Judicial review – A comparative analysis inside the European legal system

The framework for this book is the well-known institutional trend moving from a classical State model based on the Rule of Law towards a currently evolving new one, where international elements and links are the preeminent characteristics. In this trend, there is nowadays a factual preeminence of executive powers along with a reduction in the strength of parliamentary balances and judicial controls.

The particular aim of this book is to analyse two essential aspects of the Rule of Law tradition: first, specific requirements for citizens to challenge public decisions affecting them and, second, the kinds of public decisions which can be judicially controlled. Two groups of legal regulations are considered in this analysis: (1) the so-call 'European legal tradition', analysing nine national Laws deeply influenced since 1950 by the Council of Europe’s doctrine; and (2) the newer European Union Law.