Preventive Judicial Control

Abstract

Under the Treaties, the Court has still some other special powers which are difficult to place under a common heading. They concern: (i) its jurisdiction to review, under the ECSC Treaty Article 37, the safeguarding measures of the Commission to protect temporarily the general economy of a Member State, endangered or affected by the operation of the common market for coal and steel; (ii) the so called small Treaty revision under the ECSC Treaty Article 95 paragraphs 3 and 4; (iii) its jurisdiction over the treaty making powers of the Community under the EEC Treaty Article 228, paragraph 2; and finally (iv) its jurisdiction over the Treaty making powers of the Member States in matters concerning Euratom, Euratom Treaty Article 103 paragraph 3. These various jurisdictions may hardly be classified under any of the known, traditional jurisdiction. Some features common to those special jurisdictions of the Court may neverthe­less be found: firstly, they do not concern a settlement of a legal dispute, understood in the proper, technical sense; secondly, such a jurisdiction may be invoked by a Member State or a Community institution, as the case may be, but never by a private party; finally the Court enjoys an unusual power of appreciation necessary in those instances.