{"id":382,"date":"2013-02-13T11:18:17","date_gmt":"2013-02-13T11:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/?page_id=382"},"modified":"2017-05-30T15:20:42","modified_gmt":"2017-05-30T15:20:42","slug":"the-european-courts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/learning\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\/the-european-courts\/","title":{"rendered":"The Court of Justice of the European Union"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Why do we need the European courts?\u00a0In this section, you will learn about the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and its contribution to European integration. First, you will be given a brief overview of what the Court is and does. The CJEU is composed of two courts: the Court of Justice (commonly known as the European Court of Justice) and the General Court (formerly known as the Court of First Instance).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"The European Court of Justice (ECJ)\" src=\"http:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/court.jpg\" alt=\"court The European Court of Justice (ECJ)\" width=\"450\" height=\"270\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>The European Court of Justice (ECJ)<\/h2>\n<p>The ECJ is the highest court of the European Union. The position of the ECJ as a final arbiter on EU legal matters is one of the defining features that makes the European Union more than a standard international organisation.\u00a0It was created in 1952 to resolve disputes for the European Coal and Steel Community. Today, it is comprised of 28 judges appointed by the Member States and 8 Advocates General who present opinions on cases brought before the Court. The number of judges has been expanding with each enlargement. Its work is supported by a lower tribunal created in 1989: the Court of First Instance (Corbett, Peterson &amp; Bomberg, 2012, p. 64). The ECJ is a multilingual institution and all\u00a0 24 languages of the EU can be the languages of the cases.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"The European Court of Justice (ECJ)\" src=\"http:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/court_logo.jpg\" alt=\"court logo The European Court of Justice (ECJ)\" width=\"192\" height=\"201\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The European Court of Justice is the highest court in the European Union on community matters. Its main duties are:<\/p>\n<ol start=\"1\">\n<li>To make sure that EU law is interpreted and applied equally and fairly across the EU.<\/li>\n<li>To \u00a0ensure that EU institutions, member states, businesses operating in the EU and citizens living within the EU do as the law requires.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Have a look at the following web link from the Europa website to <a href=\"https:\/\/curia.europa.eu\/jcms\/jcms\/Jo2_7024\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">see\u00a0how the Court is composed and what it does<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>General Court<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The ECJ is assisted by the <a href=\"http:\/\/curia.europa.eu\/jcms\/jcms\/Jo2_7033\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">General Court<\/a>. The General Court\u00a0was established in 1988 to aid the ECJ with an overburdened workload.<\/p>\n<p>It deals in particular with:<\/p>\n<ol start=\"1\">\n<li>Cases brought by individuals and companies<\/li>\n<li>Cases pertaining to competition law<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The General Court is, like the ECJ, composed of one judge from each member state but unlike the ECJ it does not employ an advocates-general system as standard practice, but does retain the right to use a judge as an advocate-general should it be deemed necessary. Please note that in terms of superiority between them, the General Court\u00a0is subordinate to the ECJ.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/learning\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\/advisory-bodies\/what-you-should-know-now\/\">Previous <\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/learning\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\/the-european-courts\/functions\/\">Next<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why do we need the European courts?\u00a0In this section, you will learn about the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and its contribution to European integration. First, you will be given a brief overview of what the Court is and does. The CJEU is composed of two courts: the Court of Justice (commonly<\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more-wrapper\"><a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/learning\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\/the-european-courts\/\" title=\"Read More\"> <span class=\"button \">Read More<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":341,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-382","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Court of Justice of the European Union - European Studies Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/learning\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\/the-european-courts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Court of Justice of the European Union - European Studies Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why do we need the European courts?\u00a0In this section, you will learn about the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and its contribution to European integration. 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The CJEU is composed of two courts: the Court of Justice (commonly Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/learning\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\/the-european-courts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"European Studies Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-30T15:20:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/court.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UoPEuropeanSt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/learning\\\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\\\/the-european-courts\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/learning\\\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\\\/the-european-courts\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Court of Justice of the European Union - European Studies Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/learning\\\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\\\/the-european-courts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/learning\\\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\\\/the-european-courts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/court.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-13T11:18:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-30T15:20:42+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/learning\\\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\\\/the-european-courts\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/learning\\\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\\\/the-european-courts\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/learning\\\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\\\/the-european-courts\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/court.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/court.jpg\",\"width\":450,\"height\":270},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/learning\\\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\\\/the-european-courts\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Learning home page\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/learning\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Module 1: Understanding EU Institutions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/learning\\\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The Court of Justice of the European Union\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/\",\"name\":\"European Studies Hub\",\"description\":\"Bringing together interactive learning tools and resources to help students and researchers better understand and engage with the European Union.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Court of Justice of the European Union - European Studies Hub","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/learning\/module-1-understanding-eu-institutions\/the-european-courts\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Court of Justice of the European Union - European Studies Hub","og_description":"Why do we need the European courts?\u00a0In this section, you will learn about the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and its contribution to European integration. 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