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 Courts case law...

Article 234 EC ensures that a divergent application of the EC Treaty or of the statutes and acts of its institutions is not allowed in any Member State. Unsurprisingly, its pivotal importance has given rise to a huge number of ECJ judgments and orders - about 700 by the beginning of 2009. Very often, a practitioner needs to establish whether the preliminary ruling procedure called for by Article 234 EC is required in a particular case being pursued in a national court, and any relevant ECJ ruling or order must be located. Herein lies the great value of this book. Dr Barents' very useful...