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European justice: the Scottish contribution.

Year: 2025
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Of the eleven UK members of the Court of Justice from 1973 until 2020, three have been Scottish jurists, namely AJ Mackenzie Stuart, David Edward and Ian Forrester. Each of them has played an important role at the Court and they all contributed to the shaping of EU Law while there. In particular, Scottish judges' names can be associated with important judicial statements in the fields of free movement of goods and EU Citizenship. In so doing, the three Scottish judges can be said to have made a unique and enduring contribution to the moulding of EU legal principles. Can it be asserted that this contribution was facilitated by the Scots law background and connections of these three judges? That may be not easily proven but by looking at some of the factors which shaped the three Scottish judges and by examining some individual judgments with which they are connected, a picture emerges of an especially robust level of influence exerted by the Scottish judges at the EU Court, an influence which endures there even after UK membership has ended. Perennial sovereignty v supranationalism frictions have long been at the heart of European integration. Scots lawyers and judges willingly entered that fray and sought resolutions from within. None of this is a co-incidence; from the time of the Act of Union, Scots lawyers have adapted to and used their unique heritage of mixed legal traditions and their intellectual rigour and values of the Scottish Enlightenment in order to take their place outwith their jurisdictional boundaries.
Language: English
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7018935936
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