Reviewed by Mary L. Volcansek, Department of Political Science, Florida International University. This book should, in fact, be read by anyone who is interested in understanding the political potential of judiciaries in any polity. Renaud Dehousse has crafted a short and elegant volume on the Court that bridges the gap between law and politics. Most books on the ECJ are either case books or descriptions addressed to the legal community, and much of the current literature on the ECJ outside of legal circles is couched in international relations theory. The ECJ has, according to Dehousse, independently shaped the institutions of the European Union and the evolution of the larger European experiment, but it has been molded, at the same time, by the political environment in which it operates.
Environmental factors are primary.
Dehousse is able to speak about the Court with the authority of a lawyer, but also with a steady confidence about the growing literature on the ECJ outside the legal community. That combination enriches his writing and enables him to merge two often divergent approaches to explore his thesis. The ease with which he moves between schools of thought and disciplines makes the book uncommonly approachable and complex arguments seemingly obvious. The author is not struggling with his logic, nor must the reader. The first two chapters explain the powers, functions and organization of the ECJ and review the major jurisprudential landmarks of the Court.