Legal theory has been much occupied with understanding legal systems and analysing the concept of legal system. This has usually been done on the tacit or explicit assumption that legal systems and states are co-terminous. But since the Rome Treaty there has grown up in Europe a `new legal order', neither national law nor international law, and under its sway older conceptions of state sovereignty have been rendered obsolete. At the same time, it has been doubted whether the `European Union' that has grown out of the original `European Communities' has a satisfactory constitution or any constitution at all. What kind of legal and political entity is this `Union' and how does it relate juridically and politically to its member states? Further, the activity of construing or constructing `legal system' and legal knowledge becomes visibly problematic in this context. These essays wrestle with the above problems.

Born of a series of research seminars, supported by the ESRC and the European Law Journal, this book tackles the most pressing issue raised by intensified European integration: the demise of sovereign states and the design of theoretical frameworks within which issues of post-national democracy and legal legitimacy might be considered.

The unifying idea behind the essays in this volume is that,although legislation and regulation are the result of a political process, legislation and regulation can be the object of theoretical study. The focus is on problems that are common to most European legal systems, and the approach involves applying to legislative problems the tools of legal theory (hence 'legisprudence'). Traditional legal theory deals predominantly with the question of the application of law by the judge. Legisprudence enlarges the field of study so as to include the creation of law by the legislator. Following this new approach a variety of new questions and problems are raised, including the validity of norms, their meaning, and the structure of the legal system, problems that are traditionally dealt with from the perspective of the judge or are taken for granted by classical legal theory. However, by shifting the attention to the legislator, the same questions arise, though traditional legal science covers many of these questions with the cloak of sovereignty. The original essays published in this volume expose and develop a range of new insights into the relationship between legislative problems and legal theory in a way which will engage and interest many legal scholars around the world.

The private law of the Member States of the European Union has become more and more 'European'. The fact that the European Union is making ever more use of directives as an instrument to achieve private law goals, is, in this context, not the most important development. Of much more substance is the fact that one increasingly realises that a uniform European private law has to be created, in one way or another, in the near future, if a truly common European market is to function at all. Over the last decade, Europe has witnessed the emergence of a vigorous debate about the need for and the feasibility of a future European ius commune in the field of private law. This book critically discusses this debate and provides a systematic overview of the various initiatives taken and describes the fragmentary European private law that already exists (by way of European directives, international conventions, etc.). In addition, the author aims at making a contribution to the debate by suggesting that the experience (good or bad) of the so-called 'mixed legal systems' is of great importance to the European private law venture and to the development of a uniform private law for Europe. This idea is supported by insights from Law & Economics and illustrated by South African law in particular. This idea of 'European private law as a mixed legal system' is then applied to the law of contracts, torts and property. This book takes up the challenge to give a critical examination on the various methods of creating this ius commune. A detailed table of contents, list of abbreviations, bibliography, table of cases and index complete the book and make it a valuable study for everyone interested in European private law.

The law and politics of European integration have been inseparable since the 1960s, when the European Court of Justice rendered a set of foundational decisions that gradually served to 'constitutionalize' the Treaty of Rome. In this book, Alec Stone Sweet, one of the world's foremost social scientists and legal scholars, blends deductive theory, quantitative analysis of aggregate data, and qualitative case studies to explain the dynamics of European integration and institutional change in the EU since 1959. He shows that the activities of market actors, lobbyists, legislators, litigators, and judges became connected to one another in various ways, giving the EU its fundamentally expansionary character. He then assesses the impact of Europe's unique legal system on the evolution of supranational governance, tracing outcomes in three policy domains: free movement of goods, sex equality, and environmental protection. The book integrates diverse themes, including: the testing of hypotheses derived from regional integration theory; the 'judicialization' of legislative processes; the path dependence of precedent and legal argumentation; the triumph of the 'rights revolution' in the EU; delegation, agency, and trusteeship; balancing as a technique of judicial rulemaking and governance; and why national administration and justice have been steadily 'Europeanized'. Written for a broad audience, the book is also recommended for use in graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in law and the social sciences.

A European public law is under construction, but how has this occurred and what is its character? Stirn proposes that this European public law is being constructed by the convergence of three circles: the law of the European Union, the law of the European Convention on Human Rights, and the different domestic legal orders. The mutually influential relationship of these constituents has allowed them to develop, most considerably in the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. The book begins by reflecting on the different phases of the development of the European project from the end of the First World War. It outlines the transition from the European Coal and Steel Community to the European Union, as well as the other institutions contributing to these developments. The discussion then moves to the European legal order, which consists of the law of the European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights. Stirn explores how, in spite of occasional false starts and frictions, their relationship is becoming ever closer, and how their characteristics in law are becoming increasingly similar. Furthermore, Stirn analyses the relationship between European law and national legal systems. The differing approach to domestic incorporation of international law, whether it be monist or dualist is considered, as well as the recognition that European law is superior to domestic law. The character specifically of EU law, and how it compares to international and domestic law is also discussed, in particular its unique features but also the principles it shares with domestic law. In addition, the book examines the existence or not in member states' of constitutional courts, the level or jurisdictional orders and the recruitment and status of judges. Similar trends across Europe in public administration are also accounted for and subjected to analysis. Stirn concludes that a European model of public administration is becoming apparent.