Principles of Law: Function, Status and Impact in EU Tax Law

Principles of Law: Function, Status and Impact in EU Tax Law, investigates the role and importance of unwritten sources of legislation in EU tax law, such as the principles of law. This area of legal studies shows many contradictory statements and the book serves as a platform to better understand and clarify these contradictions.

 

The key issue in this research is the identification of the coercive force of the principles of law, which are unwritten sources of law, in contrast to that of other, written, sources of law. The hypothesis is that principles of law take precedence over a series of written rules in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) and of the Member States domestic courts dealing with EU tax law.

 

In order to demonstrate this hypothesis, the contributors to this book were invited to select one principle of law and address the following questions: Does the principle of law in question have a normative or interpretative value? Does it make any difference that the Court of Justice of the European Union has declared the principles of law of “general” or “fundamental” value? When “your” principle collides with another one, how will the ECJ/domestic Supreme Court determine the order of application? If so, which principles are supported by the supreme force of law and should be referred to by the judge as a constitutional norm? What is the consequence for direct and/or indirect taxes?

 

This book is the outcome of the 8th GREIT conference that was held in Lund on 19 and 20 June 2013. It comprises the findings of the 20 speakers, on three main themes, investigating the use and misuse of principles, the constitutional value of principles of law, and the principles of law underlying tax systems.