TY - BOOK
T1 - Establishing the Supremacy of European Law
T2 - The Making of an International Rule of Law in Europe
AU - Alter, Karen J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Karen J. Alter 2001. All rights reserved.
PY - 2010/1/1
Y1 - 2010/1/1
N2 - The most effective international legal system in the world exists in Europe. It works much like a domestic system, where violations of the law are brought to court, legal decisions are respected, and the autonomous influence of law and legal rulings extends into the political process itself. The European legal system was not always so effective at influencing state behaviour and compelling compliance. Indeed the European Community's original legal system was intentionally designed to have very limited monitoring and enforcement capabilities. The European Court of Justice transformed the original system through bold and controversial legal decisions declaring the direct effect and supremacy of European law over national law. This book starts where traditional legal accounts leave off. Karen Alter explains why national courts took on a role enforcing European law against their governments, and why national governments accepted an institutional change that greatly compromised national sovereignty. She then shows how harnessing national courts to funnel private litigant challenges through to the ECJ and enforce European law supremacy contributed fundamentally to the emergence of an international rule of law in Europe, where national governments are held accountable to their European legal obligations, and where states actually avoid policies that might conflict with European law.
AB - The most effective international legal system in the world exists in Europe. It works much like a domestic system, where violations of the law are brought to court, legal decisions are respected, and the autonomous influence of law and legal rulings extends into the political process itself. The European legal system was not always so effective at influencing state behaviour and compelling compliance. Indeed the European Community's original legal system was intentionally designed to have very limited monitoring and enforcement capabilities. The European Court of Justice transformed the original system through bold and controversial legal decisions declaring the direct effect and supremacy of European law over national law. This book starts where traditional legal accounts leave off. Karen Alter explains why national courts took on a role enforcing European law against their governments, and why national governments accepted an institutional change that greatly compromised national sovereignty. She then shows how harnessing national courts to funnel private litigant challenges through to the ECJ and enforce European law supremacy contributed fundamentally to the emergence of an international rule of law in Europe, where national governments are held accountable to their European legal obligations, and where states actually avoid policies that might conflict with European law.
KW - Compliance
KW - Europe
KW - European Court of Justice
KW - European law supremacy
KW - Legal obligations
KW - Legal rulings
KW - State behaviour
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84920642510&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84920642510&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199260997.001.0001
DO - 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199260997.001.0001
M3 - Book
AN - SCOPUS:84920642510
SN - 9780199260997
BT - Establishing the Supremacy of European Law
PB - Oxford University Press
ER -