The Role of General Principles in E.U. Law as Opaque and Uncertain

The Role of General Principles in E.U. Law as Opaque and Uncertain

Since the founding European Community Treaties of the 1950’s there has

been a noticeable evolution in regards to the lack of provisions

concerning the protection of human rights in the conduct of the

Community affairs. Primarily this evolution was the work of The Court

of Justice, who stated that “the ‘general principles of EC law’

include protection for fundamental rights which are part of the common

constitutional traditions of Member States.”[1] Article 249 of the EC

treaty lays out the sources from which the Community may govern, with

greatest emphasis being placed on regulations and directives. However,

there are ‘softer’ forms of law, which have been adopted due to their

natural and logical evolution in practice. The ‘general principles’,

inspired by the common traditions and constitutional rules shared by

the Member States, fall into this category, and are thus used more as

aids to legal interpretation rather than definitions of the law

itself.

These general principles of EU law include; 1) Legal certainty and

legitimate expectations, (the knowledge of citizens of the likely

legal consequences of their actions); 2) Proportionality, (originally

a German based principle that the ECJ has adopted, which says that “it

must be ascertained whether the means which it employs are suitable

for the purpose of achieving the desired objective and whether they go

beyond what is necessary to achieve it.”[2]); 3) Equality/

non-discrimination, (“comparable situations must not be treated

differently and different situations must not be treated in the same

way unless such tr...

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...l Status of the Charter: Vital Question or

Non-Issue?’ (2001) 8 MJ 81

[19] Law Text, Cases and Materials (Third Edition) – Paul Craig and

Grainne De Burca

[20] Law Text, Cases and Materials (Third Edition) – Paul Craig and

Grainne De Burca

[21] Case T-54/99, max.mobil Telekommunikation Services GmbH v.

Commission, ruling of 31 Jan. 2002 paras. 48, 57

[22] Law Text, Cases and Materials (Third Edition) – Paul Craig and

Grainne De Burca

[23] Law Text, Cases and Materials (Third Edition) – Paul Craig and

Grainne De Burca

[24] Case C-13/94 [1996] ECR I-2143

[25] Case C-50/99, Deutsche Telekom v. Shroder [2000] ECR I-743

[26] Law Text, Cases and Materials (Third Edition) – Paul Craig and

Grainne De Burca

[27] Law Text, Cases and Materials (Third Edition) – Paul Craig and

Grainne De Burca