| The Evolution of EU Law: Preface |
| The objective of this book is to consider the emergence and development of EU law across time, and to do so from an interdisciplinary perspective. The way in which EU law has both shaped and been shaped by broader social, economic and political forces is therefore a central feature of the essays which appear in this volume. |
| There is, to date, no work which has attempted to do this across all the major areas of both institutional and substantive law. While much has been written about the constitutional development of the EC and EU on the one hand, and much has been written on specific areas of substantive European policy on the other, this book is distinctive in seeking to integrate both the structural-constitutional and the material-substantive dimension of the evolution of European Union law over the years. It covers, moreover, not only those areas of substantive law which normally feature in undergraduate courses, but also other important subjects such as EMU, Education, Consumer Policy, Regional Policy and the Environment, whose legal dimension is too often marginalized within the curriculum. Given the volume of primary and secondary material emerging, and the ever-growing complexity of EU law and policy, it is all the more vital to stand back and take stock of how and why the subject has evolved. |
| The book is not a text on EU law, nor do the chapters purport to treat all facets of each subject comprehensively. The contributors have provided their own view of the main themes or stages in the development of their chosen topic from the inception of the Community, and although this is primarily a book about the evolution of law, the contributions are enriched throughout by insights and perspectives from other disciplines. It is, therefore, hoped that the book will serve as an essential and valuable source on which students, academics and others interested in the EU can draw in order to provide a detailed and broad ranging overview of any particular topic. |
| We would like to thank the individual authors for producing excellent chapters in accordance with the overall brief of the book. We are grateful also to Professor Basil Markesinis and to the Centre for European and Comparative Law at Oxford, for providing financial support towards a workshop which was held in Somerville College in April 1997, at which contributors presented and discussed early versions of the chapters which appear in this book. We would also like to thank those at Oxford University Press who have played such a significant part in the overall production of the book: Michaela Coulthard, Kate Elliott and Myfanwy Milton. |
 | OCTOBER 1998
PAUL CRAIG
GRINNE DE BRCA |
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