Great Judgments of the European Court of Justice
Rethinking the Landmark Decisions of the Foundational Period

Presents a new approach to prominent judgments of the European Court of Justice drawing on the writings of Judge Robert Lecourt.

William Phelan (Author)

9781108499088, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 June 2019

276 pages, 1 table
23.5 x 15.6 x 1.9 cm, 0.52 kg

''Give me a break' was my thought when this book landed on my desk … 'Been there, done that!!' But if you are like me, you know the cases, you know what you are going to say about them when you teach them … When have you last actually gone and reread them or … when have you last 'rethought' them? … It is precisely that familiarity, coupled with Phelan's clear and clarifying style of writing, which makes this a good read. I gulped it down on one grey Covid Sunday (blessedly it weighs in at a mere 240 pages) and found myself learning something new and/or thinking somewhat differently on each of these cases about which I had imagined I could not learn anything new. I also found myself disagreeing with several points along the way, but there is a pleasure in that too.' J. H. H. Weiler, I·CONnect

Great Judgments of the European Court of Justice presents a new approach to understanding the landmark decisions of the European Court of Justice in the 1960s and 1970s. By comparing the Court's doctrines to the enforcement and escape mechanisms employed by more common forms of trade treaty, it demonstrates how the individual rights created by the doctrine of direct effect were connected to the practical challenges of trade politics among the European states and, in particular, to the suppression of unilateral safeguard mechanisms and inter-state retaliation. Drawing on the writings and speeches of French Judge and President of the Court, Robert Lecourt, it demonstrates that one of the Court's most influential judges shared this understanding of the logic of direct effect. This book offers a distinctive interpretation of the Court of Justice's early years, as well as of the purpose of the fundamental principles of European law.

Introduction
1. Pork products, 1961 – no unilateral safeguards
2. Van Gend en Loos, 1963 – direct effect
3. Costa v. ENEL, 1964 – supremacy
4. Dairy products, 1964 – no inter-state retaliation
5. International fruit, 1972 – no direct effect for the GATT
6. Van Duyn, 1974 – direct effect of directives
7. Simmenthal, 1978 – obligations of 'lower' national courts
8. Sheep meat, 1979 – no inter-state retaliation revisited
9. Internationale Handelsgesellschaft, 1970 – protection of fundamental rights
10. States and individuals in the great judgments of the European Court of Justice, 1961–1979.

Subject Areas: Laws of Specific jurisdictions [LN], International law [LB], Law [L]