European Law Section

Unwritten Law of the European Union

Values, principles, general legal principles, concepts often discussed with the development of European integration ... The written law of the European Union leaves a wide scope for interpretation by the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as for filling in the gaps by finding unwritten norms in values, principles, or general principles. The unwritten law of the European Union is thus a substantial body of legal norms found and interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Union. Hence, the CJEU not only interprets norms, but also finds existing ones in unwritten law, and in that way the interpretation of a norm can become a source for the creation of an independent norm. Furthermore, given the autonomy of the European Union legal order, it may be the case that a written norm of another legal order becomes an unwritten norm of the European Union legal order. The topic of the panel will deal with various aspects of the "discovery" of the unwritten law of the European Union, its limits, dynamics, as well as its impact on the legal orders of the Member States, both at the level of values, principles, other sources of law, at the general level, and in particular areas of the system of the law of the European Union.

Guarantor of the section:

prof. JUDr. Ing. Ondrej Blažo, PhD.

doc. JUDr. Hana Kováčiková, PhD.