Seminar with Michel Waelbroeck

Seminar on November 5, 12-17:00 with Michel Waelbroeck:
The Establishment of a Constitutional Practise? An exploration of the History of European Law from 1958 to 1967. 

The Treaty of the European Economic Community (EEC) (1958) established a new institutional and legal order, which was fundamentally different from the one already existing in the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). How did the institutional and legal system of the new Community develop in the first decade of its existence? Focusing in particular on the legal dimension, how was life blown into the new legal system and in particular the preliminary reference mechanism that had been reformed in the EEC Treaty (article 177)? But also more broadly on how and why the ECJ introduced a constitutional practise in European law with two seminal judgments Van Gend en Loos (1963) and Costa v. ENEL (1964) and how the member states reacted to this? These are some of the many question that this seminar will consider in an attempt to develop a more coherent and general understanding of the first decade of European law development based on the EEC treaty.
The seminar will consists of presentations of work in progress with comments from a special guest, professor emeritus, l’Université libre de Bruxelles, Michel Waelbroeck, who not only is one of the leading scholars of European law, but was also an eyewitness to the history of European law in this early period.

Paper presentations:
Bill Davies, Walter Much, A proponent of an alternative, non-constitutional approach to European Law
Morten Rasmussen, Revolutionising European Law – A History of the Van Gend en Loos judgment
Karin van Leeuwen, Dutch Courts and the ECJ ‘legal revolution’ of 1963-1964. Reconsidering the historical narrative of unproblematic reception
Alexandre Bernier, Gaullist France and European Law. The Most Reluctant Member State?
Vera Fritz, The First Member State Rebellion? The European Court of Justice and the negotiations of the ‘Luxembourg protocol’ of 1971

Commentator and eyewitness, Professor emeritus, l’Université libre de Bruxelles, Michel Waelbroeck.

Venue: University of Copenhagen, Karen Blixens Vej 4, 2300 Copenhagen S., Room 12.3.07, 12:00-17:00