Abstract
Each State has its own body of interlocking and complementary legal rules which taken together govern the legal relationships within the country. Within Community law these bodies of legal rules are normally called ‘legal orders’.1 Apart from these national legal orders international organizations have legal orders of their own.2 In comparison with these the legal order of the European Communities is of particular significance not only because of the large number of rules it contains, and the preponderance and the frequent direct effect of these rules for a large group of people, but also due to its homogeneity.3 Most international organizations embody their binding legal rules in treaties or conventions. These obtain force of law only after ratification by the States concerned. As in practice not all States ratify every convention, the binding force of conventions differs as regards territorial application. This precludes one convention being used for completing another. Because of the fact that not all legal rules bind the same States, they cannot form one legal order; each convention constitutes a legal order of its own. In the European Communities the three Treaties and all the rules of secondary Community law taken together form one legal order, equally binding within all Member States. The inherent unity of this legal order is of the greatest importance for its further development.4
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Notes
This may not be a well known English expression, but it seems appropriate, see Lord MacKenzie Stuart. The European Communities and the Rule of Law, Hamlyn Lectures Stevens 1977, pp. 2–4.
Henry G. Schermers, International Institutional Law, Vol. 2, Sijthoff 1972. Chapter Eight (pp. 458–536).
See also Helmut Strebel, Quellen des Völkerrechts als Rechtsordnung, 36 Zaörv (1976), pp. 301–346.
Walter Ganshof van der Meersch, L’ordre juridique des Communautés européennes et le droit international, 148 RdC (1975V), pp. 1–433.
On the Community legal order see Riccardo Monaco, The Limits of the European Community Order, 1 ELRev. (1976), pp. 269–281.
On the question whether there are three Community legal orders or one, see Albert Bleckmann, Die Einheit der Europäischen Gemeinschaftsrechtsordnung — Einheit oder Mehrheit der Europäischen Gemeinschaften, 13 EuR (1978), pp. 95–104.
For more examples see Henry G. Schermers, The European Court of Justice: Promoter of European integration, 22 AJCL (1974) pp. 459–464.
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See also Trevor Hartley, Religious freedom and equality of opportunity, 2 ELRev (1977), pp. 45–47.
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See below § 596: See also Peter Hay, Res Judicata and Precedent in the Court of Justice of the Common Market, 12 AJCL (1963), pp. 404–408.
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See Hans G. Rupp, Judicial Review of International Agreements: Federal Republic of Germany, 25 AJCL (1977), pp. 286–302.
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See W. van Gerven, Contribution de l’arrêt Defrenne au dévelopment du droit communautaire, 13 CDE (1977), pp. 138–143.
A.J. Easson, Can directives impose obligations on individuals? 4 ELRev. (1979) pp. 67–79.
See Henry G. Schermers, Indirecte obligations, Four questions in respect of EEC obligations arising from rights or obligations of others, 24 NTIR (1977), pp. 260–273.
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Schermers, H.G. (1979). The Community legal order. In: Judicial Protection in the European Communities. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6098-6_2
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