You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone: 
Brexit and the CJEU

The Court of Justice of the European Union's (CJEU) decisions significantly impact law and legal development in Europe by establishing precedent. Member States thus have an interest in influencing the CJEU's jurisprudence, either by bringing cases or, more commonly, by intervening or offering observations. Member States use these opportunities to influence the CJEU and existing research indicates that it has a clear impact on the Court. Since joining the EU in 1973, the United Kingdom (UK) has used these opportunities to a greater extent than any other Member State. However, by the summer of 2019, the UK will most likely leave the EU (Brexit) and will no longer be able to influence the CJEU. Our data indicates that the UK has in fact already reduced its activity in the CJEU following the Brexit vote. The paper seeks to describe Brexit’s impact on the CJEU’s future case law. We do so by studying how the UK has acted before the CJEU in relation to other Member States. By studying which cases the UK have been involved in and what interests it has promoted, we can understand what force the UK has previously exercised on the Court’s jurisprudence and that will disappear post-Brexit. By analyzing this force, we can understand how Brexit will impact CJEU jurisprudence going forward. The UK's actions will be studied in relation to other Member States, meaning that we will studied which other Member States have been engaged in the same cases as the UK, on what issues, and whether they acted in support of or against each other.