Within the European Union there is considerable diversity in morally sensitive issues like legal recognition of same-sex relationships or reproductive matters, such as abortion, assisted human reproduction (AHR) and surrogacy. States generally expressly claim recognition of such diversity and it is explicitly respected at European level, even though the (implicit) influence of European law is increasingly visible in these areas.Cross-border movement within the EU adds a new dimension to this complex picture. It implies that States are increasingly confronted by (the consequences of) one another's regimes. For example, same-sex couples residing in one EU Member State claim recognition of their marriage concluded in another Member State, or women from Member States with restrictive abortion regimes resort to States with more liberal regimes. This research explores this cross-border dimension, identifies a number of pressing questions and provides insight into the interests that are at stake in such situations.This volume firstly investigates what if any standard-setting is in place in three national jurisdictions (Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands) as well as in the relevant European jurisdictions (EU law and the ECHR) in respect of reproductive matters and legal recognition of same-sex relationships, and how this has developed over time. This analysis inter alia provides insight into what considerations and interests play or have played a role in legislative debates and case-law, in what respects the regimes studied differ, and how European law has influenced national standard-setting. It furthermore provides the necessary basis for the subsequent analysis of how the relevant jurisdictions respond to cross-border movement in these areas and how they interact. While, for example, States sometimes appear to ward off cross-border movement in these areas to protect their national moral standards, in other situations they choose to or are obliged under European law to accommodate such mobility in order to protect the interests of vulnerable parties involved. This research thereby observes and clarifies the dynamics in decision-making regarding these issues, analysing and explaining how various areas and levels of law interact.

The European Convention on Human Rights is one of the world's most important and influential human rights documents. It owes its value mainly to the European Court of Human Rights, which applies the Convention rights in individual cases. This book offers insight into the concepts and principles that are key to understanding the European Convention and the Court's case law. It explains how the Court approaches its cases and its decision-making process, illustrated by numerous examples taken from the Court's judgments. Core issues discussed include types of Convention rights (such as absolute rights); the structure of the Court's Convention rights review; principles and methods of interpretation (such as common-ground interpretation and the use of precedent); positive and negative obligations; vertical and horizontal effect; the margin of appreciation doctrine; and the requirements for the restriction of Convention rights.

This book considers the European Union as a project with a major antidiscrimination goal, which is important to remember at a time of increasing resentment against particularly exposed groups, especially migrants, refugees, members of ethnic or religious minorities and LGBTI persons. While equality and non-discrimination have long been core principles of the international community as a whole, as is made obvious by the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, they have shaped European integration in a particular way. The concepts of diversity, pluralism and equality have always been inherent in that process, the EU being virtually founded on the values of equality and non-discrimination. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU contains the most modern and extensive catalogue of prohibited grounds of discrimination, supplementing the catalogue enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights. EU law has given new impulses to antidiscrimination law both within Europe and beyond. The contributions to this book focus on how effective and credible the EU has been in combatting discrimination inside and outside Europe. The authors present different (mostly legal) aspects of that topic and examine them from various intra- and extra-European angles.

The Law of the European Union is a complete reference work on all aspects of the law of the European Union, including the institutional framework, the Internal Market, Economic and Monetary Union and external policy and action. Completely revised and updated, with many newly written chapters, this fifth edition of the most thorough resource in its field provides the most comprehensive and systematic account available of the law of the European Union (EU). Written by a new team of experts in their respective areas of European law, its coverage incorporates and embraces many current, controversial, and emerging issues and provides detailed attention to historical development and legislative history of EU law. Topics that are constantly debated in European legal analysis and practice are touched on in ways that are both fundamental and enlightening, including the following: .powers and functions of the EU law institutions and relationship among them; .the principles of equality, loyalty, subsidiarity, and proportionality; .free movement of persons, goods, services, and capital; .mechanisms of constitutional change – treaty revisions, accession treaties, withdrawal agreements; .budgetary principles and procedures; .State aid rules; .effect of Union law in national legal systems; .coexistence of EU, European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), and national fundamental rights law; .migration and asylum law; .liability of Member States for damage suffered by individuals; .competition law – cartels, abuse of dominant position, merger control; .social policy, equal pay, and equal treatment; .environmental policy, consumer protection, public health, cultural policy, education, and tourism; .nature of EU citizenship, its acquisition, and loss; and .law and policy of the EU’s external relations. The fifth edition embraces many new, ongoing, and emerging European legal issues. As in the previous editions, the presentation is notable for its attention to how the law relates to economic and political realities and how the various policy areas interact with each other and with the institutional framework. The many practitioners and scholars who have relied on the predecessors of this definitive work for years will welcome this extensively revised and updated edition. Those coming to the field for the first time will instantly recognize that they are in the presence of a masterwork that can always be turned to with profit and that helps in understanding the rationale underlying any EU law provision or principle.

