Liability of Individuals for Breach of European Law

Abstract

The concept of State liability is applicable, as may be quite evident, where the State is responsible for an infringement of European law. As already established by now, it was ab initio enshrined by the Court in Francovich, where it held that the principle of State liability was “inherent in the system of the Treaty”, and could be applied pertaining to acts or omissions of any institution of the State. This vertical scope of the principle of liability had long been restated, confirmed, and refined by jurisprudence of the ECJ, as a consequence establishing that one single legal framework dealt with all kinds of actions performed by “administrations and governments, local authorities, public bodies, legislatures, and even judiciaries”. By contrast a horizontal scope of the principle had so far received little attention.