The Court of Justice of the European Union is the judicial institution of the European Union, based in Luxembourg, comprising the Court of Justice proper and the General Court. It traces its origin to the Court of Justice of the European Coal and Steel Community, established by the 1951 Treaty of Paris and first sitting in 1952, and was renamed and reorganized as European integration deepened through the Treaties of Rome, Maastricht and Lisbon. Its central function is ensuring that EU law is interpreted and applied uniformly across member states, chiefly through the preliminary ruling procedure, in which a national court facing a question of EU law refers it to the CJEU for a binding interpretation before deciding the case itself. Landmark CJEU rulings such as Van Gend en Loos (1963) and Costa v ENEL (1964) established the doctrines of direct effect and the supremacy of EU law over conflicting national law, doctrines found nowhere in the founding treaties' text but built by the Court itself, in a manner comparative lawyers have long compared to the Marshall Court's construction of judicial review in Marbury v Madison.
Facts
Founding Year Jurisdiction ScopeInterpretation and application of European Union law across all EU member states 1 Jurisdiction Scope
Jurisdiction Scope (category)International / Supranational 1 Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)
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Associated With
The Court of Justice of the European Union interprets the ePrivacy Directive, notably on cookies and consent.
The Court of Justice of the European Union is the final interpreter of the Regulation. Its Schrems II ruling (Case C-311/18, 2020) invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield transfer mechanism on the extraterritorial-transfer terms the Regulation itself sets, the clearest example of the Court shaping how the Regulation actually operates.
The Court of Justice of the European Union is the final interpreter of the Payment Services Directive 2 as EU law.
The Court of Justice of the European Union is the final interpreter of the REACH Regulation as EU law.
The Court of Justice of the European Union is the final interpreter of the RoHS Directive as EU law.
The Court of Justice of the European Union is the final interpreter of the Solvency II Directive as EU law.
The Court of Justice of the European Union is the final interpreter of the WEEE Directive as EU law.
Decided
Decided by the Court of Justice of the European Communities (predecessor of the CJEU), 1964.
Decided by the Court of Justice of the European Communities (predecessor of the CJEU), 1963.
Has Member
Source Cearbhall O Dalaigh (Wikipedia)
Source Wikidata: John L. Murray
Source Wikipedia: Koen Lenaerts
Source Kullike Jurimae - Wikipedia
Source Pedro Cruz Villalon (Wikipedia)
Source Tom O'Higgins (Wikipedia)
Held Differently
Civil Law, Legal Systems Why this is disputed. The CJEU is a supranational court whose case law draws heavily on continental civil law method and whose member states are mostly civil law jurisdictions, but EU law itself is often described by comparative scholars as a distinct legal order rather than a member of any single one of the five traditions; the civil law classification here reflects the Court's dominant working method, not a claim that EU law is simply continental civil law.
Source The Oxford Handbook of Comparative LawMathias Reimann and Reinhard Zimmermann, editors
Long-Form Articles
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Court of Justice of the European Union Official Website (CURIA)
About the Court of JusticeQuote, About the Court of Justice
The Court of Justice is the highest Court of the European Union. Its mission is to ensure that EU law is followed and applied in the same way across the EU.
The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law
Mathias Reimann and Reinhard Zimmermann, editors, Oxford University Press, 2006In Legal System: Civil Law
Wikipedia: Koen Lenaerts
Has Member: Koen Lenaerts, Wikipedia lead paragraphQuote, Has Member: Koen Lenaerts, Wikipedia lead paragraph
born 20 December 1954) is a Belgian jurist and the president of the Court of Justice of the European Union. He is also a Professor of European Law a
Tom O'Higgins (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Tom O'Higgins, Wikipedia lead paragraphQuote, Has Member: Tom O'Higgins, Wikipedia lead paragraph
and a Judge of the Supreme Court from 1974 to 1985, a Judge of the European Court of Justice from 1985 to 1991, a Judge of the High Court from 1973
Wikidata: John L. Murray
Has Member: John L. Murray, Wikipedia category: European Court of Justice judgesView the Source Cearbhall O Dalaigh (Wikipedia)
Kullike Jurimae - Wikipedia
Has Member: Kullike Jurimae, Article textQuote, Has Member: Kullike Jurimae, Article text
Küllike Jürimäe (born 1962) is an Estonian jurist and a current judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Pedro Cruz Villalon (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Pedro Cruz Villalon, Article textQuote, Has Member: Pedro Cruz Villalon, Article text
Pedro Cruz Villalón (born 25 May 1946) is a Spanish jurist who served as an Advocate General at the European Court of Justice.
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