INTRODUCTION: OBSERVING THE RULE OF LAW IN THE EUROPEAN UNION-SELECTED ISSUES
Fabian Amtenbrink
With
the ratification of the founding Treaties of the European Communities and the
subsequent Treaties which define today’s European Union, a new legal order has
been created which is distinct both from national law and public international
law. In one of its most celebrated early judgments the Court of Justice of the
European Communities (ECJ) pointed out that by contrast with ordinary
international treaties, the EEC Treaty [now EC Treaty] has created its own
legal system which has become an integral part of the legal systems of the
Member States and which their courts are bound to apply. A central
characteristic of this autonomous legal order is that not only Member States
are its subjects, but also their nationals. European law imposes obligations on
individuals and confers upon them rights which become, as the ECJ has put it,
part of their legal heritage.
