Book Review: Law and Integration in the European Union
| Date | 01 March 1996 |
| Author | Allan F.T. Tatham |
| Published date | 01 March 1996 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X9600300107 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
IBook Reviews
Stephen Weatherill, Lawand
Integration
in the
European
Union,
Clarendon
Press, 1995, xxi +306 pages, £14.99 (paperback), £35.00 (hard back).
Readers
who
are familiar with Professor Weatherill's previous books on EC law will
not be disappointed by this, his latest work. The book, as noted in the preface, reflects
the aspirations
of
the introductory EC law module at Nottingham Law School and the
idea that students should
'have
a feel for EC law from the beginning
of
their legal
education'.
What
emerges
is an erudite exposition
of
the dynamics involved in its
continuous development.
The
evolution from the Communities
of
the 1950s to the Union
of
the 1990s is outlined
in the first chapter.
This
description is enhanced by a useful outline
of
the EC Treaty
provisions and the pattern
of
the European Union. Professor Weatherill presents an
easily comprehensible explanation
of
the complex interrelationship between them.
The
two succeeding chapters deal, first, with the competence
of
the
Union,
containing
for instance an illustration
of
the function of principles contained in EC Arts. 5 and 6
and, secondly, with the area
of
Union legislation: this latter one provides adescription
of
the main types
of
EC legislative process within the context
of
the developing role
of
Parliament and the relationship between the three main 'legislative' institutions.
Chapters 4, 5 and 6are, for the present reviewer,
of
particular interest: they deal
respectively with the characteristics
of
EC law, namely the interlinked concepts
of
direct
effect, supremacy and effectiveness as well as the important role
of
EC Art. 177 refer-
ences and the effective enforcement
of
directives; pre-emption (harmonization) and the
developing changes in the policy underlying it; and finally the European
Court
of
Justice
as the
Union's
Constitutional Court.
These three parts deal with some
of
the more difficult and sensitive aspects
of
judicial
law-making by the
Court
of
Justice and the process of approximation in the context
of
a
wider
and deeper Union. The
author's
remarks on all these aspects are apposite: a
larger
EU,
the principle
of
subsidiarity and a greater role for qualified-majority voting
are inevitably leading to a
'trade-off'
between the supposed general uniformity in EC
law and the diversity present in more recent directives. Analysis
of
the United King-
dom's
Social
Charter
opt-out is particularly prescient. The
author
goes beyond the
purely legal into the pertinent socio-political and economic dimensions in
order
to
explain
more
fully the context
of
developments.
The
following chapters deal with trade law and the future of internal market law and
represent adistillation
of
the
author's
thoughts in these areas, which are more fully
explored in previous publications. Nevertheless, as with other parts
of
this book, Pro-
fessor Weatherill provides a lucid account of trade law which, considering the content
MJ 3 (1996) 95
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