3 - On the Template of the ICJ

Summary

The second chapter investigates the original model underlying the ECJ’s procedural and organisational law by describing the mandate and the procedural and organisational setup of the ECJ’s predecessor, the Court of the European Coal and Steel Community. The chapter shows that the Coal and Steel Court squarely fit into the liberal model of court decision-making developed in the first chapter of the book. Its primary role was to protect the rights and interests of individual litigants, notably the Member States. Accordingly, the Coal and Steel Court was equipped with a procedural and organisational law borrowed from the International Court of Justice, steered towards the equal representation of the Member States in the proceedings. The chapter describes in detail how the idea of Member State representation coined the conception of judges as state representatives, a narrow understanding of who may participate in court proceedings and a design of the deliberations that aimed to give all judges equal influence.