What are the basic principles underlying European Community Law? Although no one seeks a purely descriptive answer to this question, the discussion it gives rise to is of immense significance both for theoretical legal studies and for legal practice. Over the years, scholars have convened from time to time to re-examine the question in the light of new developments. This important volume offers insights and findings of the latest such conference, held at Stockholm in March 2007, and sponsored by the Swedish Network for European Legal Studies. The nineteen essays here printed are all final author-edited versions of papers first presented at that conference.
Far from merely an updating of the First Edition, which marked a 1999 conference held under the same auspices at Malmo, this book is entirely new. It underscores the importance of discovering the emergence of new general principles - linked, indeed, to such fundamental continuing concerns as democracy, accountability, transparency, direct effect, good administration, and European citizenship - as they develop in such increasingly important areas as the following:
- core aspects of competition and financial integration law;
- the ongoing process of European constitutionalization;
- the application of general principles in the new Member States;
- the growth of European private law;
- the successive creation of a jus commune europaeum; and
- the instrumental function of the EC Court.
There is also special consideration attached to such overriding issues as the gap-filling function of the principles within the Community legal system, and the implications of the use of a comparative methodology. The authorsinclude both eminent, well-known experts, many of whom took part in the 1999 Conference, and representatives of a new generation of younger scholars in the field.
For the myriad parties involved in the evolution of the European project from a legal perspective, this book serves as a watershed, a thorough inspection of the foundations as they are perceived and understood at the present moment. It is sure to be consulted and cited often in the years to come.

This in-depth book explores the changing role of comparative law in an era of Europeanisation and globalisation. It explains how national law coexists and interacts with supranational and international law and how legal rules are produced by a variety of institutions alongside and beyond the nation-state.The book combines both theoretical and practically oriented contributions in the areas of law and development, comparative constitutional law, as well as comparative private and economic law. It offers a plurality of perspectives on the theory and methods of comparative law as a legal discipline, but also on comparative law when concretely applied in projects of legal aid, harmonisation of law and legal reform. Offering a multi-disciplinary perspective, this book will appeal to researchers and policymakers in international organisations. It will also serve as a valuable resource for advanced level courses on comparative law, and on law reform and legal aid.

This text is based on a selection of papers presented at the Conference in Malm, Sweden, which was organized by the Swedish Network for European Legal Studies in co-operation with the Faculty of Law of the University of Lund. The purpose of the conference was to analyze general principles and their scope in the EU legal order with special emphasis on their role in the creation of a jus commune europaeum. The impact of the general principles of Community Law at the national level was analyzed and also how these principles have been transformed into the national legal systems. Also discussed was the creative process behind the shaping and further development of the general principles and their application. Due to their complex nature, the general principles offer a more or less unlimited field for theoretical legal studies. At the same time, the general principles play a very important role in legal practice, not least when used as instruments for the protection of individuals and firms against too far-reaching measures taken by the European institutions or Member States.

This is volume 6 in the series Swedish Studies in European Law. Arising from the work of two well-attended seminars, this new volume concentrates on highly topical issues in European Law - current problems in the enforcement of human rights in Europe and the accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights. Among the topics dealt with - apart from 'the accession issue' - are questions related to the enforcement of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, human rights as general principles of law, specific issues like the 'Double Jeopardy Clause' in relation to Swedish tax law, horizontal effect or so-called 'Drittwirkung' of human rights and the increased role of judicial and constitutional review in Swedish courts. The book should be of value to any reader with an interest in such matters.

This open access book looks into the evolution and current state of the rule of law in the European Union (EU). The thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is chosen as a natural moment of stocktaking; assessing the progress made since the beginning of the democratic reforms in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), but also critically analysing recent tendencies of rule of law backsliding and open revolt against liberal-democratic values in individual EU Member States. The volume is partly retrospective in that it reflects on the challenges of the post-communist transition and the process of Eastward Enlargement of the Union. Yet it is also prospective, in so far as it reviews the variety of novel mechanisms for strengthening rule of law enforcement in the EU and gauges their potential for bringing sustainable, positive change in this regard. All chapters are written by experienced scholars and practitioners in the field of EU law and policy. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Swedish Studies Network.

This open access book looks into the evolution and current state of the rule of law in the European Union (EU). The thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is chosen as a natural moment of stocktaking; assessing the progress made since the beginning of the democratic reforms in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), but also critically analysing recent tendencies of rule of law backsliding and open revolt against liberal-democratic values in individual EU Member States. The volume is partly retrospective in that it reflects on the challenges of the post-communist transition and the process of Eastward Enlargement of the Union. Yet it is also prospective, in so far as it reviews the variety of novel mechanisms for strengthening rule of law enforcement in the EU and gauges their potential for bringing sustainable, positive change in this regard. All chapters are written by experienced scholars and practitioners in the field of EU law and policy. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Swedish Studies Network.

This is volume 6 in the series Swedish Studies in European Law. Arising from the work of two well-attended seminars, this new volume concentrates on highly topical issues in European Law - current problems in the enforcement of human rights in Europe and the accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights. Among the topics dealt with - apart from 'the accession issue' - are questions related to the enforcement of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, human rights as general principles of law, specific issues like the 'Double Jeopardy Clause' in relation to Swedish tax law, horizontal effect or so-called 'Drittwirkung' of human rights and the increased role of judicial and constitutional review in Swedish courts. The book should be of value to any reader with an interest in such matters.