A critical introduction to European law, 2nd ed.

Abstract:

As the title implies, this work offers a critical overview of the construction of a political, economic and social order founded on legal principles and structures that will interest students of law, politics, sociology, economics and political philosophy.

The work consists of eight chapters. Chapter one discusses the Treaty of Rome (1957) that founded the European Economic Community, and implementation of this treaty up to and including the Single European Act of 1986. Chapter two reviews the Maastricht Treaty (1992) establishing the current European Union. The remaining chapters discuss the implications, challenges and responsibilities arising from European integration. Chapter three looks at the founding principles and legal structures of the Community. Chapter four addresses the issues of integration and sovereignty, while chapter five looks at regulation and economic policy. The subject of chapter six is social equality versus discrimination, and chapter seven looks at the European Union in the context of the 'new world order' of globalisation and the post-nation state. The concluding chapter examines the 'democratic deficit', that is the lack of a European public sense of common identity to match the political and legal process of integration. The book also includes tables of EC legislation, UK legislation relating to the EC/EU, and a table of cases.

Ian Ward is Professor of Law at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.