The Community legal order

Abstract

Each State has its own body of interlocking and complementary legal rules which taken together govern the legal relationships within the country. Within Community law these bodies of legal rules are normally called ‘legal orders’.1 Apart from these national legal orders international organizations have legal orders of their own.2 In comparison with these the legal order of the European Communities is of particular significance not only because of the large number of rules it contains, and the preponderance and the frequent direct effect of these rules for a large group of people, but also due to its homogeneity.3 Most international organizations embody their binding legal rules in treaties or conventions. These obtain force of law only after ratification by the States concerned. As in practice not all States ratify every convention, the binding force of conventions differs as regards territorial application. This precludes one convention being used for completing another. Because of the fact that not all legal rules bind the same States, they cannot form one legal order; each convention constitutes a legal order of its own. In the European Communities the three Treaties and all the rules of secondary Community law taken together form one legal order, equally binding within all Member States. The inherent unity of this legal order is of the greatest importance for its further development.4