ABSTRACT
With the membership of the European Union now at 27 Member States, the task of ensuring that the law is interpreted and applied in a uniform manner is complex. The differing forms of law – principally Treaty Articles, Regulations and Directives – have differing effects and leave to the Member States differing degrees of discretion relating to their implementation. For the law to be uniform it is essential that the domestic courts work in partnership with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and that – where necessary – the domestic courts can seek the advice of the ECJ on the correct interpretation of the law. It will be seen that the ECJ has, since the 1960s, insisted on the supremacy of Community law over domestic law. From the Court’s point of view, what has been created is nothing less than a new legal order: a supranational organisation which imposes legal duties on Member States and creates enforceable legal rights for citizens. In order to achieve this supremacy the Court insists that Member States have, in signing the Treaties, surrendered or transferred part of their sovereign law-making powers over matters governed by the Treaties to the Institutions of the EU. Furthermore the Court, in its role as ‘guardian of the Treaties’, has to ensure that Community law is given priority over domestic law.
