Good Judgment: The ECJ as a Context-Conscious Lawmaker

Courts are context-conscious. They solve legal disputes with societal impact in mind, using interpretive tools and procedural means that rules allow but not always require. In her talk, Urška Šadl will present her new book, Good Judgment: The European Court of Justice as a Context-Conscious Lawmaker, which develops concepts and methods for a systematic and legally informative examination of this complex process. The analysis outlines a compelling and intriguing examination of the shaping of a key tenet of EU law. The framework and theory, however, are relevant to courts and case law everywhere, prompting an urgent conversation about the authority of courts to change the law.

Urška Šadl is part-time professor at the European University Institute in Florence (Italy), Associate Professor (promotion track to full professorship) at the University of Copenhagen, and president of the European Society for Empirical Legal Studies. Her research examines the working of EU institutions, EU free movement law, EU citizenship, and other topics in European constitutional law empirically. She is interested in legal change, judicial behaviour, and everything about the European Court of Justice.