BRITISH ACADEMY LAW LECTURE

Many legal orders, one law

Sir Francis Jacobs KCMG, QC, Professor of Law, School of Law, King’s College London

Tuesday 2 December 2008

Until recently it has been widely believed that a single system of law operates within each sovereign territory, the State. But developments in European and International law make it increasingly hard to sustain this view. In Europe, different legal orders - State law, European Union law, the European Convention on Human Rights, International law - seem to coexist, in relation to the same issues, within the same legal space; and questions constantly arise about which law is to prevail. There seem to be no adequate theoretical answers to these questions, but practical solutions have to be found by the courts. We can learn much from considering how they reach these solutions. At the same time, we may be led to re-consider the concept of law itself.

About the lecturer
Sir Francis Jacobs served as British Advocate General at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg from 1988 until 2006. His research interests include European Community law; international law and the European Convention on Human Rights. Before his appointment to the European Court of Justice in 1988, Sir Francis combined an academic career with practice at Fountain Court Chambers, specialising in European Law. He appeared in many prominent cases in the English courts, in the European Court of Justice, and in leading cases before the European Commission and Court of Human Rights. Recently, since returning to the UK, he has been advising on European and international law. He is the author of, The Sovereignty of Law: The European Way (2007)

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