This forward-thinking book examines numerous features in the European Union (EU) legal system that serve to reduce legal uncertainty in the preliminary reference procedure and the rulings of the Court of Justice. Drawing on theories from legal realist Karl Llewellyn, legal steadying factors such as legal doctrine and interpretative techniques are reviewed alongside the primary focus of this book, extra-legal steadying factors. As well as focusing on the contribution made by judges' legal backgrounds, John Cotter also investigates the role of the balance between institutional and personal independence and accountability. He further applies Karl Llewellyn's approach and re-models it into a European setting, identifying the EU legal system features that assist in promoting decisional steadiness in the preliminary reference procedure. Exploring also the significance of procedural rules and practices at the Court of Justice in steadying outcomes, this book will be an excellent resource for scholars of the EU legal system. Its analysis of the role of factors that steady the rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union will also make this a useful read for legal theorists interested in examining the factors that influence judicial decision-making.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This thought-provoking introduction provides an incisive overview of dignity law, a field of law emerging in every region of the globe that touches all significant aspects of the human experience. Through an examination of the burgeoning case law in this area, James R. May and Erin Daly reveal a strong overlapping consensus surrounding the meaning of human dignity as a legal right and a fundamental value of nations large and small, and how this global jurisprudence is redefining the relationship between individuals and the state. Key features include: Analyses of cases from a range of jurisdictions all over the world A history of the shift of the concept of dignity from a philosophical idea to a legally enforceable right Discussion of dignity as a value and a right in different major legal contexts, and its roots in African, Asian, European and Islamic traditions. This Advanced Introduction will be invaluable to scholars and students of law, particularly those interested in human rights, looking to understand this emerging area of law. It will inform lawyers, judges, policymakers and other advocates interested in how dignity and the law can be used to protect everyone, including the most vulnerable among us.

More than the story of one man's case, this book tells the story of entire generations of people marked as "mixed race" in America amid slavery and its aftermath, and being officially denied their multicultural identity and personal rights as a result. Contrary to popular misconceptions, Plessy v. Ferguson was not a simple case of black vs. white separation, but rather a challenging and complex protest for U.S. law to fully accept mixed ancestry and multiculturalism. This book focuses on the long struggle for individual identity and multicultural recognition amid the dehumanizing and depersonalizing forces of American Negro slavery-and the Anglo-American white supremacy that drove it. The book takes students and general readers through the extended gestation period that gave birth to one of the most oft-mentioned but widely misunderstood landmark law will cases in U.S. history. It provides a chronology, brief biographies of key figures, primary documents, an annotated bibliography, and an index all of which provide easy reading and quick reference. Modern readers will find the direct connections between Plessy's story and contemporary racial currents in America intriguing.

Timely and incisive, this book offers a critical insight into the legal structure of EU development cooperation policy, exploring the innate complexities that give rise to legal challenges in this crucial area of EU external action. Investigating the interaction between the key tenets of coherence and conferral, Dr. Tina Van den Sanden assesses how the Union's legal framework affects the attainment of its development cooperation objectives. Demonstrating the inherent tension between the central principle of conferral, which restricts the Union's legal competences to the boundaries established within its Treaties, and the need for coherence, this ambitious book provides an insightful analysis of EU development cooperation policy. Chapters further scrutinise the legal scope of such policy and its delimitation with closely linked policy areas of environment, the common commercial policy (CCP), and the common foreign and security policy (CFSP); establish the division of competences and cooperation between the Union and its Member States; and evaluate the management of the institutional division of competences between different EU actors. The book concludes with an assessment of whether the Union's legal, constitutional, and institutional structures are equipped to meet and support its own development cooperation aims. Both legal scholars and practitioners interested in EU external relations law will benefit from this book's comprehensive analysis of the underlying legal frameworks that form and influence EU development cooperation policy.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business, and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This succinct Advanced Introduction delivers insights into the pressing technological, political, and legal challenges of cybersecurity. Exploring cybersecurity threats on both a national and global scale, it provides guidance on how countries use domestic and international law to counter crime, terrorism, espionage, and armed conflict in cyberspace. Key features: Centres cybersecurity law within the internet as a technology, cyberspace as a political and governance space, and transformations in international relations over the past twenty years Tracks how the development of policies on responding to different cyber threats, improving cyber defences, and increasing cyber deterrence affects the use and effectiveness of cybersecurity law Analyses whether the ongoing evolution of cyber threats changes, or should change, how countries apply domestic and international law to counter cybersecurity challenges concerning crime, terrorism, espionage, and armed conflict This Advanced Introduction is an invaluable resource for researchers and students of law, public policy, and international relations focusing on how digital technologies, the internet, and cyberspace affect world affairs. It also serves as an accessible entry point for government, corporate, and NGO staff concerned with cybersecurity law.

This is a concise and accessible introduction to fundamental rights in Europe from the perspectives of history, theory and an analysis of European jurisprudence. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the book equips readers with the tools to understand the foundations and the functioning of this complex and multi-layered topic. Key Features: A combination of historical and philosophical approaches with analysis of significant legal cases A multidisciplinary outlook, in contrast to the strict legal approach of most textbooks on the subject A European perspective which refers throughout to central European values such as freedom, equality, solidarity and dignity A specific focus on fundamental rights, which have received less attention in the fields of legal history and theory in comparison to human rights This textbook will be an important resource for both undergraduate and postgraduate students in law, philosophy and political science. It will be particularly useful to those studying the law of fundamental rights or human rights as a complement to more traditional legal approaches.