Book contents
- Reviews
- International Judicial Practice on the Environment
- Studies on International Courts and Tribunals
- International Judicial Practice on the Environment
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Cases
- Introduction International Courts and the Environment: the Quest for Legitimacy
- Part I Procedural Legitimacy of Judicial Environmental Practice: Access to Justice
- 1 The Environment before the European Court of Justice
- 2 The EU Aarhus Regulation and EU Administrative Acts Based on the Aarhus Regulation: the Withdrawal of the CJEU from the Aarhus Convention
- 3 Access to Justice before EU Courts in Environmental Cases against the Backdrop of the Aarhus Convention: Balancing Pathological Stubbornness and Cognitive Dissonance?
- Part II Legitimacy and Scientific Certainty: Environmental Adjudication, Use of Experts and the Limits of Science
- Part III Judges as Law-Makers: Legitimate Development of Environmental Law
- Part IV Legitimacy of Outcomes: Performance, Effects (and Side-Effects)
- Part V The Legitimacy of Non-Compliance Procedures
- Part VI The Limits of Environmental Justice through Courts: Balancing Legitimacy with the Need for Creativity
- Index
1 - The Environment before the European Court of Justice
from Part I - Procedural Legitimacy of Judicial Environmental Practice: Access to Justice
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 April 2019
Edited by
Book contents
- Reviews
- International Judicial Practice on the Environment
- Studies on International Courts and Tribunals
- International Judicial Practice on the Environment
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Cases
- Introduction International Courts and the Environment: the Quest for Legitimacy
- Part I Procedural Legitimacy of Judicial Environmental Practice: Access to Justice
- 1 The Environment before the European Court of Justice
- 2 The EU Aarhus Regulation and EU Administrative Acts Based on the Aarhus Regulation: the Withdrawal of the CJEU from the Aarhus Convention
- 3 Access to Justice before EU Courts in Environmental Cases against the Backdrop of the Aarhus Convention: Balancing Pathological Stubbornness and Cognitive Dissonance?
- Part II Legitimacy and Scientific Certainty: Environmental Adjudication, Use of Experts and the Limits of Science
- Part III Judges as Law-Makers: Legitimate Development of Environmental Law
- Part IV Legitimacy of Outcomes: Performance, Effects (and Side-Effects)
- Part V The Legitimacy of Non-Compliance Procedures
- Part VI The Limits of Environmental Justice through Courts: Balancing Legitimacy with the Need for Creativity
- Index
Summary
In the last fifty years, EU policy has had a very significant influence on the evolution of environmental law in Europe. Some 250 major environmental Acts were adopted by the EU and subsequently implemented and applied in EU Member States and beyond (the Balkan countries, Norway, Switzerland etc). Between 1976 and 2017, the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) issued more than 1,000 judgments in environmental matters. The chapter retraces the large lines of this jurisdiction. It addresses successively the problematic question of standing of individual persons and environmental organizations and the prominent role of the European Commission, which brought more than half of all cases before the Court. It also discusses the EU instrument of preliminary ruling, whereby national courts may ask the ECJ for an authentic interpretation of EU law. It presents a general overview of the different environmental law sectors (water, air, nature) discussed by the Court. In conclusion, the present EU system of law enforcement is criticized as traditional and conservative; a plea is made for giving a greater role to civil society in environmental law enforcement and better access to the ECJ.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- International Judicial Practice on the EnvironmentQuestions of Legitimacy, pp. 25 - 51Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019