The many ages of the court of justice of the European Union

This chapter examines the role, structure and composition over time of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The discussion comprises three substantive sections. Section 2 considers the birth of the Court of Justice of the European Coal and Steel Community, the individuals entrusted with making it function and the powers with which it was equipped. Section 3 looks at the effect of the Rome Treaties on the Court and the role it played in the difficult early years of the general common market those Treaties set out to construct. Section 4 examines a major problem that confronted the Court once it had reached cruising speed: how to cope with its mounting case load. Section 5 concludes with some suggestions about the future shape of the EU’s judicial architecture.