Preserving the Identity Crisis: Autonomy, System and Sovereignty in European Law

Abstract

This article uses Hans Kelsen's theory of a legal system to take a fresh look at European Community law, and the relationship between the European Community, its Member States, and international law. It argues that the basis of the Community's legal legitimacy is indeterminate, and offers a model to accommodate that indeterminacy. This model is founded on a constructivist approach suggested to be particularly useful in the EC context. Using this approach, it is argued that the concepts of system, autonomy and sovereignty in the Community can only be understood through the recognition of a plurality of viewpoints, and that it is crucial, in describing the Community, to distinguish between a concept per se and the choice to adopt that concept.