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European Community Law
LAW 2230 (for LLB students)
LAW 2231 (for non-LLB students and part-time LLB students)
LAW5770 (for LLM students)
Semester 1 and 2 - 20 credits
 Pre-requisites or Co-requisities:
None
 Aims and objectives
This course aims to give students a thorough grounding in the constitutional
and institutional foundations of the EU, and to introduce them to a number
of essential topics of substantive law, chosen because of their centrality
in the EU system and/or their intrinsic interest.
The general aims and objectives of the course are the following:
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- to provide a foundational knowledge of the institutions and constitution
of the European Union, building on existing knowledge where appropriate;
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- to provide a sufficient knowledge of the core areas of EC substantive
law (law of the single market; the individual and EC law);
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- to develop the tools whereby students may identify relevant issues of
EC law, and know how to begin analysing and researching them;
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- to develop critical skills of analysis and interpretation in relation
to the EU legal order, and EC law;
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- to understand the key themes underpinning the role of law, legal institutions
and legal actors in the European Union, viz.:
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- law and the process and theories of European integration (socio-economic;
political and monetary);
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- law and political processes and power within the European Union, concentrating
particularly on the role of the Court of Justice and the national courts,
as well as on the political institutions and law-making processes of the
EU;
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- the impact of the EU legal order on the domestic legal orders of the
Member States, and the interrelationship between legal orders operating
at different levels;
The philosophy underlying the course is the importance of studying EC law
and the EU legal order in its wider political and socio-economic context.
Looking at the rules - whether of a legislative or a judicial nature -
in isolation does not really help us to understand the unique character
of the legal processes which are occurring at present at a supranational
level in a large part of the continent of Europe. Hence, it will be essential
for the completion of the course for students to keep abreast of more general
developments regarding the EU, and all students will be required to participate
in the collection of general media materials about the EU in the form of
a groupwork assignment. In addition, those who are prepared to read more
widely in the broader field of European studies are likely to complete
the course most successfully.
 Learning support arrangements
There will be 22 lectures and 18 seminars.
Outline syllabus
Introduction to the Institutions and Constitution of the EU,
with
a focus on:
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historical overview of European integration;
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constitutional principles of the European Union;
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understanding the work of the institutions;
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inter-institutional relationships;
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the 'federal' character of the EU legal order;
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enforcement in national courts and the relationship between EU law and
national law, and between the competence of the EU and that of the Member
States.
Introduction to the law of the internal market, with a
focus on:
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the provisions concerning free movement of goods, persons and services:
convergence and divergence; the EU in a global trading order: external
competence;
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common commercial trade policy; customs union;
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law-making in the internal market;
Introduction to flanking policies such as social and environmental
policy, with a focus on their development, scope and effectiveness
and their relationship to internal market and other policies.
 Books and materials
In addition, EC law is a fast-moving area where it is essential to consult
up-to-date works. For semester 1 in 1998/99, the course text book was Shaw,
Law of the European Union, Macmillan, 1996. For Semester 2, the course
book was Craig and de Búrca, EU Law, Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1998, second edition. Also useful are other standard textbook accounts
(e.g. Weatherill and Beaumont, EC Law, 2nd Edition, 1996, Steiner
and Woods, Textbook in EC Law, 6th Edition, 1998, or A. Evans,
A Textbook on European Union Law, Hart Publishing, 1998) and Chalmers
and Szyszczak, European Union Law, Ashgate, 1998 (two vols.), like
Craig and de Búrca, a collection of texts, cases and complementary
discussion. Students also need an up to date treaty/legislation book which
they may use in the examination. The recommended books is Rudden and Wyatt,
Basic Community Laws or Blackstone’s Legislation. A supplementary course
book is J. Richardson (ed.), European Union: Power and Policy-making,
Routledge, 1996. It is a complementary text, looking at the process of
integration from a political science perspective and contains useful summaries
of the essential themes and theories of integration as well as specific
areas of policy. Students are also referred quite frequently to essays
in Shaw and More (eds.), New Legal Dynamics of European Union, Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1995. Finally, students will find G. Glöckner
et al, Guide to EU Policies, Blackstone, 1998, a useful starting
point for looking at individual policy areas.
Assessment
For LAW2230:
Group work project (involving submission of a portfolio of document
lists and resources and a 3,000 word commentary)
(33%) and 1 x 2 hour examination (67%).
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For LAW5770:
Group work project (involving submission of a portfolio of document
lists and resources and a 3,000 word commentary)
(25%), 1 x 1500 word problem question (25%) and 1 x 2 hour examination
(50%)
For LAW2231:
Group work project (involving submission of a portfolio of document
lists and resources and a 3,000 word commentary)
(33%) and 2 x 1500 word essay (33% each).
Course Co-ordinators: Professor Louise Ackers and Dr. Chloe Wallace
Inquiries can be made by  e-mail
to H.L.Ackers@leeds.ac.uk or C.J.Wallace@leeds.ac.uk
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