Pringle: Legal Reasoning, Text, Purpose and Teleology
| Author | Paul Craig |
| Published date | 01 March 2013 |
| Date | 01 March 2013 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X1302000101 |
| Subject Matter | Guest Editorial |
20 MJ 1 (2013) 3
GUEST EDITORIAL
PRINGLE: LEGAL REASONING, TEXT,
PURPOSE AND TELEOLOGY
P C *
§1. INTRODUC TION
Not all cases are equally important; they are not equally interesting intellectually and
they are not of equal signi cance in terms of political relevance. Nor indeed is there
any guarantee t hat these features will coales ce in a single case. ey did however come
together in the Pringle case.1 e challenge to the European Stability Mechanism
(ESM)2 ticked all these boxes, especially because its judicial invalidation could well
have sent nervous nancial marke ts into a further downward spira l.A course in EU law
could without di culty be taught from the ensu ing judgment. So too could a course in
legal reason ing. e judgment unfolds like a story, and even thoug h the reader knows or
can hazard a prett y good guess at the ending – that t he Court of Justice of the European
Union (CJEU) w ill nd that the ESM is lawful – the story is compelling nonetheless,
since the last par t of the judgment is also the denouement in which the CJEU saves the
ESM from the most potent challenge to its legality. In doing so, the judgment reveals
much that is of interest about the nature of legal reasoning, in particular the blend
of text, background purpose, and teleology that constitutes the very essence of legal
discourse.
§2. THE EUROPEAN STABILITY MECHANISM
e euro crisis generated two responses from the EU: assistance, and heightened
supervision over national economic policy. e E SM was the successor to earl ier measures
to provide assistance to Member States a nd entered into force on 8October 2012.
* Professor of Engl ish Law, St John’s College and the Universit y of Oxford.
1 Case C-370/12 Pring le v. Government of Ireland, Ireland and the Attorney General, Judgment of
27November 2012, not yet report ed.
2 See the Europea n Stability Mecha nism, www.esm.europ a.eu/ (last visited 6Fe bruary 2013).
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