Europäische Verfassung und europäische Methodenlehre

Ever since the publication of Haltje Rasmussen's critical study of the adjudication of the European Court of Justice, the search for a European methodology (Methodenlehre) that should guide the jurisprudence of the Court relating to the interpretation of primary Union law has been broadly discussed in the academic sphere. Whereas interpretative methods which are common in public international law have been applied in the intergovernmental sphere of the Union Treaties, the Court has used a mixed methodology for the supranational sphere: Traditional methodology familiar to some of the legal systems of the Member States goes hand-in-hand with topoi, which guide the interpretative process and which may be circumscribed as »Union-specific« (the Union as a »community of law« - Rechtsgemeinschaft\ dynamic interpretation\ effet utile\