union (EU). Written by a new team of experts in their respective areas of European law, its coverage incorporates and embraces many current, controversial, and emerging issues and provides detailed attention to historical development and legislative history of EU law.

What’s in this book:

Topics that are constantly debated in European legal analysis and practice are touched on in ways that are both fundamental and enlightening, including the following:

powers and functions of the EU law institutions and relationship among them;
the principles of equality, loyalty, subsidiarity, and proportionality;
free movement of persons, goods, services, and capital;
mechanisms of constitutional change – treaty revisions, accession treaties, withdrawal agreements;
budgetary principles and procedures;
State aid rules;
effect of Union law in national legal systems;
coexistence of EU, European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), and national fundamental rights law;
migration and asylum law;
liability of Member States for damage suffered by individuals;
competition law – cartels, abuse of dominant position, merger control;
social policy, equal pay, and equal treatment;
environmental policy, consumer protection, public health, cultural policy, education, and tourism;
nature of EU citizenship, its acquisition, and loss; and
law and policy of the EU’s external relations.
The fifth edition embraces many new, ongoing, and emerging European legal issues. As in the previous editions, the presentation is notable for its attention to how the law relates to economic and political realities and how the various policy areas interact with each other and with the institutional framework.

The leading textbook on the four freedoms, popular with students and academics alike, this authoritative text offers a unique balance of comprehensive, detailed coverage in a concise and readable style, providing a critical and thorough analysis of the key principles of the substantive law of the EU. An introductory chapter provides valuable context on the governance of the internal market, its evolution, and the theories behind its key principles. Each of the freedoms is then dealt with in turn, covering goods, persons, services, and capital, before moving on to discuss harmonization, the regulation of the internal market, and its future.

Since its formation, the European Union has expanded beyond all expectations; this seems set to continue as more countries seek accession and the scope of EU law expands, touching more and more aspects of its citizens' lives. The EU has never been stronger and yet it now appears to be reaching a crisis point, beset on all sides by conflict and challenges to its legitimacy. Nationalist sentiment is on the rise and the Eurozone crisis has had a deep and lasting impact.

The European Union has the complexity and depth of a mature legal system, albeit one which is constantly in flux and whose content and foundations are constantly contested. Its law has developed beyond the single market and institutional matters into many other fields including environmental, fiscal, labour, immigration and criminal law. It is studied at undergraduate and postgraduate level throughout the Member States and beyond; an understanding of it is essential to those who study the EU from other disciplinary perspectives as well as to legal practitioners and policy-makers.

The Oxford Handbook of European Union Law comprises eight sections examining how we are to conceptualise EU law; the architecture of EU law; making and administering EU law; the economic constitution and the citizen; regulation of the market place; economic, monetary and fiscal union; the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice; and what lies beyond the regulatory state. Each chapter summarises, analyses and reflects on the state of play in a given area, and suggests how it is likely to develop in the foreseeable future. The resulting collection provides a vivid and provocative tapestry which will be widely used both inside and outside academia by those who are interested in the law underpinning the EU and its policies.

This Research Handbook offers a comprehensive study of existing and emerging general principles of EU law by scholars from a wide range of expertise in EU law, international law, legal theory and different areas of substantive law. It explores the theory, content, role and function of general principles in EU law to better understand general principles as a mechanism for the substantive openness of the EU legal order as well as for cross-fertilization and coherence of legal orders. Their potential as a tool to manage the interaction of legal regimes and orders is a particular focal point and will make this Handbook a must-read for scholars of EU Law.

Written by a leading expert in the field, this book analyses the complex relations between the European Union (EU) as a regional organization and the United Nations (UN) as an international, global governance institution.

Exploring the notion that norms are often seen as static structures governing society, politics and legislation, this thought-provoking book offers insights into Robert Alexy's theory of constitutional rights and the range in rigidity of two norm categories: rules and principles. Arguing that constitutional pluralism and the differentiation between norms is also present in EU law, Anne Wesemann asserts that EU Citizenship is a principle and thus a constitutional rights norm.
Providing new perspectives on constitutionalism in the EU, this book considers the way the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) discusses and applies the EU citizenship Treaty norms by analysing the court's approach to decision making, which mirrors the balancing and weighing of conflicting principles. Wesemann proposes a new approach to constitutional analysis of the EU and its legal framework, arguing that the existence of constitutional rights norms in EU law enables this particular legal order to respond effectively to societal and political challenges within the rigidity of constitutionalism.

Citizenship in the European Union will be a key resource for scholars and students of constitutional law and politics. Its contribution to the discourse around judicial activism and politicisation will also be essential reading for those studying the workings of the CJEU.

It is clear that the current crisis of the EU is not confined to the Eurozone and the EMU, evidenced in its inability to ensure the compliance of Member States to follow the principles and values underlying the integration project in Europe (including the protection of democracy, the Rule of Law, and human rights). This defiance has affected the Union profoundly, and in a multi-faceted assessment of this phenomenon, The Enforcement of EU Law and Values: Ensuring Member States' Compliance, dissects the essence of this crisis, examining its history and offering coping methods for the years to come.

Defiance is not a new concept and this volume explores the richness of EU-level and national-level examples of historical defiance - the French empty chair policy, the Luxembourg compromise, and the FPO crisis in Austria - and draws on the experience of the US legal system and that of the integration projects on other continents. Building on this legal-political context, the book focuses on the assessment of the adequacy of the enforcement mechanisms whilst learning from EU integration history.

Structured in four parts, the volume studies (1) theoretical issues on defiance in the context of multi-layered legal orders, (2) EU mechanisms of acquis and values' enforcement, (3) comparative perspective on law-enforcement in multi-layered legal systems, and (4) case-studies of defiance in the EU.