A FURTHER ARGUMENT IN FAVOUR OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF A GENERAL THEORY OF THE DOMESTIC IMPACT OF JURISPRUDENTIAL SUPRANATIONAL LAW. THE GENESIS AND THE FIRST STEPS OF ECHR AND EU LEGAL ORDERS

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to demonstrate that, if it is true that before the Europe’s enlargement to the east the distance
between the domestic impact of European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and EU law was very broad, this
was not the original situation which characterised the origins of the two supranational organisations. More
specifically, with particular regard to the genesis of the two European Courts, it will be argued that, at the time of its
foundation, the ECtHR had at least the same (if not greater) potential for intrusiveness towards Member States
sovereignty than the ECJ did. If the following years have told a different history, this was fundamentally due, as it
will be seen, to two factors; the first one is an unexpected “acceleration” of the ECJ; the second one the concomitant
“slow-motion” start up of the ECtHR.