WHERE CONSISTENT INTERPRETATION AND THEORIES COME TOGETHER IN EUROPEAN UNION LAW

An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator


Professor Sim Haket offers us a most helpful title for those researching European Union law in detail for the German, Dutch and Irish courts. The title considers the case law of the European Court of Justice which makes up the framework for the requirement to interpret national law so far as possible in conformity with EU law directives. The beauty of this book lies in the continuing mission by European jurists to seek further harmonization on interpretation issues.


What Haket gives us here is an in-depth analysis of the application of this obligation in three EU Member States: Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands. The key question underlying this examination for the researcher is to what extent the established theories of supremacy of EU law, national constitutionalism, and constitutional pluralism “adequately explain the relationship between EU and national law under the duty of consistent interpretation”.

For readers to understand the duty of consistent interpretation and its interaction and/or possible interference with national interpretative rules, the author includes a useful outline of the approach to interpretation in a non-EU law context for the three EU Member States which Haket has selected for his task.

Of course, both the duty of consistent interpretation and national interpretative rules are aptly described as complex ‘creatures’ by the author. He rightly recognises that it can be particularly difficult to disentangle how they interact. Haket develops “a typology for understanding the different kinds of interaction”, primarily, but not exclusively, by questioning under which circumstances it can be said that there exists a ‘conflict of interpretative rules’.

Professor Haket also puts forward valuable lessons with the discussion of numerous judgments, “highlighting the mutual responsiveness of the duty of consistent interpretation and national interpretative rules, as well as the reconciliatory attitude of national courts”.

As Haket comments, “since the fit between consistent interpretation and theories on the relationship between EU and national law is examined”, his book also investigates the explanatory value of those theories beyond the context in which they were primarily developed and/or discussed, thereby contributing to an enriched understanding of those theories.

We feel that this title will also of additional value for researchers and practitioners because it discusses in some detail how the duty of consistent interpretation should be applied before the courts. It is a welcome addition to the office EU law library.

The date of publication of this paperback edition is cited as at 30th October 2019.