The module builds on the knowledge of the EU legal order gained by students in year one, providing for a broader, and more critical approach to key elements of the EU’s institutional and constitutional order. It will also explore the relationship between the EU and the UK and the legal implications of Brexit. It will explore how EU law is made, implemented and enforced. The module also examines key substantive areas of EU law which may include the four freedoms of the internal market, discrimination law and EU competition law and policy.

• Evaluate the EU’s current constitutional and institutional structure, assess the extent to which it is currently fit for purpose, and make informed and critical suggestions for its evolution;
• Identify the principal sources of EU law, explain how EU law is made, and assess the democratic credentials of this law;
• Appraise the significance of fundamental rights within the EU order;
• Critically assess the relationship between EU law and national law including how such law has become part of the national legal order and the legal procedure and implications of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU;
• Evaluate how the EU law creates rights for individuals and how these may be enforced before both the CJEU and national courts;
• Describe and evaluate the law relating to key substantive areas of EU law such as the free movement of goods and services, free movement of persons and discrimination, and EU competition law and policy.

A mixture of lectures and tutorials

Intellectual Skills:

Students will be able to:

• Demonstrate skills in relation to analysis, synthesis, critical judgement and evaluation;
• Undertake directed tasks, and plan and undertake tasks requiring a degree of independent research.

Practical Skills:

Students will be able to:

• Independently identify, locate and access relevant EU legal materials, including treaties, legislation and case law, policy documents and academic commentary
• Where relevant, track the impact of that EU law within the national (UK) legal order;
• Use the specialised terminology of EU law appropriately in both written and oral contexts. 

Transferable Skills:

Students will be able to:

• Communicate orally and in writing with clarity and proficiency;
• Produce word processed work;
• Manage their time effectively;
• Reflect on their own learning.

Summative assessment is in the form of an examination of 2 hours counting for 100% of the module.

• History of European Integration and the Constitutional Nature of the EU
• The Route to Brexit
• Institutions of the EU
• Sources of EU law
• Law-making procedures
• Competence and subsidiarity
• Fundamental Rights in the EU legal order
• Nature of EU law - the principles of direct effect and supremacy
• Relationship between EU law and UK law
• The preliminary ruling procedure
• Enforcing EU law 
• National remedies and State liability
• General Introduction to the Internal Market
• Free movement of goods

Students will be advised to purchase one recommended textbook and one statute book. Details of the recommended texts will be available at the beginning of the module.

Essential reading

Craig, P. & de Burca, G., EU Law: Text, Cases and Materials (6^th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2015).

Steiner, Woods & Watson, EU Law (12^th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2014).

Lyiola Solanke, EU Law (Pearson, 2015)

Chalmers et al, European Union Law: Text and Materials (3rd edition, CUP,2014).

Up to date copies of Foster, N., Blackstone’s EU Legislation

Piris, J-C., The Lisbon Treaty: A Legal and Political Analysis (CUP, 2010).

In addition, students will be required to refer to case law, journal articles, as well as a range of other sources which reflect the dynamic and contextual nature of the module.