Statecraft, the Market State and the Development of European Legal Culture

TOWARDS A EUROPEAN LEGAL CULTURE, Genevieve Helleringer & Kai Purnhagen, eds., Beck/Hart/Nomos, 2013, Forthcoming

EUI Working Papers Law 2012/10

28 Pages Posted: 23 Apr 2012 Last revised: 25 Apr 2018

See all articles by Ari Afilalo

Ari Afilalo

Rutgers University - School of Law

Dennis Patterson

Rutgers University School of Law, Camden; University of Surrey - School of Law

Kai P. Purnhagen

University of Bayreuth; Erasmus University of Rotterdam - Rotterdam Institute of Law and Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 20, 2012

Abstract

We consider whether the theory of the market-state can explain the features of a common European legal culture. Our thesis is that there is an extant EU legal culture, one which developed through the Europeanisation of law. The distinct European feature of this legal culture is the enforcement of market-state features in EU law. The concept of legal culture needs to be untied from a communitarian view by which culture “provides this group with its identity by establishing internal coherence and external difference, as well as relative consistency over time”. Culture hence needs to be viewed through a decentralized lens. We will prove our thesis on assorted examples from EU administrative, contract, and competition law. As a nation-state heritage, EU law has developed a legal culture which does not follow purely market-state rationales, but rather balances these rationales against nation-state features such as human rights.

Keywords: Legal Culture, Market-State, Statecraft, EU law, interpretation, legal theory

JEL Classification: K10, K19, K33

Suggested Citation

Afilalo, Ari and Patterson, Dennis and Purnhagen, Kai Peter, Statecraft, the Market State and the Development of European Legal Culture (April 20, 2012). TOWARDS A EUROPEAN LEGAL CULTURE, Genevieve Helleringer & Kai Purnhagen, eds., Beck/Hart/Nomos, 2013, Forthcoming, EUI Working Papers Law 2012/10, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2044096

Ari Afilalo

Rutgers University - School of Law ( email )

Newark, NJ
United States
856-225-6295 (Phone)
856-225-6516 (Fax)

Dennis Patterson

Rutgers University School of Law, Camden ( email )

Camden, NJ 08102-1203
United States
856-225-6369 (Phone)
856-751-8752 (Fax)

University of Surrey - School of Law ( email )

United Kingdom

Kai Peter Purnhagen (Contact Author)

University of Bayreuth ( email )

Universitatsstr 30
Bayreuth, D-95447
Germany

Erasmus University of Rotterdam - Rotterdam Institute of Law and Economics ( email )

Burgemeester Oudlaan 50
PO box 1738
Rotterdam, 3000 DR
Netherlands

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