Legal activism

Court of Justice (Photo: Court of Justice)

An expression used to refer to the special role of the EU Court in Luxembourg.
The EU Court does not only interpret EU law as stated in the treaties, it also shapes the law by extending its own powers (competences) and the power (competence) of the EU institutions generally.

EU Court decisions have established such principles as:

• the primacy of EU law over national law (EU law over-rules national law).
• the Direct effect of EU law even if not mediated through national governments and parliaments (if a law is set up at EU-level it applies to all the Member States under certain circumstances even if they have not included within their national laws).