The Copenhagen Project on the History of EU Law (Morten Rasmussen)

Friend of the network Morten Rasmussen (Copenhagen) has passed on the note below outlining his new project "Towards a New History Of European Public Law," funded by FKK-the Agency for Science, Technology, and Innovation of the Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Higher Education.  Morten has assembled an outstanding group of experienced and younger project members, including associated members Anne Boerger (Alberta) and Bill Davies (American) who are also members of our network.  In addition, the projects's external advisory board includes, along with Davies, network members Karen Alter (Northwestern) and Peter Lindseth (UConn).

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In January 2013 a new collective project on the history of European law was launched by University of Copenhagen, Denmark under the leadership of Morten Rasmussen. It brings together historians of EU public law and launches a new agenda for future historical research. The project explores in particular the consequences of the ‘constitutional practise’ launched by the European Court of Justice in Van Gend en Loos and Costa v. E.N.E.L. in 1963 and 1964. How could a set of international treaties, the Treaties of Rome (1957) albeit of a somewhat unusual nature, lead to the establishment of a ‘constitutional practise’? What effects did the ‘constitutional practise’ have on the nature of the European legal order in terms of enforcement and efficiency? And to what extent did national governments and legal elites in the member states accept this development? These are some of the questions explored in the next three years by the project.

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Additional details can be found on the project website here, and earlier posts relating to the project can be found here, here, and here.