Transplanting the European Court of Justice: The Experience of the Andean Tribunal of Justice

36 Pages Posted: 24 Oct 2011 Last revised: 19 Jul 2012

See all articles by Karen J. Alter

Karen J. Alter

Northwestern University - Department of Political Science; University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Law - iCourts Center of Excellence

Laurence R. Helfer

Duke University School of Law; University of Copenhagen - iCourts - Centre of Excellence for International Courts

Osvaldo Saldías

Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society

Date Written: July 18, 2012

Abstract

Although there is an extensive literature on domestic legal transplants, far less is known about the transplantation of supranational judicial bodies. The Andean Tribunal of Justice (ATJ) is one of nearly a dozen copies of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), and the third most active international court. This article considers the origins and evolution of the ATJ as a transplanted judicial institution. It first reviews the literatures on legal transplants, neofunctionalist theory, and the spread of European ideas and institutions, explaining how the intersection of these literatures informs the study of supranational judicial transplants. The article next explains why the Andean Pact’s member states decided to add a court to their regional integration initiative, why they adapted the European Community model, and how the ECJ’s existence has shaped the evolution of Andean legal doctrine and the political space within which the ATJ operates. We conclude by analyzing how the ATJ’s experience informs the study of supranational transplants and theories of supranational legal integration more generally.

Keywords: European community, Andean community, international courts and tribunals, European Court of Justice, Andean tribunal of justice, regional integration, legal transplants, neofunctionalist theory, ideational diffusion

Suggested Citation

Alter, Karen J. and Helfer, Laurence R. and Saldías, Osvaldo, Transplanting the European Court of Justice: The Experience of the Andean Tribunal of Justice (July 18, 2012). American Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 60(3), p.629 (2012), Oñati Socio-Legal Series, Vol. 1, No. 4, 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1948405

Karen J. Alter (Contact Author)

Northwestern University - Department of Political Science ( email )

601 University Place
Evanston, IL 60208
United States

University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Law - iCourts Center of Excellence ( email )

Karen Blixens Plads 16
Copenhagen, DK-2300
Denmark

Laurence R. Helfer

Duke University School of Law ( email )

210 Science Dr.
Box 90360
Durham, NC 27708
United States
+1-919-613-8573 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://law.duke.edu/fac/helfer/

University of Copenhagen - iCourts - Centre of Excellence for International Courts ( email )

University of Copenhagen Faculty of Law
Karen Blixens Plads 16
Copenhagen S, DK-2300
Denmark

HOME PAGE: http://jura.ku.dk/icourts/

Osvaldo Saldías

Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society ( email )

Oberwallstr. 9
Berlin, D-10117
Germany

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
371
Abstract Views
2,901
Rank
166,556
PlumX Metrics