PhD Jos Hoevenaars: A people’s court? A bottom-up approach to litigation before the European Court of Justice

Each year the European Union Court of Justice delivers over a thousand verdicts based on EU law that affect both Member States and its citizens. Most of these decisions are the result of requests for a preliminary ruling sent by national courts and tribunals seeking an interpretation of EU law. While this procedure is deemed central to the transformation of Europe, significant ambiguity remains on why it is used and who is primarily responsible for its success.

Jos Hoevenaars researched the practice of the preliminary reference procedure. By approaching it from the perspective of those who participate in it, the study takes on prevalent assumptions about the how and why of national court cases that reach the European Court of Justice through a request for a preliminary ruling. This empirical research will appeal to scholars engaged in the relationship between law and European integration as well as practitioners and litigants interested in the practice of the preliminary reference procedure.

Jos Hoevenaars achieved his PhD on Monday 19 March. Since 2012, he has worked as a PhD researcher and lecturer at the Institute for Sociology of Law and the Centre for Migration Law of Radboud University. He currently works as a postdoc researcher and lecturer at the Erasmus School of Law in Rotterdam.