In this important book eighteen of Europe's most respected jurists and legal scholars look at long-term developments in Community and Union law with a view to shedding light on the current situation and pointing out lessons for the future. They consider major Community law themes as they have developed over the past four decades in institutional and substantive contexts, as well as in such newer areas of development as external relations, economic and monetary union, and the Third Pillar.

Starting from the absolute centrality of the Common Market to the European Community enterprise, the...