International Law and the European Court of Justice: The Politics of Avoiding History

Using the example of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), this article addresses the lack of historical contextualization which is prevalent in most general accounts of EU law and EU institutions. It argues that this narrative is the result of a tradition established by the founders of the discipline. For these early 'Euro-lawyers', distinguishing the practice of European institutions from earlier international institutions had important political implications. This was especially true with regard to the ECJ. By providing a selective and partly decontextualized narrative of this court and describing it as largely unprecedented in international law, early Euro-lawyers were not only able to bolster the 'supranational' and 'sui generis' character of their nascent discipline. They were also able to avoid comparisons between the ECJ and prior international courts and tribunals whose similarly wide-ranging powers and integrated nature had been considered as politically problematic.