Dialogical Rule of Law and the Breakdown of Dialogue in the EU

Abstract

Dialogue between different jurisdictional levels within complex constitutional systems is constantly ongoing. Within the EU, this dialogue is an indispensable condition for the functioning of the Rule of Law, described as the tension between gubernaculum (the body of positive law) and jurisdictio (the principles of law beyond the sovereign's reach). Unlike other constitutional systems where the dialogue between the legislature and the judiciary plays the crucial role, the interaction between national courts and the Court of Justice of the EU is the only way through which the EU can be precluded from becoming a self-defining, tyrannical, constitutional order. As national courts seek to protect their constitutional values, they supply an important source of jurisdictio. Although the EU system offers a wider understanding of dialogical frameworks, it is under threat of dissolution. Where the Court of Justice feigns to cherish this inter-judicial dialogue, in reality it relies on its own supremacy to construct the EU.

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