Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T03:35:20.823Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Legal Integration and Use of the Preliminary Ruling Process in the European Union

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2005

Clifford J. Carrubba
Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, ccarrub@emory.edu
Lacey Murrah
Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, laceymurrah@alum.emory.edu
Get access

Abstract

Scholars agree that the preliminary ruling system of the European Court of Justice has been instrumental in promoting European integration; however, no consensus has been reached as to why the system is used. Although many explanations have been posited, there has been no systematic comparative test among them to date. In this article, we perform this test. We find evidence that transnational economic activity, public support for integration, monist or dualist tradition, judicial review, and the public's political awareness influence use of the preliminary ruling system.We would like to acknowledge Matthew Gabel, Eric Reinhardt, Georg Vanberg, and Christopher Zorn for helpful comments. We would also like to acknowledge the support of NSF grant #0079084.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2005 The IO Foundation and Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alter, Karen J. 1996. The European Court's Political Power. West European Politics 19 (3):45887.Google Scholar
Alter, Karen J. 1998. Who Are the “Masters of the Treaty?: European Governments and the European Court of Justice. International Organization 52 (1):12147.Google Scholar
Alter, Karen J. 2000. The European Union's Legal System and Domestic Policy: Spillover or Backlash? International Organization 54 (3):489518.Google Scholar
Alter, Karen J. 2001. Establishing the Supremacy of European Law: The Making of an International Rule of Law in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Alter, Karen J., and Sophie Meunier-Aitsahalia. 1994. Judicial Politics in the European Community: European Integration and the Pathbreaking Cassis de Dijon Decision. Comparative Political Studies 26 (4):53561.Google Scholar
Burley, Anne-Marie, and Walter Mattli. 1993. Europe Before the Court: A Political Theory of Legal Integration. International Organization 47 (1):4176.Google Scholar
Caldeira, Gregory A. 1991. Courts and Public Opinion. In American Courts: A Critical Assessment, edited by John Gates and Charles Johnson, 30334. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press.
Carrubba, Clifford J. 2001. The Electoral Connection in European Union Politics. Journal of Politics 63 (1):14158.Google Scholar
Gabel, Matthew J. 1998a. Interests and Integration: Market Liberalization, Public Opinion, and European Union. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Gabel, Matthew J. 1998b. Economic Integration and Mass Politics: Market Liberalization and Public Attitudes in the European Union. American Journal of Political Science 42 (3):93653.Google Scholar
Gabel, Matthew J. 1998c. Public Support for European Integration: An Empirical Test of Five Theories. Journal of Politics 60 (2):33354.Google Scholar
Gabel, Matthew J., and Harvey Palmer. 1995. Understanding Variation in Public Support for European Integration. European Journal of Political Research 27 (1):319.Google Scholar
Galanter, Marc. 1983. Reading the Landscape of Disputes. UCLA Law Review 31 (1):471.Google Scholar
Garrett, Geoffrey. 1995. The Politics of Legal Integration in the European Union. International Organization 49 (1):17181.Google Scholar
Garrett, Geoffrey, R. Daniel Kelemen, and Heiner Schulz. 1998. The European Court of Justice, National Governments, and Legal Integration in the European Union. International Organization 52 (1):149176.Google Scholar
Garrett, Geoffrey, and Barry R. Weingast. 1993. Ideas, Interests, and Institutions: Constructing the European Community's International Market. In Ideas and Foreign Policy, edited by Judith Goldstein and Robert Keohane, 173206. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
Inglehart, Ronald. 1970a. Cognitive Mobilization and European Identity. Comparative Politics 3 (1):4570.Google Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald. 1970b. Public Opinion and Regional Integration. International Organization 24 (4):76495.Google Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald. 1971. Public Opinion and Regional Integration. In Regional Integration: Theory and Research, edited by Leon Lindberg and Stuart Scheingold, 33563. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Inglehart, Ronald. 1990. Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Inglehart, Ronald, Jacques-Rene Rabier, and Karlheinz Reif. 1991. The Evolution of Public Attitudes toward European Integration: 1970–86. In Eurobarometer: The Dynamics of European Public Opinion, edited by Karlheinz Reif and Ronald Inglehart, 13555. London: Macmillan.
Kritzer, Herbert M., ed. 2002. Legal Systems of the World: A Political, Social, and Cultural Encyclopedia, vols. 1–4. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO.
Mattli, Walter, and Anne-Marie Slaughter. 1995. Law and Politics in the European Union: A Reply to Garrett. International Organization 49 (1):18390.Google Scholar
Mattli, Walter, and Anne-Marie Slaughter. 1998. Revisiting the European Court of Justice. International Organization 52 (1):177209.Google Scholar
Mishler, William, and Reginald S. Sheehan. 1993. The Supreme Court as a Countermajoritarian Institution? The Impact of Public Opinion on Supreme Court Decisions. American Political Science Review 87 (1):87101.Google Scholar
Mishler, William, and Reginald S. Sheehan. 1996. Public Opinion, the Attitudinal Model and Supreme Court Decision Making: A Micro-Analytic Perspective. Journal of Politics 58 (1):169200.Google Scholar
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 2003. ITCS: International Trade by Commodities Statistics Database. SITC Revision 2. Total Trade in Values—Historical Series 1961–1990. Available at 〈http://hermia.sourceoecd.org/vl=2051682/cl=24/nw=1/rpsv/statistic/s15_ about.htm?jnlissn= 16081218〉. Accessed 28 January 2005.
Schmitt, Hermann, and Evi Scholz. 2002. Mannheim Eurobarometer Trend File, 1970–1999 [computer file] (study no. 3384). Ann Arbor, Mich.: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. 〈www.icpsr.umich.edu〉.
Statistics Canada. 2002. World Trade Analyzer [CD-ROM]. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.
Stone Sweet, Alec, and Thomas L. Brunell. 1998a. The European Court and the National Courts: A Statistical Analysis of Preliminary References, 1961–95. Journal of European Public Policy 5 (1):6697.Google Scholar
Stone Sweet, Alec, and Thomas L. Brunell. 1998b. Constructing a Supranational Constitution: Dispute Resolution and Governance in the European Community. American Political Science Review 92 (1):6381.Google Scholar
Stone Sweet, Alec, and Thomas L. Brunell. 1999. Data Set on Preliminary References in EC Law. Fiesole, Italy: Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute.
Stone Sweet, Alec, and James A. Caporaso. 1998. From Free Trade to Supranational Polity: The European Court and Integration. In European Integration and Supranational Governance, edited by Wayne Sandholtz and Alec Stone Sweet, 92133. New York: Oxford University Press.
Wollschlager, Christian. 1998. Exploring Global Landscapes of Litigation Rates. In Soziologie des Rechts: Festschrift für Erhard Blankenburg zum 60, edited by Erhard Blankenburg, Jürgen Brand, and Dieter Strempel, 58088. Baden-Baden, Germany: Nomos.
World Bank. 2002. World Development Indicators [CD-ROM]. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.