Future of the ECJ

Vlad Perju of Boston College of Law has just posted his recent paper “Reason and Authority in the European Court of Justice on SSRN (the paper is also available via the website of Virginia Journal of International Law, where the paper was recently published). The paper is very interesting and makes the, to many critics of the ECJ, controversial claim that the Court ought to “politicise” its decision-making and judicial style as a way of contributing to the constitutional development of the Community. The paper, inter alia, argues, although this is far from a new argument, that the Court would benefit from being allowed to issue separate and dissenting opinions.  Given the perennial “constitutional crisis” of the Community, the paper is well-worth reading both for ECJ fans and sceptics.