The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple July 2015 The Library, Ashley Building Middle Temple Lane London EC4Y 9BT
EUROPEAN COLLECTION
INTRODUCTION The European Union (EU) functions at a supranational level, with power for decision making in certain areas. Alongside the EU is the Council of Europe, which is a separate organisation ©Pietro Naj-Oleari dedicated to the protection of human rights. Research into CONTACT European law may also require consulting materials produced by individual member states of the EU or Council of Europe. EU librarian: Erin Gow The Middle Temple library’s European collection was Tel: 020 7427 4830 established in 1973 with the UK’s accession to the EU, and Fax: 020 7427 4831 contains materials relevant both to the EU as a whole and to Email: [email protected] the individual member states. Web: www.middletemple.org. uk/ library-and-archive/library LOCATION Most European materials can be found on the main floor of the library in Bays 71 – 101. Irish and Human Rights materials are shelved separately on the main floor, while older materials can be found in the basement in Bays B594 – B605.
EU LEGISLATON
The main sources of EU law the authoritative form of are the Treaties, including: The primary and secondary EU Treaties of Rome 1957, Treaty legislation, including On European Union regulations and directives. The (Maastricht) 1992, Treaty of electronic version of the OJ Amsterdam 1997, Treaty of [eur-lex.europa.eu] became Nice 2001, and Treaty of authentic and legally binding as Lisbon 2007. of 1 July 2013. It is updated The Official Journal of the daily, and the library holds only European Union (OJ) contains selected print copies from that point on. Abraham Ortelius’ map of Europe, 1603
The Official Journal has legal value in electronic format since July 2013.
EU LEGISLATION CITATION MEMBER STATE LEGISLATION The Official Journal is The Library holds copies of the legislation of several member cited: [Year] OJ Series Part/Page. For states including: French codes in the Dalloz series, the Belgian example: Code in Les Codes Larcier, and German legislation in Deutsche 2005 OJ L146/10. Prior Gesetze and Sartorius. to 1967, citations were only a year and page Where possible English translations of member states’ civil and number. criminal codes are also collected. These titles include, but are Standard citation not limited to: The Civil Code of the Netherlands, Italian Civil format for EU legislation is: (Domain) Code, Greek Civil Code and The German Criminal Code. Year/Number. For example: (EU) Many nations host legislation online, and there are a variety of 2015/19. internet portals that provide links to national legislation such as N Prior to 2015 -lex [eur-lex.europa.eu/n-lex/]. EUR-Lex increasingly provides Regulations were cited links to relevant national legislation that implements EU by number/year. For example: 876/2005. legislation. For additional member state resources see the Directives were National Information guide available in the European Links for referred to in the Lawyers section of the library website [www.middletemple.org.uk/ opposite way, by year/ number. For example: library-and-archive/library] or ask at the enquiry desk. 2005/48.
2 SEARCHING CURIA Information on cases can be found by searching or by browsing. There are two search forms, and several browsing options, including: Reports of Cases organised by date A numerical list of all cases, divided by Court A Digest of case law in French An alphabetical table of subject matter in French
Map of Europe ©European Union, 2014 Not every case on Curia comes from the validated ECR, so ensure you are viewing COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION a version as published in the ECR rather than The Court of Justice of the European Union interprets EU the OJ or a transcript by law at the request of member states, and hears cases looking for a link brought against member states for not applying EU law or indicating: published in the electronic Reports cases brought against the EU itself. The primary source of of Cases or for the authentic judgments from the court is the Reports of Cases Report icon. The Before the Court of Justice and the General Court legally valid Reports can also be found by (commonly referred to as European Court Reports (ECR)). browsing under: These reports were published in print through 2011, but Case Law are only available electronically after that date through Access to the online either the EUR-Lex or Curia databases. Reports of Cases Court Reports – There can be a considerable delay before publication of general the official EU reports, even in their electronic version. A Choose either: Court searchable database of unofficial versions of all cases of Justice or General Court. heard before the Court of Justice, General Court and Civil Select the folder Service Tribunal since 1954 is available online at the from the appropriate Court’s website [curia.europa.eu]. This database includes month & year information about ongoing and pending trials in EU courts.
