Explaining the CJEU's Authority towards National Courts: A Dynamic Approach

So far, European studies literature has convincingly demonstrated how national courts as a core constituency of the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Court) underwrote its political power and judicial authority and thereby strengthened their own position in the European and the national legal orders (the mutual empowerment narrative). These accounts, however accurate, largely rely on case studies of landmark cases, and often conceptualize judicial power and the authority to interpret the law as a stable and uniform category. By contrast, this article explores judicial authority as a dynamic and multidimensional concept, which changes across time and space. Its main aim is to provide a more nuanced account of the mutual empowerment narrative: does the Court act more authoritatively towards national higher or lower courts? Does it behave differently towards national courts of different Member States? Do its efforts to establish, increase or yield its authority change over time and how, and how much the economic and political context contribute to its action? To answer these questions we draw on a unique database, consisting of more than 5000 judgments of the Court and their metadata.