European Union Legal Research: Legislative Documents and Case Law'

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European Union Legal Research Legislative
Documents and Case Law.

• ALR International Law
• February 2, 2004

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Sources of Community Law

• Primary legislation a) Treaties establishing the
  Communities b) General principles of law.
• The ECs international agreements.
• Secondary Legislation a) Implemented
  regulations b) Directives/ECSC recommendations
  c) Genl and individual decisions.
• Genl principles of administrative law.
• Conventions b/n Member States.

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Statutory Text as Secondary Legislation

• A European statutory text is considered Secondary
  Legislation within the legal framework of the EU
  (treaties are primary legislation).

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Three types of binding European legislation

• Regulations directly and automatically binding
  and applicable throughout the Member States.
• Directives binding as to the result to be
  achieved but each Member State chooses the form
  and method for national implementation of the
  directive.
• Decisions issued by the European Council or
  the Commission and bind only the Member State(s)
  or natural or legal person(s) to whom they are
  addressed.

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Recommendations, Resolutions, and Opinions

• Not Binding for EU members.
• Published in the O.J. C Series (e.g. Council
  Resolution of 16 November 2000 on a European
  Space Strategy, 2000 O.J. (C. 371) 2).
• EUR-Lex http//www.europa.eu.int//eur-lex/en/abou
  t/pap/index.html .

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Legislative Process in the EU

• More Complex Legislative initiatives and the
  participation of a European Parliament take place
  under a complex set of rules.
• Decision-making in the major areas in the
  Amsterdam Treaty of the European Union (TEU)
  proceeds as outlined at http//europa.eu.int/scadp
  lus/leg/en/lvb/a29000.htm.

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Legislative Process in the EU

• Consultation (document codeCNS).
• Cooperation (document codeSYN).
• Co-Decision (document codeCOD).
• Since the Maastricht Treaty, legislative emphasis
  has been on the Co-Decision procedure, with the
  Parliament and Council exercising legislative
  functions together in relationship to proposals
  (mainly from the Commission).

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BASIC DOCUMENTATION

• Official Journal of the European Communities
  (O.J.)
• (1) L Series
• (2) C Series
• (3) C-E Series (http//www.europa.eu.int//eur-le
  x/en/index.html).
• (4) S Series (http//ted.publications.eu.int/CD/
  application/pif/resources/shtml/common/home/home.h
  tml ).
• (5) Annex

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Where to Find the Official Journal/Legislation at
Marquette

• EUR-Lex http//www.europa.eu.int//eur-lex/en/ind
  ex.html (Jan. 1, 1998 to present).
• Westlaw EU-LEG, 1952- (not PDF). Also,
  EU-OJSERIES, EU-ACTS, EU-QUESTIONS.
• Lexis EURCOM ECLAW (1953- ) EURCOM LEGIS
  (July 1979- ).
• European Union Law Reporter (KJE 949.C655). The
  numerical Finding List of Acts in v.4 provides
  the O.J. citation. Some acts are reprinted in
  this set.

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Where to Find the Official Journal/Legislation

• Directory of Community Legislation in Force
  (Subject Access to Laws) http//www.europa.eu.in
  t//eur-lex/en/lif/index.html
• National Implementing Measures for Directives
  http//europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/sgb/
  droit_com/index_en.htm.
• SCAD Plus http//www.europa.eu.int/scadplus/scad
  _en.htm .
• Doing Business in Europe (KJE949.C656)
  country-by-country summaries of national law for
  the EU member states (plus Switzerland).

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EU Consolidated Legislation -

• Unofficial texts that incorporate amendments and
  corrections into the original text of a
  legislative act in a single document.
• Current state of the law can be seen more easily.
• NOTE each consolidated text has a list of all
  the legal docs. taken into account for its
  construction.
• Available at EUR-Lex http//www.europa.eu.int/e
  ur-lex/en/consleg/index1.html .

