ABSTRACT
In order to function, every legal system requires a certain level of stability, as well as the ability to adapt to alternating circumstances. At the European Union’s Court of Justice multilevel setting, the stability is particularly threatened by the diverse background of the judges who come not only from different legal systems and are nominated by governments with different political interests, but also bring different professional outlooks due to their divergent trajectories. At the same time, to be intelligible to a diverse set of legal systems, EU law in particular is required to show a certain level of adaptability. The author takes inspiration from Bourdieu’s theory of practice to consider how the practice of law at the Court can help to create convergence among the habitus of its Judges, thus creating the required stability. In order to do so, the author takes a look aspects of this practice such as the advancement of Judges within the Court, the role of the Judge-Rapporteur, the Chamber System, or the single voice approach, highlighting which of these elements helps to secure which of the two functional requirements.
