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Judicial Review in ec Law—Some Reflections on the Origins and the Actual Legal Situation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2008

Jürgen Schwarze
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Extract

The extent to which judicial review is granted and effectively exercised is a key element for the evaluation of any modern legal system. The principle of judicial review provides a basic protection for individuals and prevents those exercising public functions from abusing their powers to the disadvantage of the public. During the last quarter of the twentieth century, the circumstances in which the courts in the United Kingdom have been prepared to intervene in order to provide relief for unlawful administrative action have expanded in spectacular fashion.2 The incorporation in the UK of the European Convention on Human Rights on 2 October 2000 in the UK marks a significant change in this field.

Type
Articles
Information
International & Comparative Law Quarterly , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , January 2002 , pp. 17 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2002

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References

2 This is set out very clearly in Woolf, H, Jowell, J, and Seuer, A Le, Principles of Judicial Review (London, 1999), 3.Google Scholar See also Smith, De and Woolf, , Judicial Review of Administrative Action (London, 1995), 8–13.Google Scholar

3 For details about the ECJ's practice see Schwarze, J, ‘Art 220 EGV’, n 3, in Schwarze, (ed), EU-Kommentar (Baden-Baden, 2000).Google Scholar

4 Joined Cases 7/56 and 3/57 to 7/57, Algera v Common Assembly of the ECSC [1957] ECR 39.

5 See O'Keeffe, D (ed), Judicial Review in European Law, Liber amicorum in Honour of Lord Slynn of Hadley, Volume I (The Hague/London/Boston: 2000)Google Scholar; Andenas, M (ed), Judicial Review in International Perspective, Liber amicorum in Honour of Lord Slynn of Hadley, Volume II (The Hague/London/Boston, 2000).Google Scholar See further on the practical dimensions of the actual situation and the future perspectives for judicial review in the Annual Report of the Court of Justice of the European Communities for 2000, 29 Mar 2001 (Press Release No 12/2001).Google Scholar

6 Hallstein, W, Die Europäische Gemeinschaft, 5th edn (Düsseldorf/Vienna, 1979), 53.Google Scholar

7 For more detailed information see Schwarze, , ‘Concept and Perspectives of European Community Law’, EPL 1999, 227, at 229.Google Scholar

8 See von der Groeben, H, Aufbaujahre der Europäischen Gemeinschaft (Baden-Baden, 1982), 264.Google Scholar

9 Ibid, 265.

10 Scarman, Lord, English Law—The New Dimension, The Hamlyn Lectures No 26 (London, 1974), 23.Google Scholar

11 For a more detailed account, see J Schwarze, ‘The Role of the European Court of Justice in Shaping Legal Standards for Administrative Action in the Member States: a Comparative Perspective’, in O'Keeffe, D (ed), Liber Amicorum in Honour of Lord Slynn of Hadley, Vol. I, Judicial Review in European Union Law (The Hague/London/Boston, 2000), 447.Google Scholar

12 Case (8/55), Fédération charbonnière de Belgique v ECSC High Authority [1955–6] ECR 245 at 277.

13 Ibid.

14 Above n 5.

15 Schwarze, , European Administrative Law (London, 1992), 1173 et seq.Google Scholar

16 Ibid, at 55. The reference to the idea of a denial of justice shows the clear influence of French legal thinking on the ruling. The famous wording of the principle of denial of justice in Article 4 of the French Civil Code reads: ‘Le juge qui refusera de juger, sous prétexte de silence, de l'obscurité ou de l'insuffisance de la loi, pourra être poursuivi comme coupable de déni de justice.’

17 For a more detailed account, see Schwarze, , European Administrative Law (London, 1992), 4 et seq.Google Scholar, with further references; also J Schwarze, ‘Art. 220 EGV’, note 3, in Schwarze, (ed), EU-Kommentar (Baden-Baden, 2000)Google Scholar. A list of the most important principles of law can also be found in the rulings of the Bundesverfassungsgericht; see BVerfGE 73, 339 at 379 et seq.

18 Case 81/72, Commission v Council [1973] ECR 575, Conclusions by AG Warner at 587, see 592 et seq. For further details and the effect on the case law of the ECJ see Schwarze, , Die Befugnis zur Abstraktion im europäischen Gemeinschaftsrecht (Baden-Baden, 1976)Google Scholar, at 66 et seq.

