The European Court of Justice ensures that European law is applied throughout the member states. The courts job is to supervise the uniform application of EU law throughout the member states.

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The European Court of Justice ensures that European law is applied throughout the member states. The court’s job is to supervise the uniform application of EU law throughout the member states. By doing this, it can create case law. The court is located in Luxembourg and it has 27 judges appointed for a period of six years. The judges are assisted by eight Advocates Generals who produce opinions on the cases assigned to them which do not have to be followed but are nevertheless usually followed by the court. The judges and Advocates are chosen from those who are suitable for the highest judicial posts in their own countries.

The court hears cases referred to it by the European Commission on whether member states have failed to carry out EU law. It has the power to fine any state which is in breach of the law. The ECJ also decides points of law referred to it by courts of member states for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 of Treaty of Rome. Most cases are heard in a plenary session which is when all the judges are sitting together. Only one decision will be given, showing no indication of the extent of the agreement between the judges, and these often consist of fairly brief propositions, from which it can be difficult to discern any ration decindi. If lawyers are seeking precedents, they often turn to the Advocates Generals and use their opinions. The majority of cases heard by the ECJ are brought by member states and institutions of the European Union, or are referred to it by national courts. It has limited power to handle cases brought individual citizens and such cases are rarely heard.

The Court has two separate roles. The first one is the judicial role. This is when the European of Justice hears cases between parties, which fall into two categories; proceedings against member states and proceedings against European institutions.

Proceedings against member states may be brought by the Commission or by other member states and involve alleged breaches of European law by the member state in question. For example, in Re Tachographs: EC Commission v UK (1970), the ECJ upheld a complaint to against the UK government for failing to implement a European regulation making it compulsory for lorries used to carry dangerous goods to be fitted with tachographs i.e. a device used to measure speed and distance travelled, it is used to prevent lorry drivers from speeding or driving for longer than the permitted number of hours. The Commission usually gives the member state the opportunity to pit things right before bringing the case to the ECJ.

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The second role which is the supervisory derives from Article 267 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union; Article 267 provides that any court or tribunal in a member state may refer a question on EU law to the ECJ, a decision on that question is necessary to enable it to give judgement. The aim of this referral system is to ensure that ht law is interpreted in the same way throughout the European Union. A reference must be made if the national courts are one from which there is no further appeal. In the United Kingdom, ...

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