Private Party Liability in EU Law: In Search of the General Regime
CAMBRIDGE YEARBOOK OF EUROPEAN LEGAL STUDIES, Vol. 12, pp. 257-282, 2009-2010
27 Pages Posted: 16 Jan 2011 Last revised: 5 Aug 2015
Date Written: December 30, 2010
Abstract
The chapter argues that EU law does not have a general regime of private party liability and that the case law of the Court of Justice could not be construed so as to argue that it did, or that its emergence is a natural consequence of the Court's judgments in Courage and Manfredi. The chapter then examines under what conditions it would be justified to claim that there was a general principle of private party liability in EU law. It explains the connection between a private party liability rule and such concepts of EU law as direct effect, horizontal applicability of EU norms and the principle of effective judicial protection. The chapter also points out that the competence of the Court of Justice to introduce a general regime of private party liability in damages is not without controversy and that the judicial creation of the principle will be legitimate only if adequate normative justification is provided for the presence of a general regime of private party liability in EU law.
Keywords: EU law, Tort liability, Private parties, Direct effect, Horizontal effect, Effective Judicial Protection
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