Vera Fritz will defend her dissertation

Vera Fritz will defend her dissertation entitled: Contribution à l’histoire de la Cour de Justice de l’Union européenne à travers des biographies historiques de ses premiers membres (1952 – 1972) on 22 November 2014 at Université d’Aix-Marseille, TELEMME

The dissertation contributes to the new history of European law by proposing the results of in-depth biographical research on the first judges, advocates general and registrar who worked at the European Court of Justice during the first twenty years of its existence (1952 – 1972). Firstly, it sheds new light on the professional and personal trajectories of the Court’s pioneers and of those who pronounced some of its most commented judgments, those who laid the foundation of the ‘constitutionalization’ of the European legal order. Secondly, it leans on the collected biographical data in order to bring to the surface new elements of knowledge on three precise points with regard to a question which political scientists have been interested in for two decades – and which now also historians address: how did the European Court of Justice, from the 1960s onwards, succeed in seriously limiting the Member States’ sovereignty, especially by imposing the principle of primacy of European law, without provoking a rebellion by national decision-makers? It first of all analyzes the nomination process of the first judges and advocates general, in order to establish whether governments did, or did not, use the appointment mechanism to curb down ECJ activism. It then studies the members of the Court’s views and convictions with regard to European integration and their role in the European Communities. Finally, it looks at the political affiliations of the first members of the Court of Justice and their unofficial interactions with national decision-makers.