An inquiry into impact of rulings of the CJEU
The talk will problematize, from perspective of EU law, the difference between the immediate impact of “living” judgments of the Court of Justice, that is, judgments which make part of the living judicial dialogue between EU and national judges, and impact of “well settled case law”. While the former arguably affects judicial decision making in the Member States the latter has a potential of long term influence on national legal culture. In the second part I will address criticism addressed to the Court as to coherence of its case law, alleged inability to control its own docket, lack of dissenting opinions, cryptic language of its judgments and legitimacy of its rulings. I will argue, that critique of adjudication sometimes fails to identify functional comparators on which the very critique is based and claim that the Court of Justice delivers similar goods as other model courts, just in a different guise. I will also suggest that immediate impact of judicial decisions dramatically differs from their transcendental impact, partly due to the change of context and utterer and partly due to the change of audience targeted by a decision. In the third part I will explain the difference between original and transcendental subjectivity and argue that law/policy conundrum, i.e. the tension between fidelity to law and undeniable contribution to policy of European integration can be explained by two shifts in analysis of its case law. First, the temporal shift from creative to interpretative moment and, second, the shift of the interpretative subject from the Court itself to external users of its case law.
Prof. Siniša Rodin earned his Ph.D. degree from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Law, Croatia in 1995, and his LL.M. degree from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1992. He specialized European Law at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and German Constitutional Law at the Max-Planck Institut für ausländisches öeffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht in Heidelberg, Germany. He is recepient of the University of Michigan Law School Merit Award, and the University of Zagreb Rector’s Award. In 2001/2002 he was Fulbright fellow and Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School. Prof. Rodin is member of the International Association of Constitutional Law and of the European Communities Studies Association. He is author of 2 books and more then 50 research papers. Together with prof. Tamara Ćapeta he co-authored the first textbook on EU law in Croatian language. Prof. Rodin’s scientific interest includes issues of constitutional interpretation, fundamental rights and constitutional aspects of European integration. His research also focuses free movement of services. He is member of editorial board of Croatian Yearbook of European Law & Policy and Zeitschrift für Öffentliches Recht. He is member of UACES and FIDE.
Prof. Rodin holds ad personam Jean Monnet Chair at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law, Zagreb, Croatia. His teaching includes a general course on EU law and an advanced course on Human Rights in the EU. He is one of the supervisors of students participating at the European Law Moot Court Competition and Central and East European Moot Court. In 2012 prof. Rodin also teaches at CEU San Pablo Madrid and as a Marc and Beth Goldberg Distinguished Visiting Professor at Cornell University Law School.
Prof. Rodin contributes to the Enzyklopädie des Europarechts (Nomos 2013) and currently works on the project “Judicial Application of International Law in Southeast Europe”, to be published by Springer Verlag in 2013.
Since July 1, 2013 Siniša Rodin serves as a Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Please find the text of Judge Rodin’s presentation here: Dumb and no More Here.