In this lecture, the fundamental constitutional principles of EU law are discussed. The lecture begins with considering the leading cases on the doctrine of supremacy (or primacy) of EU law and what this means for the legal systems of the Member States. The lecture continues with a review of the development of the doctrine of direct effect, focusing on the difficult subject of the direct effect of directives. The lecture reviews the implications of vertical and horizontal direct effect of directives for national law and considers the interpretive obligation which EU places on national courts to interpret national law to be compatible with EU law.

Lecturer: Denis Law
Duration: 59 minutes