Acta Universitatis Danubius. Juridica, Vol 4, No 1 (2008)

Abstract

The European Court of Justice - as the Court of First Instance and, more recently, the Civil Service Tribunal - together with the national courts of the Member States represent the judicial power within the European Union. The task of this institution lies in the uniform application and interpretation of the Community law. The National courts and the public authorities are bound by the interpretation given by the Court. It has the role of the constitutional courts that are competent to solve the litigations that arise between the community institutions and the Member States or even between the Member States. The role of the European Court of Justice in the development of community law is peculiar, whereas the Court is the one who founded the idea of direct applicability of the community law in member countries of the European Union, its superiority over the national law and it developed the principle of state’s extra-contractual accountability for violation of the community law, a principle based on the priority of the community law.