19 Case 17/74, Transocean Marine Paint Association v Commission, [1974] ECR 1063.

20 Case C-69/90, Nakajima All Precision Co Ltd [1991] ECR 1–2069 at 2202.

21 Case 155/79, AM & S Europe v Commission [1982] ECR 1575, at 1611 et seq.

22 Case 64/82, Tradax Graanhandel v Commission [1984] ECR 1359, Conclusions by AG Slynn at 1381 et seq. For a detailed analysis see Usher, JA, ‘The “Good Administration” of European Community Law’, Current Legal Problems (1985), 269CrossRefGoogle Scholar et seq.

23 From the beginnings of the jurisprudence of the Court see, eg, Case 6/60, Humblet v Belgium [1960] ECR 559; Joined Cases 8/66 to 11/66, Aktiengesellschaft Cimenteries CBR Cementbedrijven N.V. et al v Commission (‘Noordwijks Cement Accord’) [1967] ECR 99. For a more detailed account, see Schwarze, Die Befugnis zur Abstraktion im europäischen Gemeinschaftsrecht (Baden-Baden, 1976), 216 et seq. On the importance of judicial protection in the recent jurisprudence of the Court, see id, ‘The Role of the European Court of Justice in Shaping Legal Standards for Administrative Action in the Member States: a Comparative Perspective’, in O'Keeffe, D (eds), Liber Amicorum in honour of Lord Slynn of Hadley, Vol. 1, Judicial Review in European Union Law (The Hague/London/Boston, 2000), 447Google Scholar, at 460 et seq.

24 Case (8/55), Fédération charbonnière de Belgique v ECSC High Authority [1955–6] ECR 245 at 277.

25 See GC Rodriguez Iglesias, ‘Zur “Verfassung”; der Europäischen Gemeinschaft’; and U Everling, ‘Die Gerichtsbarkeit in der erweiterten Europäischen Union’, in Schwarze, (ed), Verfassungsrecht und Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit im Zeichen Europas (Baden-Baden, 1998), 45 and 199Google Scholar respectively; id (ed), Der Europäische Gerichtshof als Verfassungsgericht und Rechtsschutzinstanz (Baden-Baden, 1983)Google Scholar; and id (ed), Fortentwicklung des Rechtsschutzes in der Europäischen Gemeinschaft (Baden-Baden, 1987).Google Scholar

26 Schwarze, (ed), The Birth of a European Constitutional Order (Baden-Baden/London, 2001).Google Scholar

27 BVerfGE 89, 155, at 188.

28 BVerfGE 89, 155, at 175; BVerfGE 73, 339, at 387.

29 See Everling, U, ‘Bundesverfassungsgericht und Gerichtshof der Europäischen Gemeinschaften nach dem Maastricht-Urteil’, in Randelzhofer, , Scholz, and Wilke, (eds), Gedächtnisschrift für Eberhard Grabitz (München, 1995), 57Google Scholar; Frowein, JA, ‘Das Maastricht-Urteil und die Grenzen der Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit’, ZaöRV, 54 (1994), 1Google Scholar; Tomuschat, C, ‘Die Europäische Union unter Aufsicht des Bundesverfassungsgerichtes’, EuGRZ (1993), 489.Google Scholar

30 Hirsch, G, ‘Gemeinschaftsgrundrechte: Rechtsprechung des EuGH, Verhältnis zum Grundgesetz, EU-Charta’, in Vertretung der Europäischen Kommission in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Hrsg.), Europäische Gespräche, Heft 2/1999, Eine europäische Charta der Grundrechte, Beitrag zur gemeinsamen Identität (Berlin, 1999), 43Google Scholar, at 48.

31 BVerfG, Decision of 17 Feb 2000, 2†BvR†1210/98, Alcan, EuZW 2000, 445.

32 BVerwGE 106, 328.

33 Case C-24/95, Land Rheinland-Pfalz/Alcan Deutschland [1997] ECR I-1591.

34 Schwarze, ‘German Report’, in id (ed), The Birth of a European Constitutional Order, above n 28 at 176.

35 BVerfG, decision of 7 June 2000, 2 BvL 1/97, 1, EuZW 2000, 702 et seq.

36 Everling, Will Europe slip on Bananas? The Bananas Judgement of the Court of Justice and National Courts, 33 CML Rev (1996) 401.

