LAW4161

Introduction to european union law 406 ( 6 points, SCA Band 3, 0.125 EFTSL)

Leader: Dr Matt Harvey

Offered:
Clayton First semester 2005 (Day)

Synopsis: Institutional structure of the European Union. The motivation behind the move towards a EU. Major treaties implementing the union: The European Economic Community Treaty, the Single European Act, the Treaty on European Union. Various institutions of the EU: the Commission, the Council, the European Court of Justice. Decision-making processes within the Community. The enactment of measures to create a single European market: the four 'freedoms': free movement of goods, services, people and capital.

Objectives: Upon completion of this subject students should (1) have an appreciation of the forces behind the desire to create a single market and, ore broadly, a closer European Union; (2) be able to distinguish between the different methods of achieving a closer European Union, viz, the supra-nationalism of the main EU institutions as opposed to the inter-governmental nature of the European Council and the method of legislating according to the principle of 'subsidiarity'; (3) understand the functioning of the main EU institutions in a supra-national legal system which does not embody a separation of powers doctrine (exemplified by the co-decision legislative procedure and the Parliament's power over the composition of the Commission); (4) be able to appreciate the central role of the European Court of Justice in the reinforcement of a supra-national organisation and in the harmonisation of the laws of the member states; (5) be able to advise on the ways in which the laws and decisions of EU institutions may be challenged and the remedies available to both state and private parties; (6) have a bread understanding of the operation of the single European market and of the four freedoms.

Assessment: Examination (3 hours writing time plus 30 minutes reading and noting time): 100% OR Assignment (4,000 words): 50% + Examination (1.5 hours writing time plus 30 minutes reading and noting time): 50%

Prerequisites: LAW1100 Legal process OR LAW1101 Introduction to legal reasoning and LAW1102 Law in society

Corequisites: LAW3200/LAW 3201 Constitutional law