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Publishers Abstract:
It is widely accepted that the Court of Justice has played -- and continues to play -- a key role as the motor of European integration. Exercising its competence under the Treaties, the Court has radically transformed both the constitutional nature of the (now) European Union, and the breadth and depth of the substantive rights protected within that constitutional space. Discussion of the ECJ's contribution to the integration process in the legal literature' continues to be framed in terms of a debate over the Court's apparent activism or, conversely, judicial restraint. This paper is critical of the existing legal scholarship on both sides of the activism versus restraint debate. It argues that the task of assessing the EU's interpretative choices -- and, ultimately, the legitimacy of its contribution to EU lawmaking -- is better informed by an understanding of the Court as an institutional actor.
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