EU Non-Discrimination Law in the Courts: Approaches to Sex and Sexualities Discrimination in EU Law

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Since the year 2000, the material and personal scope of EU non-discrimination law has been significantly broadened and has challenged national courts to introduce a comprehensive equality framework into their national law to correspond with the European standard. The book provides a multi-layered culturally informed comparison of juridical approaches to EU (in)direct sex and sexualities discrimination and its implementation in Germany and the Netherlands. It examines how and why national courts apply national non-discrimination law with a European origin differently, although the legislation derives from the same set of EU law and the national courts have to respect the interpretive competence of the CJEU. The book provides valuable insights into the national and European context which shape the dialogue and influences of the courts inter se, the national application of EU law, and the harmonisation process within the area of gender equality law and beyond. A Dutch and German comparison is of special interest here because both countries approaches towards non-discrimination law are quite different despite the similarities in the respective legal systems; they are founding members of the EU, they are neighbours, they are civil law countries, and their legal systems are relatively similar at least compared to Scandinavian and common law jurisdictions. Therefore, the different reception EU non-discrimination law cannot simply be explained by obvious differences between the legal systems. Their comparison thus provides an interesting case study to uncover legal and non legal, cultural and historic, factors which influence the application of EU non-discrimination law in both countries. The book is of interest for EU, comparative and equality lawyers.

Reviews

This is a book that sets out to examine why and how it is that national courts receive and apply EU non-discrimination law in very different ways. Mulder offers a fascinating answer to this question, showing how national legal, cultural, and political factors shape the way national courts grapple with direct and indirect discrimination on the grounds of sex and sexual orientation. But in the course of this, Mulder also gives an account of the inseparability of harmonization processes from national legal, cultural, and political factors; a rich comparative analysis of legal culture; and a normative theory of gender equality and an assessment of the extent of its pursuit and realization in practice. The book could be very valuably read for any of these contributions alone.Take all these strands together, and the result is a brilliantly insightful and inspiring read. -- Sarah Trotter * Common Market Law Review *

Author Bio

Jule Mulder is a lecturer in law at the University of Bristol.