Abstract
At first sight, the authority of the law of the European Union (EU law) would appear to depend on the power and logic of the reasoning of the decisions of the court that ultimately decides what EU law is—the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). It is better to consider the issue in the much wider context of the operation of a Union of democratic states by examining the perception of the CJEU in the context of a proper recognition of its role in the EU and of the limits of judicial power, its interdependent relationship with the other powers of the EU and with the national courts (based on mutual respect and not deference to the CJEU), its communication of its role and its decisions to the wider public and its accountability for those decisions.
Until October 2017, Chief Justice of England and Wales.
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- 1.
After the decision of the Divisional Court in R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2017] 2 WLR 583, some of the UK press attacked the judges in these terms.
- 2.
Vote Leave, 20 February 2016.
- 3.
(2000) C-303/98.
- 4.
(2003) C-151/02.
- 5.
House of Commons Hansard, 26 April 2012.
- 6.
C-144/04.
- 7.
C-277/08.
- 8.
C-555/07.
- 9.
C-441/14.
- 10.
A term used by Lord Hodge of the UK Supreme Court in his lecture at Stellenbosch University Judicial Law-making in a changing constitution [2105] 26 Stellenbosch Law Review 471.
- 11.
A term used by Jackson J in the US Supreme Court in Youngtown Co v Sawyer 343 US 579 (1952) at 635:
While the Constitution diffuses power the better to secure liberty, it also contemplates that practice will integrate the dispersed powers into a workable government. It enjoins upon its branches separateness but interdependence, autonomy but reciprocity.
- 12.
I examine this at much greater length in The Ryle Memorial Lecture given in June 2017 at the Palace of Westminster. The judiciary within the State—the relationship between the three branches of the State.https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/lcj-michael-ryle-memorial-lecture-20170616.pdf.
- 13.
Case C-6/90 and C-9/90; [1991] ECR I-5357.
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Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd (2019). The authority of EU law as viewed from a National Court: The United Kingdom. In: Heusel, W., Rageade, JP. (eds) The Authority of EU Law. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-58841-3_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-58841-3_9
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