PrF:MVV356K Procedural Law of the EU - Course Information

MVV356K Procedural Law of the European Union

Extent and Intensity

0/2/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Taught in person.

Teacher(s)

Mgr. Natálie Dřínovská (seminar tutor)
JUDr. Zuzana Vikarská, MJur, MPhil, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Filip Vlček, MJur (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Bc. Michal Kovalčík (assistant)

Guaranteed by

JUDr. Zuzana Vikarská, MJur, MPhil, Ph.D.
Department of Constitutional Law and Political Science – Faculty of Law
Contact Person: Andrea Kalivodová, DiS.
Supplier department: Department of Constitutional Law and Political Science – Faculty of Law

Prerequisites

SOUHLAS
The prerequisite for enrolment in this course is an excellent knowledge of English (at least B2) and a strong interest in procedural issues in the proceedings before the Court of Justice of the EU and related proceedings before national courts.

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 12 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/12, only registered: 0/12

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

there are 80 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display

Course objectives

The main aim of the course is to familiarise students with the proceedings before the Court of Justice of the EU and with national court proceedings that have a European dimension. The course will offer a space for students with an interest in constitutional and European law to look in more detail at the different forms of proceedings before the CJEU. The primary focus of the course is the preliminary ruling procedure, which is spread between the national courts (which are the subject of the study of constitutional law) and the CJEU (which is primarily studied in European law). A strong emphasis will be placed on self-study and analysis of case law; the teaching in this course is 'blended', combining this self-study with face-to-face meetings designed to discuss, analyse and generalise the knowledge gained from the study of case law. The course is also open to Erasmus students and PhD students.

Learning outcomes

ability to read the case law of the CJEU (ECJ and General Court) as well as the case law of national courts with a European component; ability to navigate European and national case law, ability to trace and understand relevant decisions (including the ability to annotate and summarise them); ability to argue in different types of proceedings and to draft the parties' submissions to the CJEU; ability to draft a preliminary reference to the ECJ in the role of a national judge; ability to draft an Advocate General's Opinion or a draft ECJ judgment.

Syllabus

• Teaching in the course will be "blended", i.e. odd hours will take the form of a face-to-face meeting, while even hours involve self-study, including written outputs, which are (including feedback on them) the focus of the whole course. 1. Judiciary of the EU = Court of Justice + General Court + national courts. The importance of understanding the multi-level system of judicial protection in the EU. 2. How to read EU case law? Assigned reading of two cases of the Court of Justice, one case of the General Court and one case of a national court dealing with an issue of EU law. Assignment: prepare case briefs for all cases read and find your own method of annotating case-law. 3. References for a preliminary ruling: a dialogue of courts or a monologue of the Court of Justice? 4. Identify three “stories” of preliminary ruling procedure in any given field. In each story, read: (A) national court’s reference to the ECJ, (B) the ECJ’s ruling, (C) national court’s follow-up decision. Think about the procedure as a whole and make observations. Assignment: a short position paper summarising your observations after having read 3x3 judicial decisions. 5. References for a preliminary ruling: stakeholders, strategies, methods, and the ECJ’s monopoly on the interpretation of EU law. 6. Pick an area of EU law (citizenship, free movement, competition, consumer, criminal, environment, employment, non-discrimination, anything). Identify 3 most important cases of the past decade, read them and annotate them (incl. case briefs). Then, try to find out whether national courts apply these cases in their decision-making. Assignment: prepare a written submission to a national court of your choice, using EU law (and CJEU case-law) in your argumentation. Persuade the national court that EU law is highly relevant in the case at hand and that it should either be applied directly, or a preliminary reference should be made to the ECJ. 7. Who can help me with this? National courts and two different (yet, similar) mechanisms: preliminary references to the ECJ vs. constitutionality review to the national constitutional court. 8. Read a couple of cases in a chosen area where constitutional law meets EU law (asylum, non-discrimination, labour…). This time you are a national court, facing parallel issues of constitutionality and EU conformity. Assignment: draft a reference, either to your constitutional court, or to the ECJ, explain the conformity issue and ask for help. 9. Direct actions to the CJEU: action for annulment, action for failure to act, infringement action, 10. Pick one of the other types of proceedings and study the relevant academic literature. Depending on your own preference, draft either a submission of a non-privileged party to the General Court (AA, AFA), a submission of the Commission or another MS to the Court of justice (IA), or draft an AG opinion or a judgment in any case that is currently pending before the CJEU. 11. The constitutional dimension of EU judicial proceedings. The EU and the MS constitutional courts. The EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Cooperation, rivalry, accession. 12. On the basis of detailed feedback on you previous assignment, please incorporate all the comments and re-draft your submission as a final submission for this course. 13. Feedback session on the final written assignment, revision, wrap-up, Q&A.

Literature

required literature
• BARENTS, R. Remedies and procedures before the EU courts. Second edition. Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International, 2020, xxix, 972. ISBN 9789403511405. info
• CRAIG, Paul P. and G. DE BÚRCA. EU law : text, cases, and materials. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, clxxi, 115. ISBN 0198765096. info

recommended literature
• Oxford principles of European Union law. Edited by Robert Schütze - Takis Tridimas. First edition published. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018, cxvii, 132. ISBN 9780199533770. info
• LASOK, K. P. E. Lasok's European Court practice and procedure. Third edition. Haywards Heath: Bloomsbury Professional, 2017, cvii, 1780. ISBN 9781845920661. info
• WEATHERILL, Stephen. Law and values in the European Union. First edition published. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016, xxxvi, 432. ISBN 9780199557271. info
• LENAERTS, Koenraad, Ignace MASELIS and Kathleen GUTMAN. EU procedural law. Edited by Janek Tomasz Nowak. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford university press, 2014, clix, 890. ISBN 9780198707349. info

Teaching methods

minimum of direct instruction, self-study of relevant academic literature, self-study of European and national case law, interactive and skills-based seminar sessions, a series of six written assignments on which feedback will be given. The course is highly skill-based and requires ongoing work on the part of the students.

Assessment methods

60 % continuous written assignments, 40 % involvement in interactive seminar teaching

Language of instruction

English

Further comments (probably available only in Czech)

The course is taught annually.

Teacher's information

This course also includes a study visit to the Court of Justice of the EU in Luxembourg, always depending on the funds allocated by the faculty to this course.

• Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  
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