ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the institutions of the judiciary, which are designed to apply and interpret the law and to adjudicate cases in which one party is alleged to have violated the law. One of the priorities in post-communist Europe has been the establishment of a well-functioning, independent judiciary that will uphold principles of democracy and the rule of law. The idea of a single Europe may be equated with movement to a federal Europe that will bring European states closer together under a single political structure. The chapter shows several European states, among them France, Germany, Poland, and Italy, have judicial systems with elements of judicial review. In many cases, it delegates its authority to sub-national governments; there are, for example, regional administrative political units in France, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, and other countries.
