TY - JOUR
T1 - National courts and the European Court of Justice
T2 - A public choice analysis of the preliminary reference procedure
AU - Tridimas, George
AU - Tridimas, Takis
N1 - Funding Information:
We wish to thank Bruce Chapman, Jürgen Backhaus, Stefan Voigt and participants in the 2002 European Public Choice Meeting and the 2002 European Association of Law and Economics Association for various valuable comments. Our thanks are also due to two anonymous referees for various insightful suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies. George Tridimas gratefully acknowledges financial support from the University of Ulster in completing this study.
PY - 2004/6
Y1 - 2004/6
N2 - The paper analyses the growth of references for preliminary rulings of the European Court of Justice as the equilibrium outcome of the optimising behaviour of litigants, who demand preliminary rulings, national courts, which are the gatekeepers of the process, and the European Court of Justice, which supplies the rulings. The observed pattern is attributed to economic and political factors, including intra-EC trade, the absence of a service charge in using the preliminary references system, the terms by which private litigants access the national courts, and the empowerment of national judges against their own national authorities brought about by the mechanism.
AB - The paper analyses the growth of references for preliminary rulings of the European Court of Justice as the equilibrium outcome of the optimising behaviour of litigants, who demand preliminary rulings, national courts, which are the gatekeepers of the process, and the European Court of Justice, which supplies the rulings. The observed pattern is attributed to economic and political factors, including intra-EC trade, the absence of a service charge in using the preliminary references system, the terms by which private litigants access the national courts, and the empowerment of national judges against their own national authorities brought about by the mechanism.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.irle.2004.08.003
DO - 10.1016/j.irle.2004.08.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:3142712809
SN - 0144-8188
VL - 24
SP - 125
EP - 145
JO - International Review of Law and Economics
JF - International Review of Law and Economics
IS - 2
ER -