Towards a European Legal Method: Synthesis or Fragmentation? (European Legal Method)

Abstract:

The project will examine the extent to which it is possible to identify a coherent legal method that may be applied when analysing EU law and the law of EU Member States within the scope of application of EU law. In the first years of its existence EU law was generally perceived as rather superficial, immature and fragmentary with many gaps and inconsistencies. Now, EU law is ripening and the mutual embeddedness of EU law and the national law of its Member States is becoming more intense. It is therefore both more possible and more necessary to identify and explain the legal method that is applied by European legal actors, in particular legal scholars and courts, when analysing EU law and the law of EU Member Stateswithin the scope of application of EU law.