The European Court of Justice and the Comparative Law Method

Abstract: The European Court of Justice (the ‘ECJ’) must ensure the uniform interpretation of the laws of the EU, whilst deferring to the common constitutional traditions of the Member States and, where necessary, allowing room for value diversity. To that end, the authors of the Treaties vested the ECJ with the constitutional authority to engage in a comparative study of the laws of the Member States. The purpose of this article is thus to explore the comparative law method by examining, first, that constitutional authority, second, the ‘EU federal common law’, third, the relationship between that method and the extent of normative convergence between the legal orders of the Member States and, fourth, the so-called ‘evaluative approach’ adopted by the ECJ. It is submitted that the comparative law method is a valuable interpretative tool that enables the ECJ to strike a dynamic balance between ‘unity’ and ‘diversity’. Resume: La Cour de justice (‘CJ’) doit assurer l’interpretation uniforme du droit de l’Union europeenne, tout en respectant les traditions constitutionnelles communes aux Etats membres et, si necessaire, en faisant place a la diversite. Dans ce but, les auteurs des traites ont confere a la CJ l’autorite constitutionnelle de proceder a une etude comparative des droits des Etats membres. L’objectif de cet article est, des lors, d’examiner la methode comparative en etudiant, premierement, cette autorite constitutionnelle, deuxiemement, la 'EU federal common law', troisiemement, le rapport entre cette methode et le degre de convergence normative entre les ordres juridiques des Etats membres et, quatriemement, l’approche dite evaluative’, adoptee par la CJ. Il en est conclu que la methode comparative est un outil precieux d’interpretation qui permet a la CJ de trouver un equilibre dynamique entre ‘unite’ et ‘diversite’.