The German Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has found that there are no constitutional objections against the Lisbon Treaty. At the same time, the FCC imposed limitations to future integration by identifying a number of state functions that are non-amenable to integration and which have to be retained at the national level. This article examines the scope and content of these core competencies. It also discusses to what extent the criteria used by the FCC for the determination of core competencies might reflect a European-wide standard for the determination of limits to the transfer of competencies to the European Union. The article concludes that the judgment clarifies the limitations of the transfer of competencies, even though the criteria used by the FCC cannot claim to produce the set of inalienable sovereign powers that were recognized as such throughout the Union.

The following essay was the keynote delivered at the International Conference of the German Law & Society Association in Bremen, Germany, in March 2010. In seeking to understand the formation of the Association of the Sociology of Law it is important to be mindful of the context of the spirit of the 1960s and 1970s in which it arose. Sociology of law's beginnings can be traced to the start of the 20th century with especially Eugen Ehrlich, Max Weber, Hermann Kantorowicz, Arthur Nußbaum and Theodor Geiger. However, after nearly being wiped out under German National Socialism, it began to re-emerge slightly in the 1960s.

In the 2009 judgment dealing with the Treaty of Lisbon, the German Federal Constitutional Court urges to modify a domestic statute in order to guarantee the rights of the internal rule-making power and also provides a reasoning on the role of the European Union (EU) as an international organization, the principle of sovereignty and the relations between European Institutions and Bodies and the EU Member States. According to the German Court the Treaty of Lisbon does not transform the European Union into a Federal State (Staatsverband), but into a Confederation of States (Staatenverbund). In spite of the 1993 landmark judgment, the so-called “Maastricht Urteil”, the Court steps forward and focuses also the subject-matters that necessarily have to pertain to the Member States jurisdiction, the so-called “domain reserve”. The German Federal Constitutional Court decision on the Lisbon Treaty arouses the reflection on the core of State sovereignty and on the boundaries of the EU legal system and focuses on the force of the right to vote of every citizen, the basis of democracy.

Furthermore, the decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court highlights the well-known issue of the EU's identity and the balancing between EU democracy and Member State sovereignty. In the light of the German Constitutional Court statements, the present work aims to understand which could be actually the EU's identity and how could be approached “democratic deficit” of the EU.

In Traghetti del Mediterraneo SpA in Liquidation v. Italian Republic, the European Court of Justice (EG) ruled that Community law precludes the existence of two types of national rules that limit State liability: (1) rules that exclude liability for damages due to an infringement of Community law that arises out of an interpretation of legal provisions or an assessment of facts or evidence carried out by a court adjudicating at last instance, or (2) those limiting liability solely to cases of intentional fault and serious misconduct on the part of the court, if such a limitation were to lead to exclusion of the liability of the Member State in other cases where a manifest infringement of the applicable law was committed. This article, while recognizing that the ruling in Traghetti del Mediterraneo is in line with previous case-law on Member States' liability for breach of EU law, casts some doubts as to whether such an invasion of an area traditionally regulated by national law is in fact desirable. It questions what the foundations are of the procedural rights conferred by European law, and, in doing so, the extent to which European law can tamper with the constitutional balance of a state. Finally, it provides some tentative solutions to the dilemma faced by Italian law following the delivery of the Traghetti del Mediterraneo judgement.

This article is a review-essay of Frank Degenhardt's Zwischen Machtstaat und Völkerbund. Erich Kaufmann (1880–1972), published in 2008. While this review discusses Degenhardt's achievements, it pays much attention to the different academic contexts this research implies: On the one hand this review-essay contextualizes Degenhartds' own research endeavors, and discusses how Zwischen Machtstaat und Völkerbund is part and parcel of the growing historical analysis in international law both in Germany and elsewhere. On the other hand, it pays attention to Erich Kaufmann's historical context both on a personal and professional level. Furthermore, this review-essay examines Degenhardt's book dedicated to Kaufmann's contributions to international law in light of Kaufmanns' Jewish German identity that was a lifelong Leitmotiv reflected both in his theoretical and practical work.

This is a book review of Fuyuki Kurasawa's, The Work of Global Justice: Human Rights as Practices. Fuyuki Kurasawa is an associate professor of sociology, political science and social and political thought at York University in Toronto. Professor Kurasawa has a particular interest in human rights and global justice through the exploration of the theoretical underpinnings of global justice projects. Kurasawa proposes a theoretical model that strikes a balance between normative universalism and empiricism. This leads to a vision of an alternative globalization marked by radical redistribution of economic and political power. The work of global justice is largely the emancipation of those who are systemically barred from justice, through five modes of ethico-political practice: bearing witness, forgiveness, foresight, aid and solidarity. This book review is a critical look at this theoretical model and his vision of an alternative globalization.