83/91 Meilicke [1992] ECR I-4871

This dispute concerned a complex dispute about whether a shareholder was entitled to information on the business from the directors.

The ECJ held that although the national court was in the best position to judge the facts (and hence whether a reference was necessary), the ECJ itself needed to be fully informed of the facts and relevant national law so that it could judge for itself whether it would be within its jurisdiction by giving an answer.

After all, the ECJ would be exceeding the limits of the function entrusted to it if it decided to give a ruling on a hypothetical problem without having before it the matters of fact or law necessary to give a useful answer to the questions submitted to it.