The European Court of Justice has been celebrated as a central force in the creation and deepening of the EU internal market. Yet, it has also been criticized for engaging in judicial activism, restricting national regulatory autonomy, and taking away the powers of Member State institutions. In recent years, the Court appears to afford greater deference to domestic actors in free movement cases. Europe’s Passive Virtues explores the scope of and reasons for this phenomenon. It enquires into the decision-making latitude given to the Member States through two doctrines: the margin of appreciation and decentralized judicial review.
Drawing on an empirical study of the European Court's jurisprudence from 1974 to 2013, the book argues that EU free movement law has substantially changed over the past four decades. The Court is leaving a growing range of decisions in the hands of national law-makers and judges, a trend that affects the level of scrutiny applied to Member State action, the division of powers between the European and national judiciary, and ultimately the nature of the internal market. The book argues that these new-found “passive virtues” are linked to a series of broader political, constitutional, and institutional developments that have taken place in the EU.
Joining Dr Jan Zglinski (ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳) to talk about his book will be Professor Urška Šadl (European University Institute) and Professor Stephen Weatherill (Somerville College, University of Oxford). The event will be chaired by Dr Floris de Witte (ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳).
is Assistant Professor of Law. Prior to joining the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳, he was Erich Brost Lecturer in German and European Union Law at the Faculty of Law and St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford. Jan studied law in Hamburg, Paris and Oxford and holds a PhD from the European University Institute. He taught at Bucerius Law School and was a visiting researcher at Yale Law School. His research focuses on EU constitutional and internal market law, with a particular interest in empirical legal approaches. He qualified for the bar in Germany. Jan is a Research Fellow of the Institute of European and Comparative Law.
is the Jacques Delors Professor of European Law in the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Somerville College.
is Professor of Law at the European University Institute. Her primary research interests include the empirical studies of European courts and their jurisprudence, the language of courts, the theory and practice of judicial precedents as well as topics in European constitutional law more generally. She joined the EUI after working at iCourts centre of Excellence for International Courts at the Faculty of Law in Copenhagen.
Floris de Witte is Associate Professor at the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳. His research deals with the interaction between EU law and political theory, with particular emphasis on free movement, the Euro-crisis and the role of the individual in the EU. Floris is an affiliated member of the
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