This book explores the social, ethical and legal implications of assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Providing a comparative analysis of several European countries, the authors evaluate the varied approaches to the application of ART throughout Europe. From a global perspective, countries take very different approaches to the regulation of ART. Countries apply restrictions to the access criteria for these treatments and/or direct restrictions to the practice of the techniques themselves. To understand these varied approaches to ART practice and regulation, it is necessary to understand the societal and political background from which they emerged. This book therefore consists of case studies from eight European countries which provide insights into the status and development of the regulation of ART in the last 40 years. The country cases from all over Europe and the three comparative chapters provide insights into the diversity of current ART regulation across the continent as well as into similarities, differences and trends in this regulatory area. This book will be of interest to practitioners of ART who are interested in understanding the differences in regulation of ART in Europe, as well as long-term trends in this respect. Given the ethical and legal implications the book explores, it will also be of interest to students or researchers in the fields of social sciences, humanities and law.

Le droit de la famille, dans sa dimension civiliste, fortement ancré dans les cultures nationales des États membres, est une matière qui ne relève pas, en principe, du droit de l’Union européenne. Pourtant, il n’est plus possible d’affirmer que la matière échappe dans son entier au droit de l’Union. De nombreux aspects de la famille sont sous influence européenne, au point que l’on voit se dessiner les contours d’une « famille européenne ». L’ouvrage propose de mettre en lumière l’acquis européen en matière de droit de la famille, au prisme du droit matériel (citoyenneté européenne, politique sociale de l’Union, fonction publique européenne...), comme du droit international privé. Le droit de la famille de l’Union s’identifie alors comme un «droit spécial» complétant la diversité des droits nationaux de la famille. Sa signification théorique et politique dans l’Union est débattue par les auteurs, autant que son devenir. Loin de demeurer fragmentaire à côté des droits nationaux des États membres, il a probablement vocation à se densifier pour offrir aux citoyens et résidents européens un droit commun de la famille au sein de l’Union. Family law, with its civil law tradition, and strong roots in the national cultures of the Member States, does not normally fall within the scope of European law. However, it is no longer possible to argue that family law is outside European law entirely. There are many aspects of the family which are subject to European influence, to the point that the outlines of a «European family» are starting to emerge. This book is intended to highlight the European experience of family law and its substantive (i.e. European citizenship, EU social policy, EU civil service...) and private international law aspects. Union law therefore contains a form of «special» family law which is shared between the Member States and supplements their national family laws. Its theoretical and political importance in the Union, as well as its future, are discussed by the authors. Far from remaining fragmented alongside the national laws of Member States, it will likely develop to offer European citizens and residents a common family law within the EU.

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. Violence against women is characterised by its universality, the multiplicity of its forms, and the intersectionality of diverse kinds of discrimination against women. Great emphasis in legal analysis has been placed on sex-based discrimination; however, in investigations of violence, one aspect has been overlooked: violence may severely affect women’s health and access to reproductive health, and State health policies might be a cause of violence against women. Exploring the relationship between violence against women and women’s rights to health and reproductive health, Sara De Vido theorises the new concept of violence against women’s health in international law using the Hippocratic paradigm, enriching human rights-based approaches to women’s autonomy and reflecting on the pervasiveness of patterns of discrimination. At the core of the book are two dimensions of violence: horizontal ‘inter-personal’, and vertical ‘state policies’. Investigating these dimensions through decisions made by domestic, regional and international judicial or quasi-judicial bodies, De Vido reconceptualises States’ obligations and eventually asks whether international law itself is the ultimate cause of violence against women’s health.