Publications
Publication details
Sweeney, James A. (2007). 'A 'Margin of Appreciation' in the internal market: lessons from the European Court of Human Rights'. Legal Issues of Economic Integration 34(1): 27-52.- Publication type: Journal papers: academic
- ISSN/ISBN: 1566-6573, 0377-0915
- Keywords: Margin of appreciation; cultural relativism; free movement; EC law.
- View online: Online version
- Durham research online: DRO record
Author(s) from Durham
Abstract
This article charts the interplay between universality and particularism in the
approach of the European Court of Justice to national restrictions upon the
four freedoms. Comparisons are made with the jurisprudence of the European
Court of Human Rights. It is shown that both courts allow a national ‘margin
of appreciation’ within which overlapping European and local public interests
can be balanced. The article draws inspiration from research into the impact
of the margin of appreciation upon the universality of human rights in order
to understand the potential of the doctrine for the enlarged European Union.
The doctrine is placed within a normative framework based upon the European
Union as an ‘essentially contested’ project. The use of the doctrine by the European
Court of Justice is analysed then in the light of this framework, with
particular emphasis placed upon the existence of outer limits to the doctrine,
and the factors that guide its width.