The Autonomy Of Community Law

Does European Community law represent a new kind of transnational constitutional law? The question is important in the long term because it relates to the future of Europe. More immediately, it concerns the manner in which Community law is interpreted by courts. According to the case law of several national courts, Community law is a special form of international law, ultimately controlled by the Member States. According to the case law of the European Court of Justice, however, it is a form of constitutional law which cannot be controlled by national courts.

In the European Court¿s case law the special nature of Community is described in terms of ¿autonomy¿. In this ground-breaking book, a major scholar of European law rigorously demonstrates that this concept arises organically from the origin, system and content of the European treaties; it is in fact an interpretation of Community law according to its own system, independent of national law. On this basis the book clearly explains what the special nature of Community law amounts to and the theoretical and practical consequences that follow from this interpretation. Professor Barents shows why Community law can be seen as a clear example of a new phenomenon: the emergence of non-national or global law, reflecting the reality that in the process of globalisation the nation-state begins to lose its control over the law applicable in its territory.

In this stimulating context, many of the difficult issues that often arise in discussions of Community law are treated in depth, including the following: