Multi-level private law

Hugh Collins

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511620010.009

VII - Multi-level private law

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2010

Hugh Collins

Show author details

Hugh Collins: Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science

Book contents

Get access

Summary

An impossible necessity?

The European Union is a supranational legal order that can function effectively only in cooperation with national legal systems. Laws enacted within the powers of the European Union, as specified in the intergovernmental treaties, claim supremacy over national laws. Yet the effectiveness of European law depends upon the willingness of national governments and courts to observe its provisions in good faith. When enacted in the form of Directives, even the supranational laws themselves only become fully effective following re-enactment and implementation by national legislatures. The European Union differs sharply in these respects from a complete federal system of government.

In a fully federal structure, a federal legislature would determine the precise content of its laws, with the same rules being applicable throughout the territories. Such a federal system would also comprise a central government, enforcement agencies and federal courts to compel compliance with its legislation. Unlike the European Union, a full federal system of government is with respect to its institutions of government much like a nation state. In contrast, the competence of the European Union is partial, and depends heavily on national governments and institutions to perform its functions and for its effectiveness. Unless the national authorities of the Member States enact the Directives as national laws and the courts insist upon compliance with those laws, the European Union would struggle to render any of its measures effective.

Type: Chapter
Information: The European Civil Code
The Way Forward
, pp. 182 - 209

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511620010.009 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Joerges, C., ‘European Challenges to Private Law: On False Dichotomies, True Conflicts and the Need for a New Constitutional Perspective’ (1998) 18(2) Legal Studies146CrossRef Google Scholar

Joerges, C., ‘On the Legitimacy of Europeanising Europe's Private Law’ (2002) 2 Global Jurist Topics Art. 1CrossRef Google Scholar

Joerges, C., The Challenges of Europeanization in the Realm of Private Law: A Plea for a New Legal Discipline EUI Working Papers in Law No. 2004/12 (Florence: EUI, 2004)Google Scholar

Joerges, C., On the Legitimacy of Europeanising Private Law, Ius Commune Lectures on European Private Law 6 (Maastricht: METRO, 2003)Google Scholar

Moor, A., ‘Contract, Justice and Diversity in the Remaking of Europe’ (1993) 15 Rechtstheorie71Google Scholar

Coglio, Pietro, Filisofia del diritto privateo (Philosophy of Private Law) (Firenze: Barbera, 1891) 65Google Scholar

Alpa, G., ‘The British Contribution to Italian Legal Thinking’ in Markesinis, B. S. (ed.), The British Contribution to the Europe of the Twenty-First Century (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2002) 37, 54Google Scholar

Wilhelmsson, T., ‘Private Law in the EU: Harmonised or Fragmented Europeanisation?’ (2002) 10 European Review of Private Law77CrossRef Google Scholar

Basedow, J., ‘Codification of Private Law in the European Union: The Making of a Hybrid’ (2001) European Review of Private Law 35, 47Google Scholar

Amstutz, M., ‘In-Between Worlds: Marleasing and the Emergence of Interlegality in Legal Reasoning’ (2005) 11 European Law Journal766CrossRef Google Scholar

Kilpatrick, C., ‘Gender Equality: A Fundamental Dialogue’, in Sciarra, S. (ed.), Labour Law in the Courts: National Judges and the European Court of Justice (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2001) 31.Google Scholar

Weatherill, S., Law and Integration in the European Union (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005) 82.Google Scholar

Hesselink, M., ‘The Ideal of Codification and the Dynamics of Europeanization: The Dutch Experience’ (2006) 12 European Law Journal279CrossRef Google Scholar

,Law Commission, Unfair Terms in Contracts, Report No. 292 (London: Law Commission, 2005).Google Scholar

Lando, O. and Beale, H. (eds.), Principles of European Contract Law Part I and II (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2000)

Rutgers, J., ‘Note’ (2005) 1 European Review of Contract Law87Google Scholar

Whittaker, S., ‘Judicial Intervention and Consumer Contracts’ 2001 117 Law Quarterly Review215Google Scholar

Hesselink, M., ‘Note’ (2006) 2 European Review of Contract Law366Google Scholar

Rutgers, J., ‘Note’ (2005) 1 European Review of Contract Law87Google Scholar

Grundmann, S. and Kerber, W., ‘European System of Contract Laws – A Map for Combining the Advantages of Centralised and Decentralised Rule-Making’ in Grundmann, S. and Stuyck, J. (eds.), An Academic Green Paper on European Contract Law (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2002) 295Google Scholar

Twining, W., ‘Diffusion of Law: A Global Perspective’ (2004) 49 Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law1.CrossRef Google Scholar

Basedow, J., ‘A Common Contract Law for the Common Market’ (1996) 33 Common Market Law Review1169, 1189Google Scholar

Teubner, G., ‘Legal Irritants: Good Faith in British Law or How Unifying Law Ends Up in New Divergences’ (1998) 61 Modern Law Review11CrossRef Google Scholar

Mattei, U., The European Codification Process (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2003) 121.Google Scholar

Book contents

VII - Multi-level private law

Summary

Access options

References

Save book to Kindle

Save book to Dropbox

Save book to Google Drive