See also the following online research guides
The Law Library of Congress
A useful research tool providing information on justice systems - it is designed for the layperson, as well as lawyers, litigants and researchers. It links to EU, member state and international case law and EU, member state national and international legislation.
Introduction to the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational economic and political union of 27 Member States. The principal offices of the EU are located in Brussels, Belgium.
Europa contains many databases on various topics - see Europa’s list of databases.
Although EU law may be regarded as a specific form of international law, the main body of EU law has some particular features which usually do not appear in international law. In particular, citizens can invoke rights guaranteed by EU law before courts in the EU Member States, whereas international law usually needs to be transposed into national law before citizens can plead it. Also, EU law often prevails over the law of the EU Member States. For more information view the link below.
The EU is based on the rule of law: everything it does is founded on treaties, voluntarily and democratically agreed by its member countries.The EU is also governed by the principle of representative democracy, with citizens directly represented at Union level in the European Parliament and Member States represented in the European Council and the Council of the EU.
The principle institutions of the EU are:
Executive Branch |
Legislative Branch | Judicial Branch |
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