3 USING HUDOC HUDOC provides access LAW REPORTS to the case law of the Specialist series of law covers judgments concerning Council of Europe’s reports, such as Common transnational litigation, European Court of Human Market Law Reports, are likely including the Brussels and Rights, European to be more up to date than the Lugano Judgments Commission of Human Rights, and Committee of ECR. They often cover cases Conventions. European Ministers. The database heard in both EU and national Commercial Cases, also links to the Court’s courts. meanwhile, covers national website, which hosts Some reports focus on court cases on copyright and electronic copies of the particular areas of European communications, product official Reports of liability, consumer credit, Judgments and Decisions law, such as International professional liability, etc. in PDF format, as well as Litigation Procedure, which useful guides on searching HUDOC effectively. MEMBER STATE LAW REPORTS When searching HUDOC, The library holds some law reports that focus on cases from remember that the particular EU member states. Cases from the highest French database registers domestic court, for example, are reported in the Bulletin des punctuation and will not Arrets de la Cour de Cassation. For UK and Irish decisions on bring back results if the cases involving EU law see either the European Law Reports punctuation in a case title has been inaccurately of Cases in the United Kingdom and Ireland or All England Law entered. Try searching for Reports: European Cases. Many countries host some freely only one party name in available case law online, and a list of useful websites can be ‘Case Title’ to produce found on the library’s website under European Links for more results. Also ensure Lawyers. you choose all the relevant document collections before EUROPEAN FREE TRADE ASSOCIATION searching, since the default often searches The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) was founded in only Judgments but not 1960 and currently includes four member states: Iceland, Decisions. Use the filters Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. Three of these states to narrow down lists of (excluding Switzerland) are members of the European results, or use the Economic Area along with the EU member states. The EFTA ‘Strasbourg case law’ Court hears cases from the three EFTA member states that are search box to search for part of the European Economic Area. cases citing a particular case.
4 COUNCIL OF EUROPE The Council of Europe was founded in 1949 and is based in Strasbourg, France. It currently has 47 member states, including the UK. Although all 28 member states of the EU are also members of the Council of Europe, these are two entirely separate organisations. All members of the Council of Europe have agreed to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law, by signing the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) oversees the implementation of the Convention.
©Council of Europe
The European Union has 28 member states, while the Council of Europe has 47.
EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS The ECtHR hears cases Convention of Human brought by individuals who Rights. have exhausted all The ECtHR website hosts possibility of appeal in their the particularly useful own member state. HUDOC database The library holds the official [hudoc.echr.coe.int] of printed version of the judgments, decisions, and Reports of Judgments and reports of cases heard Decisions of the ECtHR. before the Court. The Additional titles, such as official reports are European Human Rights notoriously slow in being Reports and Human Rights printed, so the HUDOC Law Reports: UK Cases, database offers also cover European conveniently current and human rights cases. Human comprehensive access to Rights decisions are the unofficial text of recent summarised in the cases. Yearbook of the European
5 TEXTBOOKS & ENCYCLOPEDIAS The library holds a wide Gray’s Inn Library selection of textbooks specialises in International relating to both the EU and law, and they hold many member states. Loose-leaf encyclopaedias that include works such as the Law of sections on the law of the European Union and various EU member states. the Encyclopedia of Please see their catalogue European Union Law: for specific titles and Constitutional Texts provide jurisdictions. up-to-date coverage of a range of European law. © European Union 2013
Many European resources are freely available online, and several databases subscribed to by the library provide additional materials.
