Europeanisation of National Law: A Legal-theoretical Analysis

The Europeanisation of law, by reference to the national law of the Member States of the EU, has many different meanings, and has been used in many different contexts. This article argues that Europeanisation of national law can be fruitfully analysed from a legal-theoretical point of view where the concept of "law" is understood as denoting different phenomena. Law can be conceived as a momentary system of legal norms; as a historic legal tradition encompassing legal principles, concepts and values; as a system of societal action where "valid law" acts as a point of reference; and as a hermeneutically conditioned system of communication. The Europeanisation of law takes different forms if we apply the conceptual division between these notions.