Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Organised by the UCL European Institute and the UCL Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism.
This event features a panel discussion celebrating the launch of The History of European Union Law: Constitutional Practice, 1950 to 1993, edited by Bill Davies (American University, Washington DC) and Morten Rasmussen (University of Copenhagen), for Cambridge University Press.
The Panel
- Morten Rasmussen, Associate Professor and Principal Investigator, Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen
- Megan Donaldson, Associate Professor, UCL Laws
- Erin Delaney, Leverhulme Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law, GCDC Director
- Piet Eeckhout, Professor of EU Law, UCL Laws
- Nicola Countouris, Professor of Labour Law and European Law, UCL Laws
About the Book
The History of European Union Law: Constitutional Practice, 1950 to 1993 (Cambridge University Press). Edited by Bill Davies, American University, Washington DC, Morten Rasmussen, University of Copenhagen
This formative period of EU law witnessed an intense struggle over the emergence of a constitutional practice. While the supranational institutions (including the European Commission, the European Court of Justice and the European Parliament) as well as EU law academics helped to develop and promote the constitutional practice, member state governments and judiciaries were generally reluctant to embrace it. The struggle resulted in an uneasy stalemate in which the constitutional practice was allowed to influence the doctrines, shape and functioning of the European legal order that now underpins the EU, but a majority of member state governments rejected European constitutionalism as the legitimating principle of the new EU formed the basis of the Treaty of Maastricht (1992). The struggle and eventual stalemate over the constitutional practice traced in this book accounts for the fragile and partial system of rule of law that exists in the EU today.
Organised by the UCL European Institute and the UCL Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism.
This event features a panel discussion celebrating the launch of The History of European Union Law: Constitutional Practice, 1950 to 1993, edited by Bill Davies (American University, Washington DC) and Morten Rasmussen (University of Copenhagen), for Cambridge University Press.
The Panel
- Morten Rasmussen, Associate Professor and Principal Investigator, Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen
- Megan Donaldson, Associate Professor, UCL Laws
- Erin Delaney, Leverhulme Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law, GCDC Director
- Piet Eeckhout, Professor of EU Law, UCL Laws
- Nicola Countouris, Professor of Labour Law and European Law, UCL Laws
About the Book
The History of European Union Law: Constitutional Practice, 1950 to 1993 (Cambridge University Press). Edited by Bill Davies, American University, Washington DC, Morten Rasmussen, University of Copenhagen
This formative period of EU law witnessed an intense struggle over the emergence of a constitutional practice. While the supranational institutions (including the European Commission, the European Court of Justice and the European Parliament) as well as EU law academics helped to develop and promote the constitutional practice, member state governments and judiciaries were generally reluctant to embrace it. The struggle resulted in an uneasy stalemate in which the constitutional practice was allowed to influence the doctrines, shape and functioning of the European legal order that now underpins the EU, but a majority of member state governments rejected European constitutionalism as the legitimating principle of the new EU formed the basis of the Treaty of Maastricht (1992). The struggle and eventual stalemate over the constitutional practice traced in this book accounts for the fragile and partial system of rule of law that exists in the EU today.
