Law, language and culture in the EU : a case study of harmonisation, reflection of diversity or a case of judicial activism?

Abstract

Since the EU institutions make EU law, which must be integrated into national law and applied by national courts, linguistic and cultural processes directly impact both EU and national law. The pluralistic character of the law enables the multilevel examination of these interactive processes from many perspectives. So law and language are intricately intertwined in a context where most 27 Member States have their own languages and linguistic diversity. In this context, EU legislation transposed by the member states is binding on the State and its citizens. In this context, variances across the various language versions of multilingual EU legislation are not uncommon. The responsibility of determining the true meaning of such legislation rests with the Court of Justice of the European Union. This chapter examines whether the various language versions of EU legislation available in the 24 official languages of the EU truly convey a single meaning and, as such, ensure uniform interpretation and application of EU law throughout the Union. It analyses the different methods of interpretation adopted by the Court of Justice in cases involving linguistic discrepancies across the language versions of EU legislation, within the context of major judgments delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union. The paper also seeks to determine whether multilingualism in the EU leaves the Court of Justice with the option of judicial activism. In other words, is multilingual EU law leading to the harmonisation of EU law or leading to the reflection of diversity? Do discrepancies lead to judicial activism?