Exploring the Platonic Heaven of Law General Principles of EU Law from a Comparative Perspective

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore the general principles of EU law from a comparative law perspective. Instead of offering a descriptive overview of the cases where the CJEU has relied on explicit comparison in its case law concerning the general principles. I shall articulate this article as follows: first, I shall recall the reasons why comparative law is on paper of crucial importance to the CJEU when interpreting the general principles. Second, I shall mention the different methodological options possible for the CJEU in this field. Third, I shall look at comparative law as a source of transparency in the legal reasoning of the Court by recalling some problematic cases, where the lack of explicit comparison caused harsh criticism for the case law of the Luxembourg Court.