The Social Construction of Law: The European Court of Justice and Its Legal Revolution Revisited

Cohen, Antonin; Vauchez, André

doi:10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-102510-105503

Cited by 24 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…(Interestingly, there was nothing in the treaties founding the (predecessors of the) EU that compelled the Court to interpret EU law in this way. Arguably, it was a political decision couched in legal terms, to promote European integration by legal means ( [33,34]). ) Like other EU law, directives are enforced strictly.…”

Section: The Water Framework Directive and Its Environmental Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Law and Politics in River Basin Management: The Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in The Netherlands

Mostert

2020

Water

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This article discusses the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in the Netherlands and shows how law and politics combine in river basin management. Initially, the implementation of the WFD in the Netherlands was approached as a technical and administrative issue, handled by water quality and ecology experts, but, in 2003, this approach was broken open by the agricultural sector, who feared stricter regulation. Subsequently, the environmental objectives of the WFD were set as low as possible and they play no role when authorising new projects. In July 2015, however, the European Court of Justice determined that the environmental objectives have a binding effect and that Member States have to refuse authorisation of projects that jeopardise the achievement of these objectives. This example shows the important role that law as a social phenomenon or “field” can play in river basin management, provided the courts enjoy sufficient social and political support and function relatively independently, as they do in the Netherlands. The article discusses the origin of the juridical field and its relation with politics and concludes that, to understand river basin management fully, it is essential to understand how (water) law functions.

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Section: The Water Framework Directive and Its Environmental Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Law and Politics in River Basin Management: The Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in The Netherlands

Mostert

2020

Water

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“…There was nothing in the treaties founding the (predecessors of the) EU that compelled the Court to interpret EU law in this way. Arguably, it was a political decision, couched in legal terms, to promote European integration by legal means ([33}, see also [34]). 3 Art.…”

Section: The Water Framework Directive and Its Environmental Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Law and Politics in River Basin Management; The Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in the Netherlands

Mostert¹

2020

Preprint

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This article discusses the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in the Netherlands and intends to show how law and politics combine in river basin management. Initially, the implementation of the WFD in the Netherlands was approached as a technical and administrative issue, handled by water quality and ecology experts, but in 2003 this approach was broken open by the agricultural sector, who were worried about stricter regulation. Subsequently, the environmental objectives of the WFD were set as low as possible and they are not used in authorising individual projects. Yet, in 2015 of the European Court of Justice determined that the environmental objectives have binding effect and that Member States have to refuse authorisation for projects that endanger the achievement of these objectives. In the future, the European Court of Justice and national courts may force the Dutch government to change its approach. They may only do so because and as long as they enjoy sufficient social and political support and function relatively independently. The article concludes that, to understand river basin management fully, one has to open up the black box of water law and become a kind of water lawyer.

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“…The state of law construct arises from the need to limit the possibilities of abuse of the political or of the economic, by guaranteeing the observance of the norms of social interaction between individuals as well as between individuals and institutions. The rule of law legitimizes the social order precisely by the predictability of the norm and the universality of its applicability and respectively by the protection of the individual in front of any abuses (Cohen & Vauchez, 2011).…”

Section: Social Construction Of the Idea Of Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most researchers believe that the transnational constitutional order at European Union level is due to the decisions of the European Court of Justice and its effort to build a united Europe on the principles of state of law, an effort made through a series of revolutionary decisions issued mainly in the 60's of the last century and afterwards (Cohen & Vauchez, 2011). An opposite opinion is expressed by Antonin Cohen and Antoine Vauchez (2011) -which puts this orientation of the European Union towards the principles of the state of law on the account of a legal and political struggle for the future of Europe as political and constructive suprastate entity.…”

Section: Social Construction Of the Idea Of Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

Social Construction of the Legal System. Research in the Northeastern Region of Romania

Sandu

Ignatescu

2020

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This research pursues the social construction of the idea of justice among citizens by measuring the public opinion on the legal system in Romania. A number of aspects involved in the process of social construction of the concept of justice were considered, such as the role of the legal system in Romanian society, the level of transparency of the legal system, the implementation of ethics in Romanian legal system, the level of perceived remuneration of Romanian legal system etc. The research was conducted in the Northeastern region of Romania, based on sociological inquiry through questionnaire. The thematic axes of the questionnaire aimed: the sources of public information on the functioning of the legal system, the perceived level of professionalism of the personnel in the legal system, the public perception on integrity and the observance of ethical standards in the legal system, the level of remuneration in Romanian legal system, the respect for the state of law in Romania, the trust in the component institutions of the legal system in Romania.

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The Social Construction of Law: The European Court of Justice and Its Legal Revolution Revisited

Cited by 24 publications

References 29 publications

Law and Politics in River Basin Management: The Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in The Netherlands

Law and Politics in River Basin Management: The Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in The Netherlands

Law and Politics in River Basin Management; The Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in the Netherlands

Social Construction of the Legal System. Research in the Northeastern Region of Romania

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