European law, laws and legal traditions that are either shared by or characteristic of the countries of Europe. Broadly speaking, European law can refer to the historical, institutional, and intellectual elements that European legal systems tend to have in common; in this sense it is more or less equivalent to Western law. More commonly and more specifically, however, European law refers to the supranational law, especially of the European Union, that unites most of the national legal systems within Europe.
The diverse countries of Europe represent several different legal traditions, including civil law (also known as Romano-Germanic law) and common law, as well as less-influential systems such as Scandinavian law. All of them, however, are based upon the common foundations of ancient Roman law, Christian theology and canon law, feudal law, and medieval Germanic law. The European law that arose from these traditions was characterized by its treatment of legal institutions and processes as relatively autonomous with respect to the surrounding social, religious, and moral norms and procedures. In other words, a rule of law did not arise merely by virtue of the existence of a moral norm, religious precept, or social custom but was instead governed by a distinct set of institutions and processes. This analytical separation of law from other spheres of life was maintained by a specialized profession of jurists and lawyers who were trained in a distinct body of learning—either a law code or a set of rules and doctrines contained in judicial decisions—which was understood to be internally consistent and historically continuous. Perhaps the most important characteristic of European law is its consideration of the individual human person as the bearer of legal rights and duties.
Europe’s shared legal heritage was nonetheless obscured by the separate development of Continental and English legal traditions (beginning in the 11th century), the rise of sovereign nation-states that claimed exclusive legal jurisdiction within their territory (largely during the 17th century), and legal nationalism (in the 19th century). In the late 20th century, however, economic integration advanced by the European Community led to renewed interest in European law. This occurred alongside the weakening of some of the distinctive traits of the civil-law and common-law traditions in modern bureaucratic states. For example, the pervasive growth of modern regulatory economic legislation and the administrative agencies and tribunals that oversee it diminished both the central reliance on comprehensive codes in civil-law systems and the organic development of case law in common-law systems.
The European Union and the Council of Europe
The European Union (EU) is the most significant source of supranational European law. Since 1957, when the European Economic Community (EEC) was created with the limited purpose of establishing a common economic market in western Europe, the law of the EEC and its successor organizations has gradually expanded the scope of its authority over many aspects of European economic and political life. At the same time, it acquired many characteristics of a constitutional system rather than an international organization. For example, EU law is supreme over the national laws of EU member countries, meaning that it has a direct effect upon national legal systems; furthermore, EU law is interpreted and enforced through the cooperation of EU courts (such as the European Court of Justice) and the courts of EU member countries. Because of the breadth of subject matter within its competence and its capacity to reach deeply into national legal systems, the EU has successfully created an expansive legal system in which all of its member states participate. For example, there are substantial bodies of European law in areas such as contracts, business law, labour law, immigration law, and consumer law.
Another important source of supranational European law is the Council of Europe, which requires its members (nearly all European countries) to become parties to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The convention requires state parties to respect certain basic human rights and to adhere to the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. Consequently, the convention and the court have brought uniformity to significant portions of public law in Europe. The Council of Europe also sponsors a number of influential initiatives designed to encourage and strengthen democratic governance and the rule of law throughout its member states. (See also human rights: European human rights system.)
Because supranational European law draws extensively upon a broad range of European legal traditions, it has had a unifying effect on law throughout the region. Its influence has been further strengthened by the integration of the legal professions and legal services across European countries, including mergers between law firms, and by the internationalization of higher education in Europe, including the study and teaching of law. As economic and political integration continues, and as transnational commerce contributes to greater uniformity in contract, labour, and business law, it is likely that European law will increasingly become the universal law of Europe.