Prologue

Contributors

Table of Cases

Table of Legislation

PART I: NATIONAL REPORTS

1. Report on Belgium

HERVE BRIBOSIA

General Introduction

Doctrinal Review

Conditions of domestic applicability

Direct applicability

Supremacy over conflicting domestic law

Kompetenz-Kompetenz

Contextual observations

"Specificity" of European Community law

Political and constitutional context

Evolution of jurisprudence

References

2. Report on France

JENS PLOTNER

The Reception of the Direct Effect and Supremacy Doctrine by the French Supreme Courts

Doctrinal development of the three supreme courts

Kompetenz-Kompetenz

The Social Context of Legal Change Concerning European Union Law in France

Chronology of the social context

The influence of doctrine on jurisprudence

3. Report on Germany

JULIANE KOKOTT

Introduction

Doctrinal Matrix

Constitutional law background

Doctrinal matrix before and after the Maastricht decision

Doctrine, Jurisprudence and Beyond

Doctrinal shifts of the Federal Constitutional Court's jurisprudence and their possible causes

The European Courts and national courts

Beyond doctrine

Conclusions

4. The Italian Constitutional Court and the Relationship Between the Italian Legal System and the European Union

MARTA CARTABIA

The theoretical bases of the Italian membership to the European Union

The Italian Constitutional Court case-law concerning the supremacy of European law: from the denial of supremacy to the supremacy under condition

The Italian Constitutional Court case-law concerning the direct effect of European law

The Italian Constitutional Court and the kompetenz-kompetenz principle

The contribution of "la doctrine" to the development of the Italian Constitutional Court's attitude towards European integration

5. Report on Italy

P. RUGGERI LADERCHI

Introduction

Beyond the Doctrine

The actors--judges

The actors--la doctrine

Cross-fertilisation

Looking back at the "Community path" of the Constitutional Court

The origin of the Constitutional Court's doctrine: a device used to avoid declaring the EC Treaty contrary to the Constitution

Error! Reference source not found--some observations on the post-Granital case law

The problem of competence

6. Report on the Netherlands

MONICA CLAES

BRUNO DE WITTE

The Dutch Sources of the European Court's Doctrine

Direct effect and supremacy of international treaties in the Netherlands prior to Van Gend en Loos

The influence of the Dutch legal order on the European Court's doctrine

The Reception of the European Court's Doctrine in the Netherlands

The Question of "Kompetenz-Kompetenz"

Beyond the Law: the Search for Explanations

The traditional openness of the Dutch legal system

Separation of powers and the judicial function

Judicial empowerment?

The comparative dimension as a factor in the explanation

Judicial dialogue

Legal pragmatism

7. Report on the United Kingdom

P.P. CRAIG

Constitutional Doctrine within the United Kingdom: the Impact of the EC

Supremacy: the traditional debate in the United Kingdom

Supremacy and the judicial response prior to Factortame

Supremacy and the Factortame litigation

Supremacy and Community law after Factortame

Direct effect

Preliminary rulings

"Kompetenz-Kompetenz": Practice and Doctrine

Doctrine, Jurisprudence and Beyond

Judicial identity, national identity and biting the constitutional bullet

The balance of power between different branches of government: the not-so-hidden agenda

Judicial empowerment, national courts and new tasks

The impact of legal culture: the common law method and the reception of community law

Judicial discourse: the vertical dimension

Judicial discourse: the horizontal dimension

Individual litigants: national courts and the ECJ

Judicial composition and the role of individual judges

Conclusion

PART II: COMPARATIVE ANALYSES

8. Explaining National Court Acceptance of European Court Jurisprudence: a Critical Evaluation of Theories of Legal Integration

KAREN ALTER

National Courts: the Critical Intermediaries in Legal Integration

Alternative Explanations of National Judicial Behaviour in Legal Integration

Legalism: legal logic and legal reasoning as the motor of legal integration

Neo-realism: national interests as the motor of legal integration

Neo-functionalism: self-interest as the motor of legal integration

Inter-court competition explanations: bureaucratic politics as the motor of legal integration

Conclusion: Legal Integration in a Comparative Political Perspective

Political support as a pre-condition for continued legal integration?

Preliminary ruling system and the ECJ as a pre-condition for continued legal integration?

References

9. The Role of National Courts in the Process of European Integration: Accounting for Judicial Preferences and Constraints

WALTER MATTLI

ANNE-MARIE SLAUGHTER

Introduction

The Role of National Courts in EC Legal Integration

Judicial preferences

Constraints on the process of legal integration

Conclusion

10. Sovereignty and European Integration: the Weight of Legal Tradition

BRUNO DE WITTE

Introduction

Sovereignty and the Demands of Community Law: the Development of "Peaceful Coexistence" (1945-1990)

Limitation of sovereignty as the constitutional basis of EC membership

Sovereignty as a limit to the reception of Community law

Sovereignty and the European Union: an Unavoidable Conflict?

The reassertion of state sovereignty in the aftermath of "Maastricht"

Sovereignty: resilient or obsolete?

11. Constitutional Dialogues in the European Community

ALEC STONE SWEET

Introduction

Constitutionalising the Treaty System

The process of constitutionalising the treaty system

Understanding constitutionalisation

Constitutional Dialogues: Three Problems of Supremacy

Supremacy and the problem of constitutional review

Supremacy and the problem of fundamental rights

Supremacy and the constitutional limits to integration

A preliminary assessment

A criticism

Constitutional Dialogues: Supremacy, Litigation and Policy-making

Study the case law of national courts

(Re)-specify judicial interests

Correlate judicial outcomes with factors external to the law

Study the behaviour of litigators

Conclusion

12. Constitutional or International? The Foundations of the Community Legal Order and the Question of Judicial Kompetenz-Kompetenz

J.H.H. WEILER

ULRICH R. HALTERN

13. Epilogue: The European Courts of Justice: Beyond "Beyond Doctrine" or the Legitimacy Crisis of European Constitutionalism

J.H.H. WEILER

Index