Prohibition of Abuse of Law: A New General Principle of EU Law

(Hardback)

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The Court of Justice has been alluding to 'abuse and abusive practices' for more than thirty years, but for a long time the significance of these references has been unclear. Few lawyers examined the case law, and those who did doubted whether it had led to the development of a legal principle. Within the last few years there has been a radical change of attitude, largely due to the development by the Court of an abuse test and its application within the field of taxation. In this book, academics and practitioners from all over Europe discuss the development of the Court's approach to abuse of law across the whole spectrum of European Union law, analysing the case-law from the 1970s to the present day and exploring the consequences of the introduction of the newly designated 'principle of prohibition of abuse of law' for the development of the laws of the EU and those of the Member States.

Reviews

this book provides an excellent analysis of the status of the principle of prohibition of abuse of law under EU law. It explores the consequences of the possible introduction of such a general principle on the development of EU law and Member State laws. It brings into the discussion ideas and arguments that in some cases were subsequently validated by the CJEU. The interdisciplinary nature of the book together with the wealth of material it includes make it truly uniquean invaluable source of reference for future discussions. -- Christiana HJI Panayi * British Tax Review No 5 2012 *
The book has two particular merits. First, it is the result of a truly interdisciplinary debate bringing together EU lawyers, tax lawyers and comparative lawyers with different interests, perspectives and areas of expertise...A second strength is that the various contributions do not only examine the most recent milestone cases of the ECJ with regard to abuse of rights, but also carry out a thorough retrospective analysis from the 1970s until today...As a result of these two main merits, the book follows a clear and coherent structure. ...the book under review can without doubt be qualified as the first comprehensive standard work on the topic of abuse of rights in EU law. The book is truly innovating, since it offers for the first time a coherent and integrated interdisciplinary study of the concept of abuse of rights at the EU level. Moreover, the views and suggestions offered in the book will undeniably serve as an important source of inspiration for future discussions on abuse of rights. -- Annekatrien Lenaerts * Common Market Law Review Volume 49, 2012 *
The book is of great interest to scholars of EU law, private international law and taxation, as well as national legislatures and practitioners in all of these areas. The red thread that connects the various instances of prohibition of abuse, making it possible to gain an overview of the emerging principle, could only be spun by bringing together researchers from different areas, complementing each others presentations, and thus allowing for true, in-depth comparative research, for which the editors deserve to be commended. -- Talia Einhorn * Rabels Zeitschrift fuer auslaendisches und internationales Privatrecht, Volume 78 *

Author Bio

Rita de la Feria is Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation, Faculty member of the Said Business School and Associate of the Law Faculty at the University. Stefan Vogenauer is Professor of Comparative Law at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of Brasenose College and Director of the Oxford Institute of European and Comparative Law.