LAW4161 - Introduction to european union law 406

Leader: Dr Matt Harvey

Offered

Clayton First semester 2007 (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 unit 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%

Contact hours

Three hours of lectures per week

Prerequisites

LAW1100 or LAW1101 and LAW1102 or LAW1104

Co-requisites

LAW3200/LAW 3201