LAW7019: European Union law and policy

(NB: the unit handbook is wrong on this)
- Take-home exam: 1,000 words with 10% leeway, worth 20%
--- Not the usual law exam - there are no fact scenarios to apply legal principles to - rather, you are required to write an essay on the basis of a statement.
This year it was: "EULEX has a lot of work ahead of it to prepare Kosovo for EU membership. In particular, we need to train Supreme Court judges and staff so that they are familiar with the Union Acquis, for they are the ones that will be ensuring it is applied in Kosovo."

- Research assignment (case note): 3,500 words with 10% leeway, worth 80%
--- Case note on a significant, recent European Court of Justice case of your choice. You are required to provide a summary of the facts of the case, including the Advocate-General opinion where relevant, followed by an analysis of the legal issues and their relevance in the context of European Union law (e.g. whether the case has now settled the law in that area).

Lecturer
It really pains me to say bad things about Geert because he is such a nice person. As a European Union lawyer, he also has a lot of practical experience, and often will go on tangents about actual EU court of justice cases that he defended, which is really cool. He also speaks like 6 languages fluently *fangirl squeals* However, the structure of the classes left a lot to be desired. He does not use Powerpoint slides and does not appear to use any notes while lecturing. Some lecturers can manage this fine, but he would wander off on tangents, or jump between topics in a very confusing way. I struggled to follow him sometimes and judging from conversations with my classmates, I was not the only one. Thankfully the notes provided in the reading guide and the "ABC of EU Law" book were good supplements.

Subject content
For me, this subject was too humanities-like. It felt more like a course in international studies or politics or history than a law subject. Most of the people in my class were Masters of International Business (or something like that) students rather than law students, which meant Geert actively veered away from the really legalistic topics (i.e. he actually said that that is what he would do). However, it is probably different in the undergraduate version of this subject.

The topics covered included:
- Basic constitutional framework of the EU, both current and historic
- EU institutions, decision-making process and legal instruments
- Division of competences (i.e. where the EU can legislate) between the EU and member states
- Primacy and direct effect
- Judicial protection in the EU i.e. the courts

Some people enjoy looking at the politics/history side of things and if you do, you'll probably love this subject! I just personally prefer subjects with a little bit more actual legal relevance. The only really law-related stuff I did was in my case note and very little of that was actually taught in class. I would have liked to have delved more deeply into some of the more important EU court of justice cases, for example.

On another note, this was my final subject and also the highest mark I've ever received in a law subject, so it's nice to end my degree on a high, even if I didn't like the subject that much

---

Professor Geert Van Calster

No

2.5 out of 5

No

No prescribed textbooks. The reading guide is 119 pages long because it is actually the course notes, rather than a guide to what to read. The classes are simply intended to be elaborations on those notes, so if you want to get the most out of the classes, then read the notes beforehand.

If you want further information on any particular topic(s), The ABC of European Union law by Professor Klaus-Dieter Borchardt is very good. You can download a soft copy for free from that link.

Intensive - 9am to 4pm for 4 days.

2014, term 3