SEARCHING EUR-LEX EUR-Lex integrates the JOURNALS & DIGESTS former Pre-lex and aims to integrate national law, Journal series are held in several languages, including although this is still under French and German. Examples of titles held in English construction. include: European Intellectual Property Review and
European Competition Law Review. Many European There is an advanced search option for specific journals are also available online through library types of documents: case subscription databases such as HeinOnline, Westlaw, and law, legislation, EFTA Lexis. documents, preparatory acts, etc . European Current Law is particularly useful, as it provides an overview of recent developments in EU case law, * is the truncation symbol. legislation, and member state law. Important
developments in other European countries are also Access the ‘More’ tab to view directories of law by addressed, and the volumes are easily searchable by subject, browse subject. documents by institution, or access the EuroVoc thesaurus to filter a search for relevant and/or preferred terms .
6 USING EUR-LEX Results are organised in order of relevance. There is an E-signature for the E-OJ. CheckLex verifies the authenticity of the electronic version of the OJ in case of any uncertainty.
Consolidations of legislation are for informational purposes only, and are not legally binding. Check the date under the ‘About this document’ tab to ensure the consolidation is current. Original versions of legislation Main Courtroom of the Court of Justice of the European Union provide links to the consolidated versions and any amending SUBSCRIPTION DATABASES documents. Each document can be Westlaw’s Case Law database covers cases from the Court displayed in up to 3 of Justice, General Court, Civil Service Tribunal, and EFTA languages by using the multilingual display Court. It can by browsed by court name or judgment date. option. EU legislation hosted on Westlaw includes a variety of primary materials, international agreements, secondary Each piece of legislation legislation, and supplementary legislation from 1952 onward. includes: Information about the LexisLibrary covers cases from the Court of Justice from document 1954 onward, from the General Court from 1989 onward, (keywords, dates, and from the ECHR from 1960 onward. etc.) Full text of document Other subscription databases provide additional search A summary of the specialisms. Lawtel provides a dedicated Human Rights legislation (selected search with updates, case law and news. JustCite indexes availability) cases from the Court of Justice. HeinOnline provides full text Procedure information with links access to many European journals. to the Legislative Observatory Linked documents, including amending documents & national measures (under construction)
7 MY EUR-LEX ONLINE RESOURCES Signing up for a free My EUR-Lex account allows Archive of European Integration (AEI) - Access to EC & EU you to: official documents relating to integration & unification. Managed by the University of Pittsburgh. aei.pitt.edu Use expert search CURIA - Court of Justice’s searchable database of all cases Change the tab that reported in the ECR from 1954 on, including all current cases. opens by default Links to the electronic ECR. curia.europa.eu Save a document to a EFTA Court - Searchable database of cases. www.eftacourt.int/ folder in My EUR-Lex home/ Save an RSS feed for EUR-Lex - Incorporates former CELEX & PreLex. Searchable a particular search in database of the electronic OJ & ECR. Documents include: My EUR-Lex, in order treaties, legislation, preparatory acts, case law & international to be automatically agreements. eur-lex.europa.eu alerted each time EUROPA - Portal to all EU departments. Information on many there is a new result topics including: integration, EU institutions, policies, official to that search publications & contacts. europa.eu Create multiple My IALS Library Research Guides - Introductory guides to legal EUR-Lex accounts if sources for many international jurisdictions, including the EU & necessary some member states. ials.sas.ac.uk/library/guides/research_ guides.htm LAW.gov: Library of Congress - Links to online sources of constitutions, court information & other legal materials from nations around the world. www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/ nations.php N-Lex - Portal providing access to legislation, official journals & The Honourable Society of national databases of EU member states. eur-lex.europa.eu/n- the Middle Temple The Library lex/ Ashley Building Oxford LibGuides: EU Law - Background on the EU, links & Middle Temple Lane information for finding legislation, case law & commentary. London libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/law-eu EC4Y 9BT Oxford LibGuides: Jurisdictions - Background information on Phone: 020 7427 4830 legal systems of many EU member states. Links & information Fax: 020 7427 4831 about sources of national legislation, case law & commentary. Email: www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/law/guides [email protected] Web: WorldLII (World Legal Information Institute) - Decisions from the www.middletemple.org.uk/ EU Commission, Court of Justice & ECHR. Searchable library-and-archive/library databases of legislation & cases from member states. www.worldlii.org