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GDL Law Notes GDL EU Law Notes

General Principles Of Eu Law Notes

Updated General Principles Of Eu Law Notes

GDL EU Law Notes

GDL EU Law

Approximately 409 pages

A collection of the best GDL notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (an Oxford law graduate) could find after combing through applications from top students and carefully evaluating each on accuracy, formatting, logical structure, spelling/grammar, conciseness and "wow-factor". In short these are what we believe to be the strongest set of GDL notes available in the UK this year. This collection of GDL notes is fully updated for recent exams, also making them the most up-to-date GDL study materials ...

The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our GDL EU Law Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:

General Principles of EU Law

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Treaty Basis

Weak textual basis of competence:

  • Art 6(3) TEU: fundamental rights as general principles

  • Art 19 TEU: CoJ “shall ensure that in the interpretation and application of the Treaties the law is observed”

  • Art 263(2) TFEU: CoJ “shall…have jurisdiction in actions…on grounds of lack of competence, infringement of an essential procedural requirement, infringement of the Treaties or of any rule of law relating to their application or misuse of powers”

  • Art 340(2) TFEU: “in accordance with the general principles common to the laws of the MS, make good any damage caused by its institutions…”

General principles = a body of rules which exist independently of the treaties

The Court has identified and applied an (open) list of GPL including:

  • Fundamental rights

  • Equality

  • Subsidiarity

  • Transparency

  • ‘Precautionary Principle’

  • Rules of administrative justice: proportionality (discussed below), legal certainty, legitimate expectations, right to fair hearing, duty to give reasons, right to legal redress (‘due process’) etc.

Argument that there is some treaty basis:

  • Art 2 TEU (foundational values)

    • Art 7 TEU breach of fundamental values

  • Art 5(1), (3) & (4) TEU subsidiarity & proportionality

  • Arts 18, 19, 40 & 157 TFEU equality

Sources:

  • ECHR

  • MS constitutional traditions Hoogovens v High Authority “the court…chooses from each MS those solutions which, having regard to the objects of the Treaty, appear to be the best or…the most progressive”

  • CoJ jurisprudence

Proportionality

(Art 5)

The Protocol of the Application of the Principles of Subsidiarity and Proportionality requires justification of any draft legislation under these principles

Fedesa 1990: proportionality as a purposive tool – “measures...do not exceed the limits of what is appropriate and necessary in order to attain the objectives legitimately pursued”

Fundamental Rights

Early approach:

Geitling v High Authority

Held: rejected the suggestion that Community law might give some protection to fundamental rights contained in the German constitution.

  • Community law, ‘does not contain any general principle…guaranteeing the maintenance of vested rights.

Stork v High Authority: CoJ could not examine a complaint which maintains that it infringed principles of German constitutional law

  • Calls from the President of the Commission to make fundamental freedom protection more ‘visible’

Stauder v City of Ulm

Scheme to provide cheap butter to recipients of welfare benefit

Held: the Union could not "prejudice the fundamental human rights enshrined in the general principles of Community law and protected by the Court".

International Handelsgesellschaft v Einfuhr- und Vorratsstelle Getreide

Held: extension of EU primacy to fundamental rights

  • “Respect for fundamental rights form an integral part of the general principles of law protected by the Court of Justice. The protection of such rights, whilst inspired by the constitutional traditions common to the member states, must be ensured within the framework of the structure and objectives of the Community.”

J Nold v Commission

Held: HR integral & measures cannot be upheld which impinge upon them – CoJ to draw inspiration from the constitutional traditions common to the member states.

  • “international treaties for the protection of human rights on which the member states have collaborated or of which they are signatories, can supply guidelines”

Reaction:

  • Solange I: German constitutional court threatened to disapply EU measures in conflict

  • Solange II: cautious acceptance of EU fundamental rights protection & grundgesetz

Who is bound by fundamental rights

EU Institutions:

Kadi and Al Barakaat

Frozen assets under UN law

Held: MS have an international duty to the UN but this does not affect EU supremacy. The legality of EU laws must be established by its own...

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