National Courts as European Community Courts:

The Functioning of National Courts as Decentralized Community Courts: Community Law’s Expectations vs. the Knowledge, Experiences and Attitudes of National Judges

Summary of the Project

The extent to which the courts of the Member States of the European Union fulfil their assigned role as decentralised Community courts varies. While the European legal order obliges national courts to apply Community law in the national legal order, this is not always the case. The existing, mostly normative, studies of the legal obligations of the national judiciary arguably fail to fully identify the causes for this shortcoming. By using a multidisciplinary approach, which combines legal research with empirical social science, the project aims to identify factors that influence the application of Community law by national judges.

Project Leader

Prof. Mark Wissink - University of Groningen

Researchers

Prof. Fabian Amtenbrink - Erasmus University Rotterdam
Prof. Marc Hertogh - University of Groningen
Dr. Tobias Nowak - University of Groningen

Duration

February 2007 – September 2010

Grant Awarded 

€ 143.317,-

Matching

€ 31.778,-

Scientific Publications

1. Nowak, T., Wissink, M. (2008) “Onderzoeksproject: Nationale rechtbanken en Europees Recht - Een onderzoek naar kennis, ervaring en opvattingen van nationale rechters betreffende Europees Recht” in Trema vol. 31 no. 7 pp. 320-322 (English translation: Research Project: National Judges and European Law – A Study of the Experiences, Knowledge and Conceptions of National Judges concerning European Law). 
2. Nowak, T. & Wissink, M. (2008) “Nationale Richter und Europäisches Recht” in Richter und Staatsanwalt in Nordrhein-Westfalen vol. 29, no 5, pp. 9-10.
   

Contact Information

Katarzyna Kryczka
Research and Programme Officer
k.kryczka@hiil.org
+31 70 349 4406