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Legislation in Preparation

• Green papers are issued to stimulate public
  discussion or White Papers detailing the policy
  are produced by the Commission (COM documents).
• Authority from Treaties the treaty article will
  require specific legislative procedure.
• The type of legislative procedure will dictate
  whether the Council, Parliament, Committee of the
  Regions, or Economic and Social Committee will
  generate documents during the process.

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Commission Proposal

• Prior to drafting the proposal, the Commission
  may issue a Green paper or White paper.
• Comm. Proposal, also called a preparatory act,
  may be amended several times.
• Sources (1) Legislative proposals with
  explanatory memorandums (2) Green papers, White
  papers issued by Commission as COM documents.

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Where to find COM Documents by number and by
topic

• EUR-Lex (Legislation in Preparation)
  http//www.europa.eu.int//eur-lex/en/search/search
  _lip.html .
• Westlaw EU-ACTS provides full-text searchable
  texts.
• Lexis EUCOM LEGIS provides full-text searchable
  texts.

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Finding Documents of Council, Parliament, etc

• Pre-Lex http//europa.eu.int/prelex/apcnet.cfm?CL
  en . Covers 1976-present.
• OEIL Legislative Observatory http//wwwdb.europa
  rl.eu.int/dors/oeil/en/default.htm . Covers
  1994-present.
• Legislative Logbook http//www3.europarl.eu.int/i
  ris/en/tleg_form.htm .
• CELEX http//www.europa.eu.int/celex/htm/celex_en
  .htm.
• Documentation of Councils Work
  http//ue.eu.int/en/summ.htm .

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Reports, Green Papers, White Papers

• Green Papers http//europa.eu.int/comm/off/green/
  index_en.htm .
• White Papers http//europa.eu.int/comm/off/white
  /index_en.htm .
• EUR-Lex http//www.europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/inde
  x.html .
• Websites of relevant EU institutions.

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European Union Case Law

• Official case reports for the European Court of
  Justice (ECJ) and the Court of First Instance
  appear in the Reports of Cases before the Court
  in print.
• NOTE Marquette law library does not have the
  official case reports, so you will have to rely
  on online and unofficial print resources.

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Where to find Case Law online

• Official Web site (CURIA) http//www.curia.eu.int
  . Cases since 1997 can be searched by case
  number, date, parties or keywords. 1953-present
  arranged chronologically by case number.
• Case reports on Lexis EuropeCases file (EUCOM
  CASES and EURCOM ECJ)/ Westlaw
  (EU-CS/EU-CS-ALL).
• CELEX (via Lexis or Academic Universe)
  (1954-present).
• Eur-Lex http//www.europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/index
  .html .

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Where to find Case Law in Print at Marquette Law

• European Union Law Reporter (KJE 949.C655).
• European Community Cases (KJE 949.C66)
  (1989-present)(CCH).
• International Law Reports (KZ199.I582) contains
  selected cases.
• A useful work about the court is The European
  Union and its Court of Justice (KJE5461.A97
  1999).

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Major Websites for EU on the Internet

• EUROPA http//europa.eu.int.
• EUR-Lex http//europa.eu.int/eur-lex .
• European Union in the U.S. http//eurunion.org
  .
• Jean Monnet Center at NYU http//www.jeanmonnetp
  rogram.org .

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Citing European Union Documents

• Rule 21.5.2 of the Bluebook explains how to cite
  European Court of Justice and Court of First
  Instance documents.
• Rule 21.8.2 is the rule for citing European Union
  documents such as acts and other publications of
  the Council and the Commission, COM Documents,
  documents of the Parliament and founding
  treaties.
• Also consult A Citation Manual for European
  Community Materials, Fordham International Law
  Journal, v. 19 (Feb. 1996) at pp.1317-34 for
  additional guidance when citing to EU materials.
  

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Demonstrations in Westlaw/Lexis

• Lexis - http//www.lexis.com.
• Westlaw http//www.lawschool.westlaw.com.