37 BVerfGE 73, 339.

38 BVerfGE 37, 271.

39 BVerfG, decision of 7 June 2000, 2 BvL 1/97, 64, EuZW 2000, 702 et seq.

40 BVerfG, decision of 9 Jan 2001, 1 BvR 1036/99, NJW 2001, 1267.

41 Above, n 32.

42 Case T-172/98 and T-175/98 to 177/98, Salamander et al v Parliament and Council [2000] ECR II-2490.

43 See Schwarze, , ‘Rechtsschutz Privater gegeņber normativen Rechtsakten im Recht der EWG’, in Münch, I von (ed), Staatsrecht, Völkerrrecht, Europarecht: Festschrift für Hans-Jürgen Schlochauer zum 75. Geburtstag am 28.3.1981 (Berlin, 1981), 927.Google Scholar

44 Schwarze, , Synoptic evaluation of the national reports and comparative legal prospects, in id (ed), Administrative Law under European Influence (Baden-Baden/London, 1996), 808Google Scholar et seq.

45 Case C-285/98, Tanja Kreil v Bundesrepublik Deutschland [2000] ECR I-0069.

46 In greater detail Schwarze, German report, in id (ed), The Birth of a European Constitutional Order, above n 28, 152 et seq.

47 Art 12 as 4 GG states that in a case of defence women can, under certain circumstances and by law or on the basis of a law, be drafted into service in the civil hospital sector. Art 12 a s 4, para 2 GG states that ‘under no circumstances’ can they do ‘armed service’. The question whether para 2 only applies to the scenario of conscription in a case of defence or whether it also deals with voluntary service is referred to in detail by Schwarze, German report, in id (ed), The Birth of a European Constitutional Order, above n 28, 153 with further references.

48 In Case C-273/97, Maria Sirdar/The Army Board, Secretary of State for Defence, judgment of 26 Oct 1999 [1999] ECR I-7403 the ECJ ruled that the exclusion of women from serving in certain specialised combat units could be compatible with the directive on equal treatment (n 32 of the judgment).

49 Directive 76/207/EEC of 9 Feb 1976 on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions (OJ 1976, L 39, 40).

50 Case C-285/98, Tanja Kreil/Bundesrepublik Deutschland, judgment of 11 Jan 2000, n 12 [2000] ECR I-0069.

51 Ibid n13.

52 Ibid, nn 16 et seq.

53 See Schwarze, ‘The Birth of a European Constitutional Order—Résumé, in id (ed), The Birth of a European Constitutional Order, above n 28, 549 et seq.

54 For a recent analysis, see eg HJ Rabe, ‘Die Europäisierung der Rechtsordnung’, NJW 1997, 2631; for the public domain, see Schwarze, ‘The Convergence of Administrative Laws of the Member States’ (1998) 4 EPL 191; id, ‘The Role of the European Court of Justice in Shaping Legal Standards for Administrative Action in the Member States: A Comparative Perspective’, above n 25, 447, at 452 et seq.

55 Schwarze (ed), The Birth of a European Constitutional Order, above n 28.

56 FAZ, 5 Apr 2001, 8.

57 See Schwarz, ‘Die europäische Dimension des Verfassungsrechts’, in id (ed), Verfassungsrecht und Verfasswigsgerichtsbarkeit im Zeichen Europas, above n 27, 139.

58 Jaques Delors, Speech to the European Parliament on 4 July 1988 (1988) Bulletin of the EC, No 7/8, 124.

59 Case C-143/99, Adria Pipelines v Finanzlandesdirektion für Kärnten, OJ 1999, C 188, 18.

60 Decision of the ECJ of 28 Mar 2000, Case C-158/97, Georg Badeck et al [2000] ECR I-1875.

61 See Schwarze, ‘The Birth of a European Constitutional Order—Résumé’, in id (ed), The Birth of a European Constitutional Order, above n 28, 538 et seq.

62 The influence of Community Law on the UK legal order becomes for instance very obvious in a passage in the grounds of judgment in the case Woolwich Building Society v Inland Revenue Commission (3 WLR 366— House of Lords). In this case, which dealt with the possibility of reclamation of overpaid charges, Lord Goff in contrast to a traditional common law rule affirmed such a claim with the reason: ‘at a time when Community law was becoming more and more important it would be strange if the right of the citizen to recover overpaid charges were to be more restricted under domestic law than it was under European law’. See also Schwarze, ‘Die gerichtliche Kontrolle der Verwaltung in England’ DÖV (1996), 771 et seq. at 775.

63 Gerven, W van, ‘The invader invaded or the need to uncover general principles common to the laws of the Member States’, in Iglesias, GC Rodriguez (ed), Mélanges en hommage à Fernand Schockweiler (Baden-Baden, 1999), 593, at 598.Google Scholar

64 Pizzigoni, A., Filippo Brunelleschi (Zurich and Munich, 1991), 46.